GregDewar.com

Just In Case You Were Wondering....Some Ideas on How To Vote on 11/3...

2009-10-29T19:39:54Z

So there's an election going on next Tuesday, but I think this off-year must have set a record for Most Boring Election Ever. Aside from some mail I've received about Prop. D, and a mailer from the local Democratic Party, this election has been a snoozefest. That may be a good thing since next year you're going to see elections from Governor on down to Supervisor that will more resemble something out of Braveheart.

Most of the measures are of the "And WHY do I have to vote for this?" variety. It never ceases to amaze me how I can vote for gay marriage rights, arcane changes to the City Charter, President, judges, and how the Board of Supervisors conducts its internal affairs, but I (and all SF citizens) are deemed intellectually unable to vote directly for anyone who runs Muni. Hmm.

Whatever. So here's a few recommendations, as well as some ways to have some fun with your ballot....

Prop. A - Some Thing About a 2 Year Budget Cycle - If you really want to change how the Board and the Mayor do the budget, elect better people to office, instead of relying on "Name ID" and a pile of junk mail to tell you how to vote. I've seen nothing out there that explains how we're going to get Budget Nirvana by passing this, so I voted "no" just to send it back to the kitchen for a re-do.

Prop. B - Some Thing About How Many People Can Work For a Supervisor - Again, why do we have to vote for this? Does the Mayor have ballot measures determining how many people he gets to hire? No. I actually voted "yes" but only because I seriously doubt, in these crap-tacular budget times, you'll suddenly see Supervisors with a legion of "aides" running around City Hall. But who knows? I think I voted yes for the "WTF" factor.

Prop. C - Some Thing About Candlestick - I'm not sure the 49ers give a hoot about San Francisco, and I don't know that a mere 700k is going to change their minds if we get some company (hey what about Depends?) to rename the stadium. Sure, "Depends Stadium" sounds really cool repeated about a million times, but the other wrinkle is that the city's take on the money goes exclusively to...park directors.

Wait WHAT? These "one thing has nothing to do with the other" measures are lame. I voted "no."

Prop. D- Some Thing About Billboards Saving The City - This is the only thing that I've seen any mail for - about a million pieces saying "yes" and one saying "no" (with the most irritating disclaimer I've ever seen). These kinds of measures usually devolve into two arguments - Passing "D" will turn around the crappy part of Market Street into a mega Nirvana, because all you need are big light up signs to change a street that's spent decades falling apart. The other side argues that passing "D" means you ensure a total destruction of the city and our way of life. Neither side is particularly credible.

I honestly don't see how, in an economic depression where ad spending is way way down, slapping up a few light up billboards are going to make the pee and the dilapidated theaters and porn shops go away. That said, no one else is doing anything to improve a really crappy part of San Francisco either. I might have accidentally voted "yes" for this (I really don't remember) in the spirit of "hey it couldn't hurt." So vote as you see fit.

Prop. E - Some Thing About City Buildings and Billboards - I suppose we're supposed to hate all ads or something, since this is a theme this year. There's just one problem with this measure - in an attempt to keep ads off the City Hall dome, there's an interpretation that could end up wiping out all the Muni bus shelters.

Right now the entire cost and maitnenance is covered by the contractor who is required to build and maintain them. They pay for them with advertising. I'm sure if this were passed, some person with the money and/or time to persue it , could find a way to kill the contract. Then you'd have cash strapped Muni in charge of the bus shelters. Rather than risk waiting for the N in the rain sans shelter, I voted "no."

Fun with the Waste of Time That Is IRV This Year

Remember how we were told that voting for so-called "instant runoff voting" was going to usher in this big future where under-funded candidates could be freer to challenge The System and all that?

Yeah, I know. Worked out well so far, right (insert sarcasm tag here).

The problem this year is that we have two incumbents, each running unopposed this year. This is nothing new - three years ago I wrote about this very same phenomenon and offered up then what I'm offering now - Fun With IRV Ballots.

