Total rubbish. Jeff is a progressive. 72,000 signatures for Jeff's prop vs. 32,000 for "Run Ed Run". The people have spoken.

BTW, I am a liberal Democrat and I will vote a big "YES" for Jeff's prop. It's math and we have to rein in the greed and pay for play by crooks in SF govt that masquerade as "progressives".

I think you confused who the "crooks" are. Adachi's campaign was the one caught committing voter fraud. See it for yourself here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?entry_id=93123

1) it's not clear that constitutes "voter fraud" by any stretch of the legal imagination.
2) Out of 300 signature gatherers, there are four who made misleading statements. That hardly invalidates the plan, which saves far more money - without crimping the modestly paid workers - than the "City Family" plan.

BTW, how can David Chiu be part of the City Family when he didn't so much as attend a single California school - and only got here fifteen years ago after abandoning the city - Boston - that had been so generous to him?

Is it possible that working class Boston voters - far more engaged in civic life than the now very transient, upscale SF population - would never have allowed a weasel like Chiu into office?

You remind me of Adachi trying to wriggle away from the truth when his campaign was caught red handed telling lies to get signatures. You say his campaign made "misleading" statements to get signatures but the evidence clearly shows them telling lies. One of his campaigner was caught on tape telling voters Adachi's measure will increase the benefits levels for city employees!

Give me a break and stop trying to defend indefensible behavior.

Here's an exercise for you, Mr. Smith:

Why don't you actually explain which statements, from the video, you consider to be outright lies. Note where in the video those statements take place.

We'll wait for your reply. Bear in mind that those accusing Mr. Adachi will be met with a reasonable measure of skepticism, given the literally criminal syndicate (POA) that has tried for years to discredit ANYTHING Adachi does, without ever cleaning their own house (SFPD).

I guess you can't read (or listen) as I stated above one of his campaigner was caught on tape telling voters Adachi's measure will increase the benefits levels for city employees! That is clearly not true in anyway.

I watched the video. This is just like the Republican 20year old pimp at ACORN "gotcha" video. They are trying to get your basic paid signature collector to say something misleading when they obviously don't know much about what they're talking about. They're not policy experts. They have like 20 ballot initiatives they're trying to get signed at a time and it is just a paycheck for them....

Obviously this is a move by the unions to try block this. But it won't work. And as people see more and more what a disaster our city finances are in, I predict serious reform with meaningful contributions by ALL employees (not just the 22yo hired after 2012...I hardly call that reform) will pass...

Sorry SF employees, but the golden handcuffs days are over. You had a great run while it lasted, but we are out of cash and can't continue to give you essentially what is a $5,000,000 pay out (that is the equivalent of $250,000 pension for life after retirement with only a 5% return. So basically, you average police officer becomes a multimillionaire on retirement.)

What would you rather have? $5,000,000 cash or $250,000,000 for the rest of your life? Nice little payout at the taxpayer's dime, no?

What planet do you live on thinking that most city employees get a $250,000 pension? The average pension for non-public safety workers(the vast majority of those who work for the city) is less than $40,000 a year.

Me too. Some of us liberals have been waiting for REAL pension reform. Some of us are aware of the ludicrous disparity between the benefits of the private sector working people and the public sector working people.

One of the reasons the city farms out so much of city services to non-profit contractors is because they pay 40% less than the city does with its unsustainable promise of a "living wage." We simply cannot afford to give everyone who works for the city free health insurance for life after working for only 5 years!!! That's what it was up until a minor adjustment a couple of years ago....

The city stopped five year healthcare vesting for retirement years ago. That has already been reformed.

and Adachi's signature gatherers were paid to mislead voters and commit voter fraud to get his measure on the ballot.

Here's the evidence:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?entry_id=93123

You posted the same link twice. But you didn't make the case that it constitutes "voter fraud".

Telling lies to voters to get signatures is fraud.

Mr. Napoli:

Thanks for the link to the Bay Guardian comparison.

Here's the part I found compelling, and in favor of Mr. Adachi:

""SEIU is right that Mayor Lee's proposal is inequitable," Adachi added, noting that Measure B was criticized for being unfair to lower-income workers. "That's why my new proposal increases pension contribution rates in $10,000 graduations. But under Lee's plan, a person who earns $100,000 contributes the same rate as someone who makes $50,000."

"He criticized Lee's plan for requesting only modest increases from safety workers. "Police and fire cost two to three times as much as everyone else's retirement. They pay 17 percent of what's in the fund and take out 36 percent. So that means SEIU folks are subsidizing the costs of safety workers' retirement."

"Adachi acknowledged it would be better to have one measure everyone can support. "But I don't agree that we should put ineffective reform on the ballot," he said."

Adachi makes a good point in stating that police and fire cost two to three times as much as everyone else's retirement. They pay 17 percent of what's in the fund and take out 36 percent??????

I would just ask why the hell the SFPD is the highest paid police in the country - making nearly twice what hardworking New York beat cops who don't ride around in comfy cars, parking in bus zones to pick up their lattes. Deadbeats.

What's easier - patrolling the Bronx or the Inner Richmond? Well, that depends what part of the Bronx, Riverdale's sweet. But there is absolutely no excuse for the sick salaries, sick pensions, and SICK overtime that SF cops are clocking.

I actually support high salaries for the police. But when your police department loses 120 cases for the DA and is now being investigated by the FBI (as is the case with SFPD) it's time to cut their fat salaries. And zero overtime for these candy asses.

