Supervisor Scott Wiener makes it rain in the DCCC race (Credit: The Chronicle)
Believe it or not, there were some people who cared desperately about Tuesday’s sleep-inducing election.
In fact, there were 51 of them.
They were the candidates for 24 seats on the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee — known, if at all, as “the D-triple-C.” The group is the official San Francisco Democratic Party, and its endorsements for other political offices are among the most significant to voters.
So how much did those 51 candidates care?
Between them, they raised what is expected to approach half a million dollars, believed to be an all-time record in a DCCC race. Much of the money came from major unions and downtown groups including the San Francisco Apartment Association.
The mayor encouraged several of his staffers to run, apparently in hopes of holding more sway over the body. The 18 women candidates formed a first-of-its-kind women’s slate, prioritizing gender over political persuasion.
So all the effort must have resulted in a vast reshaping of the city’s Democratic Party, sure to influence political races for years to come right?
The body is pretty much the same politically as it was before, though if anything, it shifted slightly away from the progressive side which took control four years ago and toward the moderate side.
The only mayoral staffer to win was homeless director Bevan Dufty, though he surely has more name recognition from his eight years as supervisor. Neighborhood services director Joaquin Torres lost — and, in a surprise, so did education liaison and school board member Hydra Mendoza.
So the mayor didn’t have coattails, but the Board of Supervisors sure did if riding your own coattails counts. In fact, for the first time ever, the majority of the Board of Supervisors won seats on the committee. The winners are John Avalos, David Campos, David Chiu, Malia Cohen, Scott Wiener and Eric Mar.
Asked what that means in terms of the Brown Act governing, um, government, the city attorney’s office said, “Our office has not been asked to opine on this matter.” (We actually did ask them to opine, but apparently we don’t count.)
Alix Rosenthal, who won re-election to the DCCC, works on good government issues for the city attorney’s office in Oakland. We asked her to opine as well.
“It means that if the DCCC will be discussing matters within the jurisdiction of the Board of Supervisors, those DCCC meetings need to be noticed as meetings of the Board of Supervisors,” she said.
Yes, that’s right, folks. One thing this election did accomplish is ensuring there are even more meetings of the Board of Supervisors.
Rosenthal was the woman behind the women’s slate, which as we told you earlier devolved into infighting with three women dropping off the slate altogether. So how did the women do?
Eleven of the 18 women running won seats. Compared to the committee’s previous total of…drumroll please…11!
Cohen said the women’s slate helped get some new women elected and that’s she’s already looking forward to creating another women’s slate in 2014. “It’s the first stab,” she said. “I’m excited and fired up and looking forward to putting together the next women’s slate.”
So if not much of anything changed on the DCCC, what did this election — watched closely by dozens — show? Name recognition matters. So does money. And the committee is no longer a training ground for political newcomers but another feather in the cap of political old-timers.
“Money begets money,” Rosenthal said. “I have friends who are talking about running in two years and what I’m telling them is you need to convince people to drop off the DCCC before you run or it’s going to be nearly impossible.”
Rafael Mandelman, who won re-election to the committee, said he’d be fine with one or two supervisors on the committee, but doesn’t like the fact there are now six.
“When you have a majority of the Board of Supervisors on the county committee, it starts feeling like the same set of people are monopolizing all the offices,” he said.
Larry Bush, who publishes the CitiReport blog, said he’s never seen this much money flow in a DCCC race. Wiener alone raised $70,000, roughly double the second biggest money raiser, Zoe Dunning.
Bush, a progressive, says it’s a problem that the committee now has Wiener and five other supervisors as members.
“By having six supervisors on there, you have foreclosed a number of seats for people to gain experience in our political process,” he said. “It sort of gobbles up the landscape, and it doesn’t give us an opportunity for more diverse viewpoints.”
He said the supervisors clearly want to influence who wins the committee’s coveted endorsements. “I don’t think they’re signing up to be on the DCCC so they can go out and do voter registration,” he quipped.
But Wiener said the big names and big money show people actually care about the important, if often overlooked, committee.
“There are some counties in the state where they can’t get enough people to run, and that’s not a good thing,” he said. “The fact that people actually care is good. The DCCC matters, and it should not go under the radar.”
Money saving tips: Father’s Day gift ideas - Dayton Daily News
Father’s Day is June 17, and it can be a bit of a perplexing task for me to find the perfect gifts for my dad and brothers.
When I asked Pops what he wanted for Father’s Day, he said, “Oh, nothing.” Of course, “nothing” does not work for me. It’s not in my nature to give “nothing” on this kind of day.
According to the Library of Congress, the first Mother’s Day was celebrated in 1914, but a holiday celebrating fathers did not become official until 1966, when President Lyndon Johnson declared that the third Sunday in June would be Father’s Day. President Richard Nixon made this proclamation permanent in 1972.
To continue in that spirit of national recognition for the greatness of dads, I have put together some gift-giving ideas for four styles of dads.
The epicurean
The way to a man’s heart is arguably through his stomach, so a gift of fine dining makes sense.
In last week’s Red Plum flier, I found a $4 off coupon for two dinners at Red Lobster, which is one of my father and mother’s favorite restaurants. Therefore, I will treat both of them to a relaxing dinner when I visit Colorado later this summer. (I also “liked” Red Lobster on Facebook for more news and a special offers from the restaurant chain.)
My brother, Matthew, is a fantastic chef, and I am always looking for recipes that will appeal to both him and his 3-year-old son, Orin. I went online to Amazon.com and found Ian Knauer’s “The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food,” which has garnered accolades from some of the top chefs in the nation. A former cook in the Gourmet test kitchen, Knauer is well-known for recipes making the best of seasonal produce. His inspiration? The Pennsylvania farm that has been in his family since the 18th century.