I mean, the city went to all the trouble to print "IRV style" ballots, the least we can do is use them. So, while we all like ya, Mr. Herrera and Mr. Cisneros, and you did get my vote, I decided to enter in a few names for 1st and 2nd who will most assuredly lose. This year I used the names of favorite TV characters:

For City Attorney:

1. Don Draper
2. Bert Cooper
3. Dennis Herrera (Winner!)

For Treasurer

1. Hank Moody
2. Greg House
3. Jose Cisneros (Winner!)

Fill out your ballot with your own favorite characters. If all of this seems silly, well it is. So is the fact that all the promises made about IRV never came true. We're left with paying for an expensive system that hasn't lived up to its promises. If someone is a lame nobody running for office, they still lose. Just because we played games to fit the needs of a handful of ideologues whose true agenda has yet to be revealed, doesn't mean anything is different.

Incumbents are always re-elected, and the candidates who have the most support always win. It's even easier when no one bothers to run against them! So have fun. Besides, Don Draper is cool.

Why San Francisco's Phony "Plastic Bag Ban" is Full of Compostable Waste!

2009-10-21T19:25:28Z

we did not ban plastic bags
.

One of the things that bothers me about my hometown is that thanks to mostly transplants from Elsewhere, we get lots of stupid ideas, and those stupid ideas refuse to die. Worse, because people want to Do The Right Thing, everyone buys into them, even though it's all a fraud.

Today, we have a Grade-A example of one that drives me nuts every time I hear about it: San Francsico's Alleged "Ban" on Plastic Shopping Bags.

"Mayor" Newsom and "Supervisor" Ross Mirkarimi can't spend more than a few moments without bleating out that San Francsico "banned" plastic bags. The problem is both of them are spewing compostable waste out their mouths every time they say this.

That's because we DID NOT BAN PLASTIC BAGS, people. Yes, San Francisco, despite all your pseudo-enviornmental chatter, plastic bags are a mainstay of SF shopping. And yet, despite this reality, there's our City Hall, bragging about how frakking eco/green/whatever we all are, and now want to charge for paper bags. Oh, how frakking "green" of you, guys.

Here's why San Francisco's elected "leaders" suck. They did indeed ban plastic bags - but ONLY at "chain stores." Everyone Else gets to keep using plastic bags (aka Satan's Chalice). Since I often shop at local produce markets and small businesses, I've got a huge collection of them sitting in my storage drawer in the kitchen. You can see a picture of them right here. I guess saving the earth is only the work of "chain stores." Everyone Else can continue to rape the Earth, then?

The fact that San Francisco does this is another example of how two-faced and hypocritical people are when it comes to environmental issues. Apparently it's not kicking Mother Nature in the ass with a steel-toed boot when you use a plastic bag at the corner liquor store, but is when you shop at Safeway or Whole Paycheck.

I'm sorry, but that is bogus. Either plastic bags are indeed bad, or they are not. This kind of half-assed policymaking makes the assertion that bags are evil meaningless - if they are bad, then why, oh why, politicians, do you continue to allow them to be used?

Fun fact: Ireland did a true ban on bags by imposing a fee on them that was for everyone - not just chains. Within a year 90+% of folks were using some form of reusable bag, and today, the use of a plastic bag over there apparently is akin to not scooping up your dog's poop.

I realize that when people have eyes for higher office, having a long list of "feel good" policies to promote makes everyone happy. But here's a news flash "Governor" Newsom and "Mayor" Mirkarimi: neither of you have the political courage to actually ban plastic bags, or impose true restrictions on disposables. Both of you are cowards who easily stick the costs of "saving the earth" to chains, but have no will to actually do something meaningful, like banning these alleged Bags of Evil entirely.

