SF Republican Party Candidate Questionnaire Responses

Questionnaire of the San Francisco Republican Party
for Candidates for District Supervisor

Name of Candidate: Starchild
Supervisorial District: 8

Residential Address: 3531 16th Street, SF, CA 94114
Campaign Address: same
Contact Phone #: (415) 621-7932
Email Address: RealReform@...
  
1. Why are you running for District Supervisor?

  I'm running for Supervisor because I don't think the other candidates believe in limited government, and I want to inject some pro-freedom ideas into the political dialogue.

2. Why are you seeking the Republican Party endorsement?

  It's generally my policy to seek all endorsements, unless I feel a group or individual is either so distasteful that I wouldn't want to be associated with them, or so hostile to my point of view that I would have no chance of getting their endorsement. Neither is true in the case of the SF GOP, so I am happy to seek your endorsement.

3. Educational Background:

  Public/Private Schools (K-12): Clifton Elementary (government school)
                Bishop O'Dowd High School (non-government school)

  College/University (Undergrad): Chabot Community College (government school)
                San Francisco State University (government school)

  Major/Degree(s)/Yr of Graduation: BA Journalism, 2000 (SFSU)
    
4. List your Military Service (if any): U.S. Army Reservist, 1991-1997

5. Outline your professional background:

  Escort, exotic dancer, and adult video performer, former warehouse, theater, and retail worker.

6. Outline your community involvement:

  Libertarian activist, involved with community groups including Americans for Safe Access (medical marijuana), Sex Workers Outreach Project, San Francisco Taxpayers Union, and Pink Pistols (GLBTQ gun rights group).

7. If you are the incumbent, list your three major legislative accomplishments during your last term.

  N/A

8. What are your top three priorities over the next year should you be elected/re-election?

  My overall goal is to reduce the size, power, and expense of city government, and put decisions back in the hands of individual San Franciscans. I have quite a few ideas about how to do this, far too many to list here. But three of my major policy priorities include capping city officials' salaries at $99,999 a year, having the SFPD focus enforcement on real crime like murder and robbery instead of victimless crimes, and cutting the taxes and fees that fall most heavily on poor people and small businesses, such as sales tax, parking tickets, and licensing fees.

9. Please describe the single most important issue that directly impacts your district and how you plan to address this issue if elected.

  I'd say the top issue in District 8 continues to be housing. There's not enough of it, and what there is, is too expensive. A flat just a few doors down the street from me -- a flat, not even a whole house -- just sold for over a million dollars, and I don't even live in a particularly upscale neighborhood. There's a car shop across the street and homeless people sleeping out behind the Bagdad Cafe. If elected, I would seek to:

(1) Cut the red tape and streamline the planning process so it's easier for builders to get approval for new housing
(2) Force non-profits receiving government money for housing to undergo thorough audits
(3) Divert money from programs serving the homeless into the construction of 12' by 12' homes, which former mayoral candidate Jim Reid demonstrated could be built for $6000 a piece with all the basic necessities a single person would need. Each homeless person in San Francisco could be provided with one of these homes for less than the cost of all the various homeless programs and services in a single year's budget with money left over.
(4) Remove the artificial limits on tenancies in common
(5) Remove zoning, height, occupancy, and other restrictions to allow most efficient use of space according to the free market

10. Please describe the single most important issue that directly impacts the City and how you plan to address this issue if elected.

(see response below)

11. Please describe what you consider to be San Francisco's biggest challenge.

  My response to Questions #10 and #11 is essentially the same, so I will address them together. San Francisco's biggest challenge and the most important issue facing the city is clearly getting its government under control. The Committee On Jobs published a study in 2003 which does a terrific job of describing the scope of the problem. Among its findings:

-San Francisco's city budget grew 70 percent between 1995 and 2003 - three times faster than inflation.
-The city now [as of 2003] has more than 31,000 employees, an increase of almost 30 percent in eight years.
-The city spends more on a unit basis and uses more employees on a per capita basis than comparable cities to provide the same services.
-The City spends the equivalent of $1,400 for every man, woman and child in San Francisco providing health services.

  I would seek to implement one of the Committee On Jobs major suggestions from that report, instituting a system of competitive contracting that prompts city workers to bid against other city departments as well as outside contractors to provide city services.

