We’ll Soon Know Recall Results

A business executive in Denver gave his employees long vacations this year to find out which ones he could do without.

As summer fades, I’m reminded that the ideal summer resort is where the fish bite and mosquitos don’t!

Even though he has all the money he needs from tech billionaires who don’t live in supervisorial District 4 in the Sunset, Joel “The Mole” Engardio doesn’t appear a sure thing to prevail on Sept. 10, despite the San Francisco Chronicle’s pandering to his campaign and him and the Examiner implying the recall is a “sure loser.” Those complicit wags downtown, in Pacific Heights and Seacliff feed cash to the fellow who never ran in an at-large supervisorial citywide election and finally used a district election to hop on the City Hall gravy train, where you’re paid $160,000 a year without working or holding any meetings in August. Even then, his cagy sponsorship of Proposition K later joined by four other second floor City Hall phonies feeding at the public trough demonstrates their obeisance to neighborhoods which hector their own foolish legislation dandies and, in this instance, don’t criticize the theft of the Upper Great Highway. These neighborhoods didn’t vote last Nov. 5 – 65% “no” on Prop. K. as Sunset District voters did, or 70% “no” as the Richmond District voters did! Why discard at-large supervisorial elections if a “district” supervisor ignores his district voters?

Waiting in San Francisco Superior Court is a lawsuit filed by Lisa Arjes, a Sunset voter, Albert Chow, a longtime Taraval Street hardware store owner and Matthew Boscetto, a lawyer whose family has graced District 4 for many decades. Judge Jeffrey S. Ross, a relatively new Superior Court judge, was assigned the non-jury trial which he postponed last month fron Sept. 29 to Nov. 10, at 1:30 p.m., at San Francisco Superior Court, 400 McAllister St. Eli Love, esquire, of Rutan and Tucher, will try the case for District 4 voters and you should be there to inspire our lawyer and ensure a fair trial.

Over one decade ago, while I was a Superior Court judge and no longer (after 1998) a state senator, the California Senate and Assembly decided to end gerrymandering in drawing U.S. House of Representatives 52 California district boundaries for the next decade’s House elections. It was approved by voters as good government in action, especially in this virtual one-party state. Democrats, Independents and Republicans voted for it and it has been successfully applied to produce a delegation of 43 Democrats and nine Republicans. We are the only state to grant such authority to citizens, not legislative politicians. We should all be proud of that. Now, however, California Democrats led by the governor want to discard such citizen authority and return the subject-matter to the Democratic-dominated legislature. The action by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the legislative majority offends voters who approved that independent, non-partisan citizen commission to redistrict California’s House of Representative seats of which we have the most. It treats the law as non-existent; it’s an unadorned power grab.

For a California redistricting by Democratic-controlling legislators (to match Texas’ Republican legislation) requires an amendment to the state constitution, so on Nov. 4, voting places across California will be open for “monkey business.” The purpose, of course, is to allow the Democrats to win at least five more House of Representatives districts to match or outdo those nasty Texas Republicans who have already broken the historical American governmental practice of re-districting only after the 10-year U.S. census is taken. As an Independent, I urge a “no” vote on this Nov. 4 state ballot measure. Meanwhile, I’ll ignore the blathering Trumpian claim that voting by mail is crooked and for only the third time in 76 years of voting by mail, I vote “no” to the state keeper of mail-in votes.

While false provocateurs spread disinformation about California’s and San Francisco’s need for more housing while population declines, Our Neighborhood Voices, a statewide organization which seeks to qualify a 2026 ballot measure to restore zoning decisions to locally elected officials (city council members and supervisors). I support the effort. Write to 312 Clay St., Room 300, Oakland, CA 94607 or telephone 510-423-4300 to join the crusade.

The University of Pennsylvania (Trump’s alma mater) paid former U.S. President Josepeh Biden in 2018 and 2019 more than $900,000 to be a “professor of practice.” He didn’t teach any course, but a university spokesman described the relationship as “phenomenally successful.” Anonymous donors defy disclosure by Penn. The university president (Amy Gutmann) was appointed ambassador of Germany by Biden in 2021. In this respect, Biden and Trump are like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

All Californians should honor state history on Sept. 9 to commemorate the 175th anniversary of California’s statehood. My family’s California story includes a 1936 move from Syracuse, New York to Los Angeles by my paternal aunt, uncle, their son and daughter, encouraged by promises of participation in the movie industry where my aunt’s forebearers founded 20th Century Fox movie studios to produce films and display them in their movie theaters all over the U.S.A. My pharmacist uncle became a movie theater manager; my aunt read current books to recommend which were suitable for movie production. I settled in San Francisco on Dec. 20, 1955, after college, law school, U.S. Air Force service (1952-1954) and one year in New York City as assistant counsel to the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor. All hail California from San Diego to Del Norte County!

America and California are lands of opportunity. Everybody can become a taxpayer. As a California taxpayer recently moaned: “I owe the government so much money it doesn’t know whether to throw me out or recognize me as a foreign power.”

Happy Labor Day on Sept. 1!

Quentin Kopp is a former San Francisco supervisor, state senator, SF Ethics Commission member, president of the California High Speed Rail Authority governing board and retired Superior Court judge.