This is the typical San Francisco fuckup. We love to tell everyone what to do, but when we're asked to live up to our alleged beliefs, we don't. We will always tell everyone to be "green" and do lots of showboaty things, but we'll be damned if we give up plastic bags and our right to free parking, damnit.
UPDATE: Mere moments after posting SF Weekly has a story on it too - and of course, the politicians don't want to return their calls.

The Most Annoying Disclaimer On A Piece of Mail. Ever.

2009-10-14T21:40:40Z

So I was going through what little political mail I've been getting during this quiet political season, and the other day I got one from the No on D campaign, decrying the horridness of billboards on Market Street and so on. Whatever.

I mean this is one of those magic bullet measures that proponents say will bring an era of rose petals and unending "free money" for whatever, and the opponents say will be the beginning of Armageddon. So I normally don't pay attention.

However, this little chestnut on the mail piece, next to the union bug was an eye opener:

"Printed with VOC-free, soy based inks at a 100% wind powered union shop."

Wait. WHAT?

You have to be f*cking kidding me. They really went there, huh?

As always, my colleague "Mason Powell" had the best response upon seeing said disclaimer:

"You mean a beer fart from the pressman counts as wind power?"

F*ck yeah!

Hold On A Second...That Sign Looks Like It Was Photoshopped, Mr. Mayor!

2009-10-13T21:08:22Z

So, it seems Mr. Mayor Whatshisname has a new campaign video out. I guess nowadays posting something on YouTube is a really big deal, and this is like, way Web 2.0 campaigning and all Obama-like and whatnot. Fine.

However, I find this video interesting. but not for a reason Team Newsom might like. You see, I was noticing that suddenly the Mayor is supportive of a "Constitutional Convention" to reform our state's government. This is an idea popular with the liberal types, the conservative types, the business-y types, and political bloggers. So now I guess he's on board. Um, woo hoo?

What's funny is while watching this video (with the older, cooler logos from earlier this year) I saw this image at 0:24, and it made me wonder out loud if this thing was photoshopped in some way. I didn't recall seeing any old Newsom 1.0 signs with "Constitutional Convention" on 'em before, and I'm nerdy enough to notice and keep track of things like that. What really got my attention was how oddly colored this is compared to other elements in the video.

Anyway, I figure the good people on the blogs can pick this apart and have fun with it. Maybe I'm right and maybe not. But the great thing about The Internet is you can always pose a question and let others do the heavy lifting.

UPDATE: It seems great minds do think alike and our friend MattyMatt noticed the same thing also.

Mainstream media? Gavin Newsom? You got some 'splainin' to do! ;-)

Let's Show Gavin Newsom How Crowdsourcing Is Supposed To Work

2009-10-09T19:15:38Z

So the other day I ranked on "Mayor" Newsom's gubernatorial logo crowdsourcing efforts, something I still stand by. I mean, not to go all Don Draper on this, but this selection is a joke. I say this with many years of experience conceiving and executing mail and online campaigns. And as I've said before, although I personally do not do design, I know how to talk to creative people in the design field to execute good products.

After talking to several colleagues, we all agreed that perhaps this might be an opportunity to show how crowdsourcing is done properly. Now while I can't offer cash prizes for submissions, I DO have a couple of projects coming up soon that will need some work, and I'm interested in casting a wide net for talent.

So, in the spirit of Being Constructive and Having Fun, I'm putting out a call for my own Gavin Newsom Logo. Here are the design parameters I'd like you to consider:

-Since we're not the official campaign, we're going to go with "Go Gavin Newsom!" as our slogan/logo/whatever.
-Stylewise, I'm looking for something that's pop-culture aware, but not too cutesy
-The artwork has to be easily seen from a distance (signs) and reproduce well on a variety of media (t shirts, stickers, mousepads, signs, etc)
-Irony, humor, satire and so on are welcome if done well
-If you use the Obama Font, do so carefully. It's already overdone as is, so show me something new.

