It's a pity Ross can't also switch his people skills.

What happened to all the self-righteous finger-pointing that Mirkarimi and other Greens dumped on Democrats in the past for not joining the Greens?

It turns out that the finger is bent, pointing back the pointer. The curved message is that politicians will do anything to promote their careers and turf.

Drug dealers have greater integrity.

Now, If Arthur Evans can get out from behind his computer and step outdoors to smell the flowers, he would know that the SF Green Party truly has a green thumb.

It has produced some of the most progressive, well-mannered, tenacious, focused, thoughtful and viable candidates this city has seen in many years. It has caused many a political stir and elected and appointed some of the best policymakers truly representing this city.

It has also grown with true key values and principles plenty of the best the Democratic Party has now and has instilled integrity in the decisions the progressive majority makes all the time.

So, for Arthur Evans to say that the Green Party points fingers and lambastes others is a total lie...A TOTAL LIE. I wouldn't give credence to anything he writes or pukes where he can possible lay any ink on or be proxied in a C.W. Nevius tabloid.

The Green Party grows our next generation of truly trustworthy and valuable representatives and candidates. Supporting your local Green Party is an investment worth making.

I see the GP folks have woken up and are desperately doing damage control here.

A day late and a dollar short, IMO

I love it when people complain about "career politicians" but don't complain about "career lobbyists" or "career corporate interests." The problem with term limits is that they empower those other career political players. When you're dealing with the mess in Sacramento, for example, term limits lead to short-term thinking -- how can I put this problem off until the next person takes office so I don't have to make any tough decisions?

Im sorry, but there's nothing wrong with talented people who have an interest in public service devoting their careers to it. Tom Ammiano served on the San Francisco School Board and the Board of Supervisors before going to the state Assembly, and that experience has made him a better legislator.

This is true, the state and cities liberals have signed contracts which the state and city can hardly afford and when the bills come due, seriously due, those liberals will be long gone, thanks to term limits. Karen Bass will be long gone when California declares bankruptcy, but the people who elected her will have nice pensions until then.

And yes Tim, I am sick of the spoils system for both parties and their lobbyists, I just happen to live in a place where the spoils system is directed at the lobbyists that you like. As a past member of SEIU I can tell you, they are quite proud of their lobbyists, Avalos and the gang takes their orders from them. It's comical to think SF progressives are not as owned as a prison guard republican representative.

Tim giving the budget away to your special interests isn't good government no matter how you rework reality.

In the case of Ammiano, he is subservient to the "career lobbyists" that you like so he is OK. His career as special interest flunky has had Tom Ammiano floating to the top with the rest of the scum.

Your manichean thinking is interesting considering all the bitching that the Guardian does about the Neo-Conservatives and right wing Christian types being one dimensional.

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How does this work in your world? SF progressives have to court these various groups to get elected, then when there is a budget crunch they hide. David Campos pretended for a while there to be fiscally responsible, but now that the people who got him elected may be getting lay offs he is no where to be seen. Comical that you think these guys are not owned.

So, the greens enter a rigged game, get kicked around by every sleazebag democrat and others for two decade but they make some inroads and put up viable, smart and ambitious people and what do they get? Articles on the left and right saying they've failed.

It's one more big lie. How many nations around the globe have green factions in power? Aren't those green parties signs of success, of commitment, of the and isn't there something despicable about American electoral systems that the best ideas and the most honorable politicians have to bend over to fulfill their ambitions of public service?

If Ross becomes a winner, the Dems will suck him in, but he may not get past his first race. He did after all, run the infamous 2000 Nader campaign.

So Ross has changed his "stripes" to fit what will serve him the best for continuing his political career. That is so typical---if not predictable---of politicians these days. Many people, including myself, think most politicians (including RM now) are scum and this behavior on the part of RM merely reinforces why many people think that about politicians. These politicians don't care what party they belong to, as long as the $$$$$$$$$$ is coming in and it serves their continuing career as a politician. That's all that's important.

