Access Politics. The Democratic way of San Francisco

I get an e-mail on July 27th, inviting me (and all District 6 candidates) to the Community Leadership Alliance's "CLA/CHCAC BUSINESS MEETING And MEET ROB BLACK 4 D-6 Supervisor." The first agenda item is to "Meet Mr. Rob Black 4 D-6 SUPERVISOR, 10 Minutes, Comments/Questions By Candidates 2min. Each."

Then on August 8, 2006 I get an e-mail, stating in part, "'IN THE NAME OF FAIRNESS & DEMOCRACY' Using a candidates contact list provided by the SF-DCCC- -All Qualified D-6 Supervisor Candidates were invited but only one RSVP ed." What this e-mail failed to state was that the July 27th e-mail did not request RSVP's.

So, on August 9, I reply to the e-mail, informing the "director/founder" that I would attend. I get no reply...but I show up anyway on the 10th.

Well, it turns out that the meeting was pretty much just a political rally for Rob Black. Although there were two other candidates in the room, no one acknowleged them, except Jordanna Thigpen, who was very gracious.

Rob Black spoke for about 10 minutes. Although an attorney (since 12/31/2002), he obviously has never been a trial attorney (Which is neither good, nor bad). Trial attorney's learn to communicate their message and persuade. Rob, on the other hand, gave an eloqent, yet wonky, and thoroughly forgetable presentation of political-ese.

Before Rob spoke, Gavin Newsom's "news" man, the rather eccentric Pat Murphy, wearing his trade-mark bow-tie, put down a tape recorder. The next day he wrote a blurb, puzzlingly titled "My Game Too", in his "news" website, "Rob Black, current favorite to make Daly bustle, visited a Tenderloin improvement gathering last night... Reminding all that a bone crushing random bullet days ago killed an innocent dude looking for a pizza... Popular street security cameras popularly wanted at O'Farrell and Jones, Black noted... Daly opposes street security cameras, Black arched an eyebrow, lowered a tone..." Needless to say, the fact that there were two other candidates in the room seemed to have slipped his mind.

Now, we all know that Newsom endorsed Rob. We also know that Murphy is a Newsom apologist. But I still am interested in knowing the basis for the statement that Rob is the "current favorite..."

But alas, this is the lesson of "Access Politics."