Guest Editorial: Sarah Low Daly Speaks For Me -- and District 6

by Ken Werner, Trinity Plaza Tenants Association (TPTA), 2006-11-13

Last Tuesday night, supporters of Supervisor Chris Daly celebrated a sweet victory at local hot spot DNA Lounge at 375 11th Street. On the final day of campaigning, approximately 500 volunteers swarmed over District 6 to reach voters to support the reelection of the Defender of the Disenfranchised. The last phone calls to voters were made at 7:58 p.m. to remind them to vote, and volunteers slowly filtered back to campaign headquarters in the heart of the Mission after 8:00 p.m. By the time I reached DNA, there were already around 100 volunteers and the incumbent’s family partying after a bitter and tiring campaign. We gained sustenance from pizza, lumpia, and egg rolls and quenched our thirst from an open bar. A week later, the election over with Chris Daly’s resounding defeat of would-be pretender for District 6 Rob Black with 50.221% of the vote , the negative spin continues.

The Chronicle’s gossip columnists Matier and Ross are virtually speechless about the victory but continue their one-paragraph harp on Sarah Low Daly’s use of the F word at the victory party. They’re joined by propagandist Pat Murphy, whose misdirected life during the campaign will surely lead to fewer readers. Even the New York Times’ Jesse McKinley failed to report the story behind the story, focusing instead as if San Franciscans walk to a different drummer; we’re human, like everyone else on the planet.

Campaign organizer Bill Barnes opened the victory speeches as he related the story of his conversation with Sarah Low Daly on being pictured on 30 billboards throughout District 6 and the surrounding area and the 380 hand-made sandwiches Sarah and her mother-in-law, Gloria Daly, made for the volunteers. Chris’ dad, Jack, who described himself as the go-fer for the campaign, was also present for the festivities. (Jack and Gloria traveled from Virginia to help their son and voted absentee three weeks before the election.)

Bill introduced Sarah, who approached the microphone rubbing tears from her eyes while supporters repeatedly chanted "Daly." Sarah related how she felt she was going to be delivering a concession speech because the vote counting wasn’t finished, then she blasted the Golden Gate Restaurant Association using the F word and "you" because of GGRA’s opposition to paying the minimum wage to restaurant workers, which was followed by wild cheering from the crowd. She then blasted the Police Officers Association for not wanting to be accountable to the community, and Sarah was joined by volunteers yelling the F word and "you" in unison. Then came Sarah’s response to landlords who prey on their tenants and the ultraconservative plumber’s union, Local 38, in particular who tried to evict 154 vulnerable tenants from the Civic Center Hotel.

Sarah also related her conversation with Chris about moving to the suburbs and raising a family, to which Chris had responded why would they want to move to the suburbs when all the good people are here, in District 6. Supporters cheered loudly and repeatedly chanted "Sarah." As she passed the microphone to her husband, the tears were still flowing from Sarah’s eyes, but they were not tears of sadness.

In about three-and-a-half minutes, Sarah Low Daly was the voice of the people of District 6, and indeed, of San Franciscans in general, as she related her and our frustration, anger, rage, and indignity regarding the 18 independent mailers that flooded the mailboxes of D6 denizens. Those 18 mailers told nothing but lies and focused instead on a despicable character assassination of Supervisor Chris Daly.

Ever since campaign kickoff day on June 10 at the Daly home, we knew this was going to be a vicious campaign. We knew that some jerks would use the Hastings rally photograph of Chris screaming to a police officer to stop inflicting pain on him by using unnecessary force, and those jerks came out of the woodwork like cockroaches. But Chris Daly vowed he would run a clean campaign, and he kept his promise.

However, Chris’ major opponent and one of the biggest losers on November 7, Rob Black, decided to run a Karl Rove and Republican Playbook style campaign. Holding meetings downtown with Mayor Gavin Newsom and undoubtedly with the independent expenditure contributors (one such meeting apparently occurred at the Charles Schwab headquarters on October 27), Black proved to the people of District 6 where his beliefs were: he would rather lie than tell the truth, then lie about telling a lie, just like George Bush. He touted himself as an ethics lawyer, but in my nearly 58 years on this planet I learned that lying is not being ethical.

But Rob Black is not the only loser from this election. Gavin Newsom’s strong push for Black made him a loser as well. Of course, Rob Black’s political career is finished, but he can always get another job for the anti-tenant law firm Neilsen Merksamer. And Newsom will find it virtually impossible to carry District 6 if he chooses to run for a second term.

There is no doubt in my mind that the trash that was sent out by SFSOS, BOMA, GGRA, and others caused some damage to Chris Daly’s image and cost him some votes, but Chris’ image will be easy to repair with the next piece of progressive legislation that he authors for social justice, and should Chris seek another elected position in 2010 those who were deluged with the despicable trash will again rally to Chris’ side.

As for Gary Delagnes of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, he can forget about seeking a future ballot measure asking San Franciscans to grant a raise to police officers or to protect his members’ pension plan. Nobody in their right mind would vote for such a measure. But SFPD officers WILL be pounding a beat starting next year.

As for Kevin Westlye of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, his members need not bother to waste their time offering public testimony for the next 10 years or so. Decent San Franciscans have a long memory how Westlye spent tons of money on a dirty campaign when he claimed he and his members didn’t have any money for workers.

As for SFSOS’s Wade Randlett, you now are three for three in failing to unseat incumbent supervisors.

As for the Chronicle and Examiner, their readership will continue to decline because of the lies those papers choose to print. And Phil Matier and Ken Garcia will continue to be known as two of the most pathetic freaks in the Bay Area, as decent San Franciscans continue to go elsewhere for reliable news.

And as for Pat Murphy, he has shown that he prefers to lie and he alone is responsible for trashing his own reputation when he joined the rank ranks of right-wing fanatics. His only followers will be those with a similar distorted mindset.

So to Delagnes, Westlye, Randlett, Matier, Garcia, and Murphy, you know the two words I have for you. Sarah Low Daly spoke them for me.

And for you San Franciscans who believe in social justice -- whose city? OUR CITY!