Dear Everyone;
In todays Chronicle (8/14) there are 2 stories of interest.
The first is a report on another Eminent Domain battle shaping up over 80 Natomas and the new proposed Transit Hub. And Surprise! Chris Daly figures in the mess.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/08/14/BAGJD87R351.DTL
The second article is how the Proposition O Public Funds for campaigns may not have enough funds because of all the candidates running for supervisor. The fund was approved in Nov. 2000 and was funded by a $2.00 allocation for each resident of SF.
Currently the fund has some $670,000 in it for some 65 candidates. There are several qualifications required to get a portion of the fund. It was established with the goal of providing up to $43,000 for a qualifying candidate. Based on this years bumper crop of candidates the qualifying allocation may only be $13,000.
What the article does not address is why should the residents of SF be ponying up any money in the first place for a candidates campaign if they do not support that candidate. Thank You Tom Ammiano for the thoughtful Proposition O and the thoughtful use of the taxpayers money. Once again the incentive (take the corruption out of campaign funding) and the intent ( give candidates a leg up against entrenched office holders ) resulted in a crossed purposes and the taxpayers pay the bill. Robbing Hood strikes again.
Speaking about Robbing Hood there was a great cartoon in a UK publication showing Robin Hood and his Merry Men around a campfire and Robin saying; " All right - it's agreed - we steal from the rich and flog it on eBay." Nice UK joke.
Now if the UK could only do something about that Other Joke - Tony Blair.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/08/14/BAGJD87R331.DTL
Ron Getty
SF Libertarian