Life in Cloud City

(you next mayor?)

It seems that San Francisco has itself a new Mayor (or, it will on Friday when the Supes vote again). Seven members of the Board of Supes (Alioto-Pier, Elsbernd, Chu, Maxwell, Dufty, and Chiu) have all pledged their support for City Administrator, Ed Lee. Those last three names all come as somewhat of a surprise to those who pay attention to such things, as Dufty and Chiu have both declared their unwavering support for the Progressive's favored candidate, former SF sheriff Mike Hennessey (Sophia Maxwell, the quintessential swing vote, has just been waiting for someone to meet her price...).

If you don't know who Ed Lee is don't feel bad, you aren't alone. City Administrator isn't exactly a high profile job around here, and until last night i don't think he was seriously on anyone's short list for SF mayor. All you really need to know about our new place-holder-Mayor is that he is well liked and widely regarded as competent if not stellar at what he does, and that he is a very close ally of Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Chamber of Commerce. Board President David Chiu was the first defector from the Progressive Alliance. Upon learning that his friend and ally had gone over to the Dark Side, Supervisor Chris Daly's face exploded all over City Hall and he promised to "haunt" Chiu for the rest of his political career, which the always classy Daly followed up with "It's on like Donkey Kong," (you have got to love his reaction, because you know it's true. As long as David Chiu has political aspirations Chris Daly is gonna ride his ass like a hound from hell. If nothing else that man raises holding a grudge to a high art... and i really respect that about him.). Dufty and Maxwell jumped into the Moderate camp late last night after a twenty minute meeting with Prince Gavin.

So now the question is "why?" What did the three Supes get in exchange for their support? Word on the street says that Chiu would love to be District Attorney, a desk at City Hall that currently sits empty with Kamila Harris newly elected to statewide office. And you would have to have spent the last decade in a coma not to see that Bevan Dufty hungers to be Mayor like my puppy hungers for cat poop, and Gavin Newsom's endorsement/donor list will go a long way tword reaching that goal. As for Sophie Maxwell... I honestly don't know what she wants. But i do know that this can only be seen as a political coup for Newsom, who will be pulling the strings in Cloud City for a long time to come.