Adachi - show me a bill that just addresses the sick disparity between police and teacher salaries, and I'll be happy to donate time and money. Son of B might just be it.

Teachers are the future. SFPD is... who the hell knows what it is until the FBI investigation is finished?

Separatedly, from a fiscal conservative point of view, Adachi's plan brings the hard savings that Lee/Chiu's squishy proposal doesn't.

NYPD retirement rates are also around 55% max, not the 90% we have here...

It doesn't prove anything - merely that proposals require backing, and when your opposition is the LARD-ASSED Gary Delagnes of POA (Police Union), then you need cash, because law enforcement lobbyists are the 500-pound gorilla you gotta fight.

And if you don't believe law enforcement lobbyists are brutally powerful here, just look at the 2006 Copley Press Decision by the CA Supreme Court, and the manner in which it's been "interpreted" by Dennis Herrera's office.

Thanks for your clarifications. But this is really a grotesque understatement:

"I agree with you about the power the SFPD in these fiscal negotiations, and that there is much waste in the SF Police Department."

SFPD Officer and rogue cop Ricardo Guerrero made $680,000 in three years (2007 through 2009), $383,000 of that was overtime and "other pay."

Call a spade a spade.

That's not waste. That's embezzlement.

By the way, I'm still waiting for ANYONE to explain to me why, in 2010, SFPD officers were making starting salaries of 82k while NYC beat cops (y'know, those guys who actually have to WALK to patrol) were starting at 41k.

The average SFPD officer was making $130k a year in 2010, which is nearly 3 times the current UCSF medical resident's salary.

I'm not a big Gonzales fan, but Adachi can't be tarnished with an inaccurate comparison to Gonzales.

Are you crazy? He lost by 17,000 votes. This was a co-ordinated behind the scenes effort by Newsom???? Don't think so my friend. Newsom I lost. I should know, I volunteered on Gonzales' campaign. It was very very very close. To insinuate that this is some kind of secret plan to keep Ammiano out of the mayor's office is laughable and really reflects that you have no idea what you are talking about.

Nandro you obviously don't understand San Francisco politics. The rise of Tom Ammiano was very real and threatening to the Newsom-WillieBrown-Barton clique. Matt Gonzales suddenly bubbles up and takes all the media attention, stealing supporters from Ammiano and forcing a second election. Then Matt suddenly turns vague and non-committal and whoops Newsom won the second election. That is how this works. And it is the typical playbook called divide and conquer.

I was also living in San Francisco.

But don't put words in my mouth. My insinuations are based on a longer perspective.

What exactly did Gonzales do when he was a supervisor for 2 years? And after the "mayorial race" he has essentially dropped out of public life. Why is that? What is he doing now? Consulting?

Really?

Now should I accuse you of not knowing what you are talking about merely because you actively disagreed with my point of view? Should I call you clueless if the truth hurts.

Wake up man. The history of trojan horse candidates is a part of American political history.

I looked it up and found out something I didn't know.

"In February 2011, Gonzalez returned to San Francisco Government, appointed chief attorney in the Public Defender's Office by Jeff Adachi. Some speculated that his appointment was a harbinger of another run for elected office, but Adachi dismissed those claims."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/23/BAOF1HS8FC.DTL

It's dangerously naive to deny the inordinate power law enforcement lobbies in California (and esp. SF) enjoy.

I don't understand your ref to Ammiano - can you elaborate? Are you implying that Ammiano challenged SFPD in the same manner as Adachi has?

I'm a "forever" Democrat, no matter how much the party has screwed up in the last two decades. (Obama, despite all promises, now stands to the RIGHT of both Nixon AND Reagan.) But I'm not so orthodox or doctrinaire in my Democratic outlook to be dissuaded by a good bill merely because it is partially funded by "out-of-state Republicans".

I believe George P. Schultz, Reagan's former Sec. of State, was a GOPer, and he's done more to deligitimize the entirely illegitimate drug war than any Democratic pol.

Michelle,

My reference about Ammiano, is that he didn't have a problem raising money and had resort to raising funds from out of state Republicans. If Adachi's plan is so awesome then how come he has trouble raising funds from within the state and needs to get out state Republicans to donate?

The idea that Big Union money doesn't support him is too simplistic. There are other entrepreneurs and big money donors in the state who are wedded to the unions.

Good ideas stand on their own. They don't get used by bad actors to promote their dwindling political career.

Yup! 100% correct.

Sorry, given the unethical conduct in the POA, I'd be extremely skeptical of claims that straight arrow Adachi was involved in unethical conduct. How easy would it be for Gary Delagnes to plant a rogue volunteer within Adachi's campaign?

Too easy.

Yes, this is another issue that is never talked about, how does a cop log so much overtime just before retirement suddenly go on disability? The heroes are abusing the system...

Delagnes has to be one of the biggest slime, how can anyone draw disability pay while collecting another full salary, anywhere else that would be fraud.

What is not convince about the link? Do you not accept the fact that Adachi's campaign was telling lies to voters? Is that OK in your book? Should the public defenders campaign purposely mislead the public? Is that an honest or trustworthy thing to be doing? How can you defend that kind of behavior?

In the end, this will be the most critical issue, the city budget can not go on funding these outrageous salaries and benefits. There need to be caps put into place, starting with a pension cap of $50K.