Personally, my biggest wish in the political mail business was to do a bio of a candidate in the style of a 70s action movie poster (you know the one where they have scenes of the movie behind the main actor, all popping out at you from the center), but no one ever went for it. I suppose action scenes of commission meetings and speaking out at public comments time aren't as cool to detail as chasing bad guys in a speedboat in Louisiana.

The Graphic Design Abortions Known as the "Choices" in Gavin Newsom's Logo "Contest"

2009-10-08T00:35:24Z

Ack! By the time I got home to write this, Everyone Else already blogged something way cooler. Curses!

By now, the Newsom for Governor campaign has spent so much time believing its own hype and that their candidate walks on water, it's almost a bit painful to critique 'em because they're punishing themselves just fine. Today, I got a way-too-enthusiastic email from a John Hughes movie villain asking me (yes me!) and everyone else on their list to "vote" for a campaign logo! Oh wow! So web 2.0!

Now, mind you, Newsom had a campaign logo earlier this year at the convention and there was nothing wrong with it at all. In fact, it was kinda nice in that it didn't look like a typical campaign logo (and it had a URL, Facebook and Twitter logos on it too!) They even had this totally SF hipster tee for sale too for the folks in Sacramento.

But following in the footsteps of Steve Westly and Barbara Boxer, who also offered similar "vote for the logo and be empowered" nonsense, they're doing this to keep people busy and avoid thinking too much about his actual record or mysterious relatives. I guess if you've been cooped up in a war room for the duration it sounds really "out there."

Fine. But like Westly and Boxer, the choices offered are so crap-tacular, the designer(s) who came up with these should be sent to remedial design school or something. Sure, I am not a designer myself. I have, however, done some award winning creative on direct mail and on the web, because while I can't draw a picture, I work with some of the best people in the business, and we come up with kick ass shit. Sterling Cooper can kiss our ass.

Before I pick apart these things, one by one, the way one might pick apart a really bad something or other, it's clear that these are all variants on a very narrow theme.

They all obscure his name a little in some weird way ("ooh he's the new thing on the horizon, dear!") and few of them reproduce well in a variety of mediums (the the green one in particular has hideous typography and can't easily be seen at a distance) If they want the mob to pick a design, fine, but at least have some decent choices so that they don't end up with a stinker.

Ok, now to the nitpicking, Internet style:

These are two variants on the same design, one is white on blue (easier to read) but is crippled by the weird yellow shit in the middle. The other is blue on white, but the typography is so thin, it is hard to make out. Neither one lends itself to multiple mediums, such as print, the web, stickers, signs, and so on, so creating brand consistency is difficult. If I was the client and got these I wouldn't even consider them two designs - it's one design with some dongles changed here and there.

The second worst one of the bunch. The fade in the middle makes this an especially difficult design to reproduce in print, or in black and white on flyers. There's no URL for the website, Twitter and Facebook (oh wait, the new guys can't make 15% off of those so I guess those are out), and in almost all these designs there's a maniacal focus on obscuring part of the guy's name. This is not edgy design, people, this is just stupid.

Now this seems to combine weird pieces of the second and fourth logos, and again, it doesn't work. The typeface is way way too thin to be noticed from a distance, and the weird faux sun ray effect simply does not work. If you're gonna do the whole sunrise, new dawn, new day bullshit, do it right.

This one is a favorite of my good friend Brock at SFist who makes an excellent point about the whole Manchurian Candidate vibe. However, between the blood red color and this fetish for thin, white typefaces, this doesn't come close to say, Dianne Feinstein's standard designs, which have been used in one form or another since 1990.

This last one is a doozy. Where to start? Ok, I get it, it's a green sign because, oh right, he's the Mr. Green Jeans of the campaign, running around telling everyone what to do about their recycling, all the while driving a gas guzzler and killing Muni back at home. Right.

Fine, but this looks less like a campaign logo, and more like something we'd see in Gavin's private life, when he partners with Lisa Simpson to start a company to recycle animals into slurry. I'm sure this got points in the war room for "not looking political" (um, like the original) but that's half the battle, kids. You have to "not look political" and also "not look like crap."