  Aside from many of the specific ideas which I have mentioned elsewhere in this questionnaire, the major way I plan to address this issue if elected is by using the office of Supervisor as a bully pulpit. If I were elected, this result would inspire major national publicity and give me a very visible platform from which to preach the virtues of cutting San Francisco's out-of-control bureaucracy and limiting the size, expense, and power of government in our city.

12. Do you believe that the City and County is spending too much, about the right amount, or too little of the taxpayersí money? Do you favor expanding or downsizing the Cityís bureaucracy? If you favor a change, where would you make the change?

  Absolutely the City and County government is spending way too much of the taxpayers' money! I would seek to drastically downsize the bureaucracy. Some specific changes I propose include:

(1) Capping city salaries at $99,999 a year
(2) Renegotiating union contracts with city workers, making these negotiations open to the public, and including taxpayer representatives in the talks
(3) Eliminating all public relations departments, staff positions, and spending by city government. My message to City Hall is, "Don't spend our money to tell us you're doing a good job. Just do your jobs and we'll decide if you're doing a good job or not."
(4) Tackling pension reform, including publishing data online on exactly who all the current and future city pension recipients are, and how much they are or will be receiving in cash and benefits
(5) Implementing zero-base budgeting, so that departments won't automatically see their funding hold steady or increase, but will have to justify their entire budgets each year

13. Where did you stand on ìCare/Not Cashî? Do you believe Care/Not Cash has succeeded? What more would you propose to eliminate chronic homelessness?

  I opposed "Care Not Cash" because of mandatory "Big Brother" fingerprinting requirements as well as the potential to force a lot of homeless people into government-funded programs instead of giving them the money directly, which would have effectively represented a transfer of wealth from the private sector to the government sector. I'm not opposed to the basic concept of "Care Not Cash," but I would want it to be written with more sensitivity toward safeguarding civil liberties and not reinforcing welfare state programs.

  I do not think the program has succeeded; I still see just as many homeless people on the streets as before.

  My general approach to ending chronic homelessness would be to bring down the cost of housing by allowing the housing supply to increase. Specifically I would seek to divert money from homeless programs toward building the $6000 single person occupancy homes that Jim Reid pioneered, as discussed above in Question #9.

14. Does the City have a positive business climate? If not, what would you do to improve it?

  No, it does not! Just the opposite, in fact. Some of the changes I would seek to improve the business climate in SF include:

(1) Cutting the sales tax
(2) Appointing people to bodies like the Appeals Board and the Planning Commission who favor free markets
(3) Putting the burden on government, instead of on business, when issuing permits. In other words, if the government has not shown within a certain length of time why a requested permit should *not* be issued, then it would automatically be issued. Business owners do not have time to go running around to various government offices chasing down permits; government workers should come to them. As soon as a new business announces it is planning to open, that should set off a flurry of activity at City Hall as various agencies scramble to schedule any necessary visits and raise any issues related to permits by their deadline
(4) Seeking to introduce low tax, minimum regulation "enterprise zones" to boost economic activity in low income or depressed areas like the Bayview
(5) Opposing any new taxes on business

15. What should be the role of the Board of Supervisors vis-a-vis the Mayor and his administration?

  The Board of Supervisors, as the legislative branch of local government, should serve as a check and balance to the executive branch, which is the Mayor and his/her administration. The Board should seek to keep the Mayor honest and accountable to the public by scrutinizing his/her actions with a skeptical eye, and vice-versa.

16. What are your positions on the measures to appear on the November ballot?

    Subject Endorse Oppose No Position
Prop A $450,000,000 G. O. School Bond ___ _x_ ___
Prop B Teleconferencing ___ _x_ ___
Prop C Pay Increases for City Officials ___ _x_ ___
Prop D Disclosure of Private Information ___ _x_ ___
Prop E Parking Tax Increase ___ _x_ ___
Prop F Paid Sick Leave ___ _x_ ___
Prop G Conditional Use Permits ___ _x_ ___
Prop H Trebling of Relocation Benefits ___ _x_ ___
Prop I Monthly Mayoral Board Appearances _x_* ___ ___
Prop J Impeachment of President/VP _x_** ___ ___
Prop K Housing Policy for Seniors/Disabled ___ _x_ ___

*While I would prefer that this measure let members of the public question the Mayor (and the Board members!) directly, this is still a positive step toward increasing the transparency and accountability of local government. Remember, there may not always be a left-leaning Board and a more conservative Mayor; it could well be the other way around at some point. A few percentage points difference in the 2003 election and Matt Gonzalez would be mayor right now instead of Gavin Newsom!