I have no doubt the Brick Chicken with Corn and Basil Salad, for instance, will satiate the taste buds of my brother and my adorable nephew — who has quite the sophisticated palette for his young age.
Barnes and Noble, Books & Co., Target, HomeGoods, just to mention a few retailers, also have cookbooks worthy of the dad who likes to don a chef’s apron.
If your budget is limited, then definitely check out Cold Stone Creamery and its sweet deals just in time for Father’s Day. The ice-cream parlor has just introduced its Retro Classics, including a classic root beer float and hot fudge sundae. (Go online to www.Cold StoneCreamery.com for the location nearest you.)
The dapper dad
No matter what station in life a man might be at, he most likely wants to dress smartly and be well-groomed.
Therefore, I am happy to report almost every men’s apparel store is offering some kind of shopping incentive for Father’s Day. Target, Old Navy, Kmart and Gap stores, for example, have some great casual collections, and Macy’s is doling out some fab ideas for Father’s Day presents in the attire arena.
Don’t forget: Some men enjoy a little pampering, too. At Von Maur, the upscale department store, Jack Black body-care collections are being promoted.
Sporty dad
For the golfers on my shopping list, I found a really cool accessory: the Golf Towel with Germ Shield. The dual-sided design gives Dad two towels in one: the golf side is for his clubs and equipment; while the skin side is for him. The Germ Shield layer is sandwiched between two luxurious layers of 100 percent pure cotton terry to create a protective barrier between his skin and the dirt, chemicals and fertilizers used on golf courses. Visit TowelMate.com to order.
Men’s health and fitness magazines, too, make splendid gifts. For more ideas, visit discount magazine subscription sites such as www.SpeedyMags.com.
The gadget geek
I perused the Apple.com site and was thrilled to read about the sheer awesomeness of the iPad with Retina display. (OK, I admit I am a geek.) If you order an iPad or an iPad2 from the Apple site, you will receive not only free shipping but also free engraving on the tablets, which start from $499.
For the music aficionado on your Father’s Day list, check out Beats by Dr. Dre “high-definition” headphones. They aren’t cheap (from $199), but most any serious music lover or musician will no doubt be eternally grateful for this gift. I found the headphones available online at Walmart and www.Amazon.com.
Power tools, Shop-Vacs, grills, high-definition TVs, DVD collections, at such stores as Lowe’s, Best Buy, HHGregg and Sears, also would be welcome in the workshops and offices of men who tinker around. (Consider gift cards to take the guesswork out of deciding what dad might enjoy this holiday.)
Of course, if your budget is limited, your dad will understand — and appreciate — a phone call, a handmade card, a hug or any heartfelt gesture. Some things truly are priceless.
Robin McMacken is a writer, designer and National Academy of Sports Medicine and Aerobics and Fitness Association of America-certified personal trainer. Follow her on Twitter at Robin_McMacken.
Hayek: "General Unemployment" Requires Easy Money - Forbes
I’m reading Tiger by the Tail, a compendium of excerpts from F.A. Hayek’s writings on monetary policy. The book was originally published in the 1970s, but the edition I’ve got includes a 2009 introduction from Austrian economist Joseph Salerno, who takes the opportunity to blast the Fed’s “highly inflationary growth in the official Fed monetary aggregates” in response to the financial crisis. He seems to imply that Hayek himself would have favored tighter money. But look at what Hayek actually said:
The habit of thinking in terms of an alternative between “full employment” and a state of affairs in which there are unemployed factors of all kinds available is perhaps the most dangerous legacy which we owe to the great influence of the late Lord Keynes. That so long as a state of general unemployment prevails, in the sense that unused resources of all kinds exist, monetary expansion can be only beneficial, few people will deny. But such a state of general unemployment is something rather exceptional, and it is by no means evident that a policy which will be beneficial in such a state will also always and necessarily be so in the kind of intermediate position in which an economic system finds itself most of the time, when significant unemployment is confined to certain industries, occupations, or localities.
Of a system in a general state of unemployment it is roughly true that employment will fluctuate in proportion with money income, and that if we succeed in increasing money income we shall also in the same proportion increase employment. But it is just not true that all unemployment is in this manner due to an insufficiency of aggregate demand and can be lastingly cured by increasing demand.
Hayek wrote this passage in 1967, a period in which the United States was experiencing robust growth and had an unemployment rate below 4 percent. He was criticizing people who argued for monetary easing even in relatively good times in an effort to reduce unemployment even further. He points out that this isn’t likely to work, because in modern jargon the unemployment is largely “structural.” Rather, monetary stimulus in ordinary economic conditions will mostly just push up prices in industries that are already at full capacity, introducing economic distortions in the process.
But Hayek is careful to distinguish this ordinary case from a “general state of unemployment” in which virtually all industries are operating below capacity. He argues that in these unusual times, like the 1930s, monetary stimulus does raise the general level of economic output. During these time periods, “if we succeed in increasing money income we shall also in the same proportion increase employment.”
He stresses that this kind of situation is “rather exceptional.” So most of the time, the advice isn’t relevant. But at the moment, we’re not living in ordinary times; we’re living through the worst recession in almost a century. The unemployment rate has been above 8 percent for more than three years. And while some industries (automotive and construction) and regions (Las Vegas and Detroit) have been hit particularly hard, virtually all industries and regions have unemployed resources. In other words, we seem to be in precisely the kind of exceptional “general unemployment” situation in which, in Hayek’s view, monetary stimulus can increase economic output.
This is significant because Hayek is revered among Austrian economists, many of whom seem to believe that monetary stimulus is a bad idea even in severe economic downturns like the one we’re experiencing right now. But Hayek himself doesn’t seem to have shared this view.
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