So far it looks like the consensus amongst the cool kids is for "the wed wone," If this is any sign of things to come, in the wake of Streetsbloggate, all I can say is go, Gavin go. I need a respite from the day job's work, and let's face it, Gavin's provided enough blog fertilizer in the past to let a thousand blogs bloom. Yes We Can!

UPDATE So today I got this little email from the "campaign manager" talking about all the excitement over this cool, edgy contest:

Dear Friend,

It’s been a fun couple of days with the launch of our online logo contest. So far we’ve had over 6,000 total votes and the comments have been pouring in.

Elisa from Facebook said, “Let's be bold and go with red!”

Greg said, “I love the green one.”

Jenny on Twitter thought the logo with the white background, navy and sun said, "new day, new way."

As of this email, the logo with the white background, blue lettering and yellow sun is in the lead but the dark blue logo with the yellow sun is close behind.

Thanks to everyone for participating and giving us your feedback – we've been following the commentary and have seen some great ideas.

Voting is open until Sunday at midnight. So, if you have not voted, now is the time.

Cast your vote and help us pick the official Newsom campaign logo.

Sincerely,

Nick Clemons
Campaign Manager
Newsom for California

P.S. To stay connected, join with over 1 million supporters on www.GavinNewsom.com, Facebook and Twitter.

Wait, so out of over "one million supporters" online, only 6000 have voted? Hmm..lessee...that's .006% of this online army he bragged about not too long ago....WOW. Work that online mojo, Gavster!

As I've said before, you can get into a numbers war on Twitter, et al, but it's all meaningless if they don't do anything.

And for the record, THIS Greg thinks the green logo sucks ass.

Genius. Sheer Genius.

2009-09-15T15:41:44Z

Laugh-Out-Loud Cats #1236
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How could you interrupt the Laugh Out Loud Cats, Kanye?

Just What ARE All The Free Things You Can Get In SF On Your Birthday?

2009-08-24T19:41:12Z

My birthday is this Saturday, the first time it's been on a Saturday in ages. Past birthdays have ranged from elaborate events, to unplanned "happenings" that end up as big as elaborate events, without the expense and effort. In 2007, I suggested the Mayor spend his birthday the way I did that year, and last year, oh I went to the Blackthorn with friends (yay!), and had Critical Mass on that day too (boo!).

This year the Outside Lands music festival will be going on, which means tons of people in the neighborhood, and I was thinking of leaving town, but I'm most likely going to stick around here. Because Burning Man starts on Monday, I'm guessing that the exodus starts this weekend (in the past it's been in full swing ON my birthday, which has its benefits.)

I really hadn't planned too far ahead this year, as I'm more concerned with other things, but it occurred to me that perhaps this year might be the year to do all the free things one can do on their birthday. Now, a free Denny's breakfast is nice and all, but I've gotta believe there's more. So, I'm asking the Internet for advice ,and if I can find enough stuff to do, I'll do a photo series/blog post here and cross post it at the More Popular Blog.

So, fire away your suggestions in the comments! (and if you're feeling generous here's my wish list at Amazon for fun.)

PS: For the curious, among the many people that share this birthday are: John McCain, Weezy from the Jeffersons, Elliot Gould, Michael Jackson, SF Public Defender Jeff Adachi, my friend Angelie who is one of the awesome Muni Manners Ladies, Carla Gugino (yay!), Rebecca DeMornay, Joel Schumacher, Charlie Parker, Mr. Blackwell, and the Real John Locke (not the guy on LOST).

To Hear The Crazies on the Left and Right, We Either Elected Dumbledore or Voldemort!

2009-08-11T18:11:11Z

There's some new show on ABC coming out, "Fast Forward," where everyone in the world passes out for 2 minutes, then wakes up with visions of the future. I'm beginning to wonder if some variant on that, perhaps a nation-wide "time out" is needed for America to chill the frak out and dial down the screaming crazy that passes for politics these days.