Since 2000, the Democratic Party has been employees of the Republican Party. Why would anyone want to be a part of either of these two corrupt parties of war criminals? The Dems helped the illegitimate Bush regime and the Republicans accomplish most of their despicable goals for 8 years with their yes votes, their complicity and their silence, including the shredding of the US Constitution with the USA "Patriot" Act (which has been recently *extended* by the Dem congress). Positive "change we can't believe in" is the reality. The Bush neocon agenda continues under Obama and he's even added to it. No one who has been paying close attention since Obama became president can dispute that. Some of the Obama believers grasp at anything to make excuses and apologies for him but they look like the damn hypocrites they are. They rightly screamed about Bush for 8 years. But they are silent or make lame excuses when their Obama does the same despicable actions. Hypocrites! It was wrong when Bush did it, it's also wrong when Obama does it!

Both D and R parties work for the same corporate owners and are paid by the same corporate owners. Both parties are full of war criminals. Neither give a damn about We The People. So Ross M wants to be part of that scum? He wants to be part of the party that took impeachment "off the table" and who helped shred the US Constitution?

I thought something was going on with him when he allowed himself to be duped by Mr "Hope" and "Change we can believe in" and Obama's marketing slogan BS. (Chris Daly also fell for it). The only real, true Democrat in congress is Dennis Kucinich and I have some problems with him (his endorsing the establish trash at election time, such as Bush-accomplice John Kerry, for example).

Ross M has lost my vote, by becoming part of the corrupt one-party system of war criminals.

Thinking people/people of substance should be abandoning the D and R parties in droves, NOT joining them.

Anybody remember 2003? The Greens had a real candidate for mayor in Matt Gonzalez. And they were so disorganized (believe me, I worked on the campaign) that they lost to empty suit Newsom even though election day polls were strong in Matt's favor.

So what would you rather have? Mirkarimi runs as a G and loses and we get another Newsom? Or Mirkarimi runs as a D and wins and we get some progress instead of pandering to corporate interests?

Seriously, you must be the same people who think Dennis Kucinich should vote against health care reform because it's ideological purity is more important than putting an end to medical bankruptcies. Sick.

Is he going to express remorse about the Ralph Nader 2000 debacle while he's at it? Is he going to set aside the bong and be able to speak in coherent sentences.

Once can only hope...

Mark,

You are dead wrong in both of your comments.

1. I also worked on Matt Gonzales's campaign. It was one of many since I was a kid, and it was not at all disorganized; it was very similar to every other campaign I've worked on. Granted, I've only worked for progressive Democrats, Greens, and independents, and for or against certain ballot initiatives, so I don't know what the right wing Democrat or Republican campaigns look like. But Newsom won mainly because he outspend Gonzales 10-1, not because the Gonzales campaign was disorganized.

2. Dennis Kucinich's opposition to the so-called health care bill, which is really a bill to force many people into private health care while throwing a few sops to the public, it totally right on. I'm a supporter of single payer (Medicare for all) and totally oppose this bill. Those of us who support single payer have already compromised by supporting a strong public option. Now that that's been removed, this bill will do more harm to people who can't afford insurance than it will help. And it's the people without insurance we should be most concerned about. This is a bill written by the health care industry for its own profit, not by people who care about getting coverage for uninsured people.

I'm going to assume you're not just some Democratic propagandist. Before you make nasty comments about others, you should learn the facts. You either don't know about these two issues or you;re just lying in order to further some political end.

The old political dynamic in the city is passing, making way for a new. Mirkarimi's party change is an effort to adapt to this new dynamic, but motivated entirely by his own political ambitions. However, more is at issue here than any particular politician's ambitions.

Here's what has happened: SF progressivism was once an inspiring popular movement. It welcomed intellectual diversity, was extraordinarily creative, and attracted some of the best minds in the city.

