Spring Break
Daly takes advantage of privileges
Zack Recchia
Issue date: 10/29/03 Section: Opinion
"What would you do if you were mayor of a major city for one day?"
This is the question that 28-year-old San Francisco City Supervisor Chris Daly had to ask himself last Tuesday because a day later‚ it would come to pass.
The answer for this young liberal politician was to make a move that would be expected from a conservative.
According to the Chicago Tribune‚ the Mayor of San Francisco‚ Willie Brown‚ before leaving on a trip to Asia‚ bestowed this honor on Daly mostly as an "olive branch" to clear up bad blood that had long existed between the two.
But Daly used his 14 hours as mayor of San Francisco to make two key appointments‚ a move that enraged Brown and immediately led him to revoke Daly's mayor-for-a-day privileges.
On a letterhead he had drawn up specifically for the occasion‚ Daly secretly appointed two environmentalists‚ Adam Werbach - former Sierra Club president - and Robin Chiang‚ an architect who had worked on several public transit projects‚ to the city's Public Utilities Commission.
Twenty minutes later‚ Daly learned he had been stripped of his post and another supervisor‚ Bevan Duffy‚ a Brown ally‚ was making moves to undo Daly's appointments.
But according to city attorneys‚ it looks as if Daly's appointments may be here to stay because it would take at least eight of the city's 11 supervisors to undo the move.
This seems unlikely‚ because some of the supervisors‚ like Tom Ammiano - a mayoral candidate - said that the appointees seem "well qualified‚" while he accused Brown of appointing "usually patronage."
Though I somewhat disagree with the underhanded nature of this move - which seems like it easily could have emanated from the mind of a hard-core Republican like Tom DeLay were it not for the liberal nature of the appointees - I applaud the move nonetheless.
We seem to have come to a point in this increasingly conservative nation where this type of "power play" by liberals is necessary to halt the spread of war‚ intolerance and environmental destruction that neo-conservatives so espouse.
Daly‚ like many liberals‚ seems to have noted the dire direction this country is going under the control of such Nixonites as Dick Cheney‚ Don Rumsfeld and Karl Rove.
In light of this‚ he decided that he would do whatever was in his power to steer the country in a more progressive‚ environmentally sound direction‚ even if his moves were only a small step in the right direction.
Many small steps can lead to big changes‚ and Daly saw this.
I applaud this gutsy move by such a young politician and urge Daly to continue to fight for what's right over in the Golden State. We could use a few more Chris Dalys in this country.
This is the question that 28-year-old San Francisco City Supervisor Chris Daly had to ask himself last Tuesday because a day later‚ it would come to pass.
The answer for this young liberal politician was to make a move that would be expected from a conservative.
According to the Chicago Tribune‚ the Mayor of San Francisco‚ Willie Brown‚ before leaving on a trip to Asia‚ bestowed this honor on Daly mostly as an "olive branch" to clear up bad blood that had long existed between the two.
But Daly used his 14 hours as mayor of San Francisco to make two key appointments‚ a move that enraged Brown and immediately led him to revoke Daly's mayor-for-a-day privileges.
On a letterhead he had drawn up specifically for the occasion‚ Daly secretly appointed two environmentalists‚ Adam Werbach - former Sierra Club president - and Robin Chiang‚ an architect who had worked on several public transit projects‚ to the city's Public Utilities Commission.
Twenty minutes later‚ Daly learned he had been stripped of his post and another supervisor‚ Bevan Duffy‚ a Brown ally‚ was making moves to undo Daly's appointments.
But according to city attorneys‚ it looks as if Daly's appointments may be here to stay because it would take at least eight of the city's 11 supervisors to undo the move.
This seems unlikely‚ because some of the supervisors‚ like Tom Ammiano - a mayoral candidate - said that the appointees seem "well qualified‚" while he accused Brown of appointing "usually patronage."
Though I somewhat disagree with the underhanded nature of this move - which seems like it easily could have emanated from the mind of a hard-core Republican like Tom DeLay were it not for the liberal nature of the appointees - I applaud the move nonetheless.
We seem to have come to a point in this increasingly conservative nation where this type of "power play" by liberals is necessary to halt the spread of war‚ intolerance and environmental destruction that neo-conservatives so espouse.
Daly‚ like many liberals‚ seems to have noted the dire direction this country is going under the control of such Nixonites as Dick Cheney‚ Don Rumsfeld and Karl Rove.
In light of this‚ he decided that he would do whatever was in his power to steer the country in a more progressive‚ environmentally sound direction‚ even if his moves were only a small step in the right direction.
Many small steps can lead to big changes‚ and Daly saw this.
I applaud this gutsy move by such a young politician and urge Daly to continue to fight for what's right over in the Golden State. We could use a few more Chris Dalys in this country.
Be the first to comment on this story