**For what it's worth, I also supported impeaching President Clinton, and will in all likelihood support impeaching the next U.S. president as well, because all recent presidents have violated the Constitution right and left. I think that anyone who takes an honest look at the Constitution, and at the present state of the federal government for at least the past half century, has to admit this is true. As a candidate, I swore an oath to defend the Constitution, and I take that oath seriously.

17. Name the candidates you have endorsed for the November election.

  Bayard Fong (School Board)
  Ed Jew (Supervisor, District 4)

18. Name five individuals who have endorsed your candidacy.

  Phil Berg (Congress, District 8)
  Mike Denny (2003 Candidate for Mayor)
  Maxine Doogan (Erotic Service Providers Union)
  David Waggoner (Attorney, Homeless Action Center)
  Mesha Monge-Irizarry (Idriss Stelley Foundation)

19. Name five organizations which have endorsed your candidacy.

  Your organization could be listed here! 8)

20. List any Republicans you have endorsed for public office prior to this election.

  Tom McClintock (Controller)
  Jennifer DePalma (Congress)

21. What do you anticipate you will spend on your campaign by November 7th?

  Money! (just kidding) Seriously, again I believe endorsements should be made based on the issues, not on how much money he or she plans to spend. What matters, in my view, is simply whether a candidate stands for freedom and is going to vote accordingly, or not. I do and will.

22. Are you seeking City matching funds? Yes _______ No ___x____

Why or why not?:

  I don't believe taxpayers should be forced to fund political campaigns. I might consider taking the money if I could think of a way to return it to the taxpayers or publicize the injustice in a way that made it worth the damage done by taking the money.

23. If you are endorsed by the San Francisco Republican Party, will you list that endorsement on your website and in all your literature? Yes: ___x____ No: __________

Comment:

  I am willing to list it in all the literature in which I list group endorsements; I can't guarantee that every single thing I put out will list my endorsements on it.

I hereby affirm that all the answers I have provided in the above questionnaire are accurate to the best of my knowledge, and that I personally completed the questionnaire, or if I delegated that act, I have reviewed the answers prepared and they fully and accurately reflect my views.

             (Signature) September 4, 2006

               (Printed Name) Starchild

Dear Starchild;

Good answers but you should remember the onerous payroll taxes on small businesses - also the Bayview is already an Enterprise Zone - or were you saying doing more Enterprise Zones like the Bayview?

Ron Getty
SF Libertarian

Ron,

  Thanks, and good points. But as far as the enterprise zone in the Bayview, I don't mind getting that fact a little wrong. If someone comes back and says, "there's already an enterprise zone there," I can always say something like, "Really? I couldn't tell. Seems like there's still lots of unemployment and a lack of business development in that neighborhood. I'd say we need an enterprise zone with more free market incentives than whatever is there now, because the status quo isn't working."

Love & liberty,
        <<< starchild >>>

Dear Starchild;

And another thing which just occurred to me is if the ballot issue of the Bayview Redevelopment doesn't make the special elections ballot or doesn't overturn the Bayview Redevelopment Project there will be a whole lot more of no there - there do to the takeover by the Redevelopment agnecy and more forced diaspora of the balck community like the Western Additon and the Fillmore porjects did to the black communities.

Hey let's really help people by gentrification after we force them out of their homes!!!!

Ron Getty
SF Libertarian

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Ron,

  I collected several pages worth of signatures to help stop the Redevelopment Agency's land grab in the Bayview.

    <<< starchild >>>

Derek,

  Thanks! As far as getting their endorsement, sadly you may be right. But then again, maybe not. I was endorsed by the local Log Cabin Republicans chapter before, and when I ran for School Board in 2004, I came close to getting the GOP's nod. In fact I got more votes from their Central Committee members than the more "pragmatic" Republican candidate who was running. If you can make it, I encourage you to come down tonight, identify yourself to them as a Republican, and tell them you support me.

Love & liberty,
        <<< starchild >>>

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