To hear the crazies on the Right, we've elected Voldemort, and it's time to send bullying mobs out to beat up anyone and smash up cars for anyone that dares express an opinion that's not politically correct, according to the folks in DC, talk radio or whatever. Apparently we also need to freak out about every single thing the President does. Oh noes! He had dijon mustard! ZOMG! He drank a beer! OMG! He's just like a guy who killed millions of people in World War II and I better scream and yell and cry and act like an idiot! Oh no! A non-white guy is in charge - that means it's time for us to lose our sh*t and act like maniacs because THAT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN.

Eeeyah. These are people I want in charge. Not.

The Republicans have lost it in the same way the liberals lost it when Reagan got elected - maybe even more so. There are plenty of valid criticisms of the current President, and they should be aired. But to go to the crazy "stoke the fire" extremes make them look as loony tunes as the folks on the left or those stupid trustafarians who throw rocks at endless war protests? Not exactly making yourself look like you should be running anything but a 2 car parade. (BTW, the right had no problem calling any person who disagreed with Bush anti-American - suddenly that's not ok anymore now that the Prez is Not A Republican?)

Likewise, the lefty types are a bit tiresome, particularly those in liberal bastions, who are screaming and yelling that Obama has not waved his magic wand, changed the country overnight into a liberal utopia, unicorns aren't jumping over rainbows and all is perfect. Give me a break. The guy's been in office what, 7 months? He inherits the economic equivalent of a row of crackhouses, post-raid, and is doing clean up. He's got boneheaded Democrats in Congress who could care less about him, and care more about collecting some lobbyist bucks, and hey, he's the new guy. To start screaming and yelling that every single thing hasn't changed overnight is stupid.

Finally, I'll say this - the double talk on both sides needs to stop. If it's not ok to bully people, smash up autos, and scream obscenities and act like an overall asshole, then it's NOT OK. I don't give a hoot who you are. It's not ok when it's right wing bullies, spurred on by talk radio, and it's not ok when it's left wing bullies, spurred on by the Internet and whatnot. Until we stop this whole "it's ok if it's my guys doing it and not ok if your guys are doing it" mentality, we're gonna get nowhere. (Remember when Bush was president how you were told by the right if you opposed the President you were "un-American?" What changed...oh yeah, right.)

As for me, i just tune out the nutjobs on all sides. The boorish thug bellowing about birth certificates or death panels is not worth paying attention to at this point. The boorish thug bellowing about how Obama hasn't made us a socialist paradise and used his magic powers to change the USA overnight is a fool as well. Those that offer constructive, realistic solutions to fixing this country, however, are folks I wanna hear from, on any side.

50,000,000 Facebook Fans Can't Be Wrong - If They're Organized Effectively

2009-07-02T01:18:10Z

There's no doubt that in the political campaign world, Facebook is the Bright Shiny Thing everyone's got their eyes on, especially since a first-term Senator from Illinois won the presidency last year. But all this activity triggers a question that doesn't have an easy answer: How many campaigns are actually using Facebook effectively, and how many are just wasting their time?

Case Study: The Race to Get Lots of "Friends" and "Fans" on Facebook. If you're on Facebook for more than 5 minutes, you know how easy it is to passively express affinity for anyone, or anything. Maybe you see a friend has become a "fan" of (Not Being on Fire, ESPN, Flipping the Pillow Over To Get To The Cool Side, Batman, some cool local blog, and so on) and within a couple of clicks of the mouse, you join the bandwagon. It's fun, and it's a social "me-too" function that's an integral part of Facebook.

After Barack Obama's much-publicized efforts to collect Facebook friends, politicians and their advisors have jumped on this. Now it's common to see candidates for office engage in a "friend recruitment war," sending out repeated pleas to their supporters to "get more friends" for them, and to hit some magic target. As this desperate struggle for "more friends" continues, politicians risk looking less like capable leaders in difficult times, and more like insecure teenagers running for Homecoming King or Queen instead.

