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San Francisco Examiner
Editorial Originally Published June 22, 2007
San Francisco citizens should not be expected to condone a supervisor expressing disagreement with the mayor’s budget by insinuating at a City Hall hearing that the mayor is a cocaine user. Such behavior — or rather misbehavior — is not political debate; it is slander that the Board of Supervisors should officially censure.
Supervisor Chris Daly charged Tuesday that Mayor Gavin Newsom was hypocritical in proposing cuts for substance abuse programs while undergoing alcohol treatment and while he “artfully dodges every question about allegations in his own cocaine use.” The next day Newsom called a news conference where he flatly denied ever using cocaine and called Daly’s allegations “sleazy … a whole new low” and “the cheapest of cheap shots."
Daly countered by insisting he never actually said Newsom uses cocaine, only that the mayor “artfully dodges” questions about doing so. The supervisor refused to apologize and defended his comments as “germane” to discussion of the substance abuse budget.
Making personal allegations of illegal drug usage without any supporting evidence during a supervisors’ meeting is indeed “a whole new low” for San Francisco political discourse and should be universally condemned. We have a right to expect and demand better from our elected officials.
The conduct went far beyond “inappropriate” and “unbecoming,” which was what Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin labeled it. Even Daly’s usual allies on the board are hardly springing to his defense on this one.
Before the latest outburst, Peskin had already taken the unusual, but welcome, step of removing Daly as chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, presumably because Daly was delaying budget completion for the June 30 deadline by fighting a scorched-earth campaign over a number of Newsom’s funding choices. That feud was sparked when Daly tried to pry loose $33 million to boost affordable housing, and Newsom blocked this so the pending budget would remain balanced while spending more for long-overdue street repairs.
However, Peskin so far has refused to call a censure vote on Daly, saying there is no need for further admonishment. “I don’t have time for a symbolic sideshow about a resolution proclaiming this or doing that,” Peskin said. “I’ve got a budget to put to bed.”
Of course everybody realizes that when a legislative body censures the conduct of one of its members, no real punishment or enforcement occurs; it is simply a symbolic disapproval. And undoubtedly Chris Daly would only display loud defiance to any censure resolution against him.
But this is one time when the Board of Supervisors really ought to go on record in expressing a position against unfounded personal attacks within our city government. Doing anything less would be putting out the welcome sign for gutter politics in San Francisco.
- : 2.8
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June 22nd, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Thanks to Chris Daly for bringing the budget issue to the forefront of the public’s attention. Things are not as simple as the Mayor would have us believe, as the Supe pointed out.
The mayor’s budget was rife with problems, and now, thanks to Daly, at least some of them will be corrected.
Love him or hate him, we should thank him for this.
Gavin/Cocaine rumors? Old news. Who hasn’t heard them before? Did anyone expect the mayor to say “Sure, I use coke! I love it!” That would have been a great career move!
June 25th, 2007 at 7:39 am
Cris Daley is absolutely ON TARGET by blasting the hypocracy of Gavin Newsom. The DRUG war is racist and classist, the only difference between drug use on Knob Hill vs Taylor St is the quality of the drugs and the exposure of the users. Poverty should not mean PROSECUTION.
June 28th, 2007 at 2:41 am
As far as I am concerned… Chris Daly acts like a whinny, out of control, child. Instead of just blasting everything the Mayor proposes in the budget, a respectable member of the Board of Supervisors would actually be trying to work with the Mayor to make needed changes to the proposed budget instead of wasting time engaging in derogatory personal attacks. I applaud Supervisor Peskin for removing Daly as chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee.
July 3rd, 2007 at 6:11 am
PUNK! PUNK ! PUNK! CHRIS DALY IS A PUNK! - www.likroper.com
July 6th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Here is the full text of Sen. Feinstein’s letter to President Peskin and the Board:
Dear President Peskin and Members of the Board of Supervisors:
If government, whether national or local, is truly to serve the public, it must be responsive and responsible to the people it serves and free of vituperation and vengeance. That, I am sure, is obvious to all who treasure open and effective government. Occasionally, however, this important principle must be reinforced with those who would abuse it.
As a former Mayor of this city in which I was born and which I truly love, I cannot help but be distressed by what strikes me as an abdication of duty and responsibility by Supervisor Chris Daly in so recklessly resorting to rumor mongering on the floor of the Board of Supervisors. Supervisor Daly’s personal attack on Mayor Gavin Newsom defies precedent. It is contemptuous of orderly government and, fittingly, should be subject to an official censure on the part of the Board of Supervisors.
Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
Untied States Senator