Monday, November 28, 2011

The Juanita Owens Effect

As a chair of the "Run-Ed-Run" committee, planning commissioner Christina Olague---who used to be a lefty---no doubt endeared herself to Mayor Lee as a possible appointee as District 5 Supervisor now that Mirkarimi has been elected sheriff.

On the other hand, our district is one of the most left-wing in Progressive Land. Recall that John Avalos buried Mayor Lee in District 5, by 5,566 to 1090 [later: Wrong! Leland Yee got 1,090 votes, and Mayor Lee got 3,886. He didn't do badly at all in D5.]. The mayor could appoint Olague, but that would likely be a kiss of death politically, much like Mayor Brown's endorsement in 2000 of Juanita Owens over Matt Gonzalez was not helpful, to put it mildly. 

In fact any "moderate" Mayor Lee appoints---which Olague is now by definition---will likely be rejected by district voters next year.

Young Julian Davis has also been mentioned as a possibility. Even if Mayor Lee was inclined to appoint a leftist, Davis has some baggage that the mayor---and the Police Officers Association---might find unacceptable, like his support for anarchist Josh Wolf. And his recent disregard for neighborhood interests might also make his appointment unlikely.

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