More importantly , these drives to "get more friends and fans" on Facebook miss the potential power of social networking for campaigns as a field organizing tool, not a popularity contest. Obama's efforts on Facebook were part of a larger effort that combined field work - on and off Facebook - and took advantage of the medium's novelty. Today, when Facebook is larger and more established, it's much less important if politician has thousands of "fans" on Facebook. That's particularly true if none of them do anything offline to help out the campaign effort.

However, if a campaign only has a few hundred "fans," with every one of those fans knocking on doors in their hometown, raising money, and telling their friends - on and offline - about the campaign, the candidate will be doing a lot better where it really counts - at the polls on Election Day.

If political consultants want to help their clients the most with social media, they need to look at social networking not as a gimmick, bolted on to a traditional campaign plan, but instead as an extension of their field plan, just done online.

Using Facebook (and Twitter and other social networking sites) and their many tools to identify, recruit and organize supporters online, is great. Giving them something meaningful to do, will ensure that their campaigns are more successful than the insecure teenager begging for more friends.

This article appeared in a slightly different format in the newsletter for my awesome day job. Go to their site and read all about our cool products and services.

Because It's Funny: Conan O'Brien's "Twitter Tracker"

2009-06-12T17:05:16Z

If you've not already seen the Tonight Show's "Twitter Tracker," well, you're missing out on a hilarious send-up of Twitter, particularly when used by celebrites. The exploding Twitterbirds and WWF style announcer just add to the fun.

Why BART Board Member James Fang Is a Liar or A Fool....or Both!

2009-05-18T15:56:52Z

In politics, a bad idea never goes away, especially when it is campaign gimmickry designed to boost the fortunes of a politician desperate for headlines. The problem is these silly campaign gimmicks can often end up becoming very bad, very expensive policy, and you, the citizen, end up paying the price.

The latest example has been this ongoing media barrage BART board member James Fang has been creating over his half-baked idea to use cell phones to pay BART Fares. Today's Matier and Ross detailed Fang's $4000 trip to London to go to a conference hosted by vendors of said technology. All this in addition to BART resources directed to "study" this issue at great cost. This, during a budget crisis.

But let's take a trip in the political Wayback Machine to Fang's 2006 campaign. Fang is a Republican in one of the most non-Republican parts of California. In a re-election bid against Emily Drennen, an advocate for transit and other Good Things, he had to find a way to ensure his re-election, using, of course the taxpayer-funded resources BART could offer.

The result was a completely phony "demonstration" of technology that simply does not exist in the United States (on the scale it does in other nations), with a whole slew of media on hand to "document" a completely falsified event. Naturally, in the closing days of the campaign, Fang, with a local press ready to reprint his every word like good PR people, was able to eclipse any discussion of real issues and win re-election. All based on a lie.

It should be noted that yes, you can use cell phones in Europe and Asia to make purchases of all sorts. Cell phones in Europe can be used with vending machines to buy sodas, and Japanese cell phones can show television broadcasts and so on. There's just one problem - not one US cell carrier currently supports any "pay by cell" techonlogy, nor do any other transit agencies, any vending machine companies and so on. So Mr. Fang is either a liar or a fool when he somehow suggests that magically, within a couple of years, the US will be falling in line with European or Asian standards for cell phones amongst all its cell phone carriers.

The TransLink system, which cost a ton of money and allows for more efficient fare collection with BART, MUNI, AC Transit, and Golden Gate Transit, is FINALLY almost ready to go. MUNI passengers are already finding that using a TransLink pass is easier, and it's expected to help all beleaguered transit systems with money issues. And yet Mr. Fang insists on spending scarce taxpayer dollars to go on junkets and insist on repeating his campaign gimmicks - on our dime. Worse, he's actively undermining a significant regional project the public seems to like for no other reason than his own personal political gain.

