The rumors are true: Bill Barnes will be Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier’s new legislative aide. Alioto-Pier told me so on Tuesday.
For those of you who have a life, allow me to explain the significance of this: Barnes used to work for Supervisor Chris Daly. And, while our local politicians would all be burned as witches for their liberal beliefs in other American cities, Daly and Alioto-Pier are on opposite sides of what passes for a political spectrum in San Francisco.
Daly is a leader in The City’s progressive movement who is well known for his affordable housing advocacy and general lack of shyness. Alioto-Pier’s name contains the word “Alioto.” Her district (District Two) includes the Marina and she almost always votes the same way as moderate Supervisors Sean Elsbernd and Carmen Chu.
(Barnes' bio here.)
Barnes was the campaign manager for Supervisor Chris Daly’s first successful bid to join the Board of Supes in 2000. He then immediately joined Daly’s staff where he served as a legislative aide until 2004.
(My dear friend/human encyclopedia reminded me that Barnes ran for District 5 Supe in 2004; he lost to Ross Mirkarimi.) In 2006, he worked as a legislative aide to then-Supervisor Fiona Ma and when she was elected to the State Assembly in 2006, he went to Sacramento to serve as her Chief of Staff.
He resigned that post in December 2008 and for the past few months has been working for San Francisco Firefighters Local 798 in their effort to prevent firehouse closures.
His recent gig with Local 798 plus him at odds with current progressives on the Board (including Daly) who want to take money from police and fire to stave off other cuts to social services. That, plus his new position with Alioto-Pier’s office will make for one very interesting “Welcome Back to City Hall” party in early July.
It's nice to see Bill finally come to his senses and become a Moderate! Welcome to our world, Bill!
Posted by: | June 18, 2009 at 10:36
Oh, silly. Bill's not in anyone's world. We are all in his.
Posted by: Kay | June 18, 2009 at 12:56
Slow news week at city hall?
Posted by: vansmack | June 18, 2009 at 14:23
Alioto-Pier, Carmen Chu, and Sean Elsbernd are conservatives, not moderates. Don't give them and their ilk cover to become even more conservative. To them, being a Democrat is a necessary evil.
Posted by: Matt | June 18, 2009 at 18:19
There are no conservatives or moderates on the SF BOS by national standards. We have only liberals and extreme ultra liberals.
Posted by: Howard Epstein | June 18, 2009 at 20:17
Hey Howard,
How does it feel to realize that in about 5 years, the final verdict on your almighty bitch god, Ronald Reagan, will be that he was one of the worst Presidents in American history? Face it, capitalism is the problem, not the solution. Pretty soon we'll be able to make it small enough to drown in a bathtub.
Posted by: Matt | June 18, 2009 at 20:32
Bill has always been a moderate, assuming that he actually believes in something. When I first met Bill in 2000, he was running Chris Daly's first campaign. He told me at the time he was a "raging moderate," so I asked him why the hell was he working for Chris Daly. His response: "Chris and I gelled socially."
I hear from people back East that Bill was a Republican before he moved to the Bay Area. But that's not very relevant in my opinion, because California is a place where you can move to and be yourself.
Posted by: Paul Hogarth | June 18, 2009 at 23:50
Hey Matt,
Get a grip on yourself. The fact is the socialists policies you and the majority of the S.F. electeds advocate have never worked well anywhere they've been tried and in more cases than not led to totalitarian dictatorships. The fact is the USA's capitalist system has created a higher standard of living than any other system know.
Obama will go down with Jimmy Carter as one the worst Presidents of all time.
Posted by: Howard Epstein | June 19, 2009 at 14:31
Hey Howard,
Face it, Keynes was right and Friedman and his lobotomized disciple, Greenspan (who was appointed by Reagan, I might add), didn't know what the fuck they were talking about. Carter? Obama? You have a point. In terms of foreign policy/empire maintenance, Obama is doing things Dick Cheney could only dream about. At his rate, Obama will go down as another Herbert Hoover. And instead of bashing Obama, you should be worshiping him because, like FDR, he is trying to save capitalism from itself.
Higher standard of living? Pfffft! Take off your blinders and look at the homeless people sleeping on the streets of SF (not to mention every other major city in the U.S.) Or have you been in SF so long that you have become immune to such plight?
I said it before and I'll say it again: history won't look kindly on the grandfather of The Great Depression Part 2. And, as Karl Marx once said, "If you give capitalists enough rope, they'll hang themselves with it." Viva la Revolucion, baby! By the way, there will be a socialist convention in SF from July 2 to July 5th. Be there or be square.
Posted by: Matt | June 19, 2009 at 21:14