The press needs to be admonished for going along with this phony baloney gimmick during the election and not asking the tough questions instead. However, Mr. Fang should also be admonished for wasting taxpayer dollars at a time of crisis, as should BART's management for allowing this to continue. Mr. Fang's actions are no longer a matter of political disagreement, but are costing taxpayers money, and the lies and foolishness need to stop NOW.

BART riders can't afford it any more.

Let's Use the Ballot Measure System to Ban Ballot Measures With A Really Crazy One

2009-05-13T17:17:23Z

I sent my mail ballot in a while back and voted a nice big "NO" on all these ridiculous propositions for this "special election" next week. Most people don't know what they're about, or that there's even an election. Political nerds like me who actually tried to read this garbage found even more not to like, and voted no.

The whole concept of ballot measures at the state and local level has devolved into a joke. When the railroads ran the state and early 20th century reformers wanted to break their hold on government, the ballot measure idea was a good way to circumvent their hold on power. But today, it's a cruel joke that's making our state a laughingstock, and it may be time to pull the plug.

Today, the only people who can afford to put some crazy idea on the ballot are the wealthy special interests these things were supposed to fight. Worse, when someone gets one of these things passed, there's no accountability. Want to make up some budget busting rules for the state? Put it on the ballot and who cares about unintended consequences? Want to make up some zany law declaring San Francisco a "sanctuary city?" Go for it, and when we have illegal alien felons having their "rights" protected from the long arm of the law, well whose ass do we kick for that? No one, that's who....because it was a "vote of the people."

Worse, whenever one of these bogus things get challenged, politicians and the courts are always fearful of "overturning a vote of the people." Hey guess what? If "the people" vote for something truly stupid and unconstitutional, it should be tossed out with the garbage, because it's unconstitutional. Who cares if "the people" voted on it? "The people" barely pay attention as-is, and their only information is from a slew of political ads. Not exactly a model of democracy, I'd say.

However, I think the best way to make a point about this is....to put a ballot measure up for a vote of the people. To paraphrase Sideshow Bob, I'm aware of the irony of using a ballot measure to point out its silliness so don't bother pointing that out. Simply put, I think it's time a group of Concerned Citizens put up the craziest "advisory" ballot measure ever to point how how useless it is. (Although in San Francisco, perhaps no one would get the joke).

Anyway, here's a few ideas I'm spitballing here....feel free to come up with your own....remember we're going to use the election system to take a poll about something completely ridiculous, so the zanier the better:

-An advisory measure asking the City to consider making Alcatraz Island into a facility for the cloning of dinosaur DNA and making a world-class dinosaur zoo in San Francisco.

-An advisory measure stating that San Francisco stands as a "sanctuary city" for unicorns, rainbows, and heart shaped stickers.

-An advisory measure asking the Mayor to wear a different colored tie than those blue ones he's always wearing.

-An advisory measure declaring San Francisco's support for JJ Abrams' efforts to improve pop culture via Star Trek, Fringe, and LOST. Maybe make him an honorary mayor or something.

Anyway, you get the idea. Let's get crazy!

Twittering The California Democratic Convention

2009-04-25T00:08:26Z

What few readers out there that still read this blog may recall we launched this blog at the CDP Convention in 2006 in Sacramento. I'm up here now mostly for my day job, but I'm also posting Twitter updates, which can be found at my Twitter page. In fact I'm at the "Jerry Brown 2010 Social Networking" booth with the Governor as I post this.

I'll be tagging tweets with #cdp09 for easy searching, too! Thanks for following!

Stewart Takes Out CNBC, Daily Show-style

2009-03-05T19:36:50Z

Does it not strike anyone else as odd that the only person willing and able to call this kind of nonsense by alleged "journalists" at CNBC, et al, works on a comedy show?

Glad he's doing it, but another example of why the media is dying. They can't criticize anyone in the fraternity and just go with the pack, never questioning anything...

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

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