To its credit, SF progressivism in recent decades has succeeded in accomplishing many of its initial goals. But in the end, on achieving power, it ossified into just another fixture of the city's status quo.

This is a common pattern in history. One generation's reformers, on gaining power, turn into the next generation's guardians of a new status quo.

Today, SF progressivism is a doctrinaire sect tied to promoting the careers of certain politicians. It has been infiltrated and co-opted by the unions, the nonprofit political complex, and the cannabis capitalists. It is as much their tool today as the political establishment here in the 1950s was a tool of downtown business corporations and the Catholic archdiocese.

The Greens, the Milk Clubbers, and the SF Bay Guardian are the Pharisees of this new old order. Like the Pharisees in Judea 2,000 years ago, they started out as reformers. But, again like their ancient exemplars, their success eventually generated ossification, dogmatic conformity, and hostility to new pushes for reform bubbling up from below.

Mirkarimi is aware of both the ossification of the Pharisees and the newer energies pushing up against the status quo. But no larger vision inspires him. His goal is entirely self-centered, to save his own political skin as the old and new dynamics create sparks by rubbing against each other.

Let's hope that new leaders come forth who are aware of the changing dynamic and also have a vision that goes beyond salvaging their own political careers.

As a longtime East Bay elected Green county council member, I wish Ross the very best in his future campaigns and look forward to supporting him in whatever race he runs. No matter what party he is with, he will continue to fight his values and if anything, he will help pull more Dems to the left with the success he has in doing what he does so well.

There's nothing really wrong with the Green Party, Nader, Ross, Tim, or anyone else being discussed here. The real problem is with capitalism, corporate control of the media, the politicians, the judicial system, and the intense propaganda campaigns foisted on Americans from all directions, working 24/7 to keep the most powerful in control of our lives. We forget about it, but it is all over us all the time.

Don't forget what it is we are all really up against. Greens, progressive Dems, etc. We are all really in the same boat, as much as we may disagree on things . . .

National level Dems are another story. Those are Zombies, in most cases, keeping the manipulation of everyone by the super rich and mega-corporations alive by caving in Congress at every opportunity, and not worth discussing.

Jeff, you seem to have left off public employee unions from your list of those that have "taken over the government." In this town it seems like the supervisors are beholden to public employee unions, not "the rich and powerful." In Sacramento, many of the legislators appear to be beholden to public employee unions as well.

By the way, Tim, I think the fact that congress still has some fossils from the Sputnik/McCarthy era (not to mention a dearly departed centarian Dixiecrat) is a bit of a minus. Assumed incumbency breeds laziness and complacency.

I would have respected Ross M. if he had become an independent (or "decline to state" as it's listed on our registration form here) and then ran for mayor. That would have been fine. But he didn't choose to do that. I imagine he chose to get in the sewer with the Democratic Party because he wanted the money from the corrupt Democratic party, and I expect him to start snuggling up to the Dem Establish trash of war criminals in congress to get their endorsements. Personally, why would one want an endorsement from a D war criminal and/or someone who voted to shred the US Constitution with the USA "Patriot" Act? Because what does that say about a mayoral candidate? Does he really want to be associated with a group of politicians that just extended the USA "Patriot" Act for another year and also voted to stay in Afghanistan against Kucinich (a real, true Democrat). Will he also seek out war-profiteer neocon and Bush-accomplice Feinstein's endorsement? Or what about Bush-accomplice Nancy "public option is not a consideration" Pelosi's endorsement?

Victoria & Sam,

You are both right to an extent. The Democrats do cave on a lot of issues, though they are obviously on the wrong side to begin with on others like war. But the reason they sometimes cave is because they are so-corporate friendly to begin with that either their convictions are not very strong or they were originally just taking a position that was popular with their constituents. The Dems who don't cave, like Kucinich, are those with strong convictions on the issues.

If a politician believes that money is the most important issue, as most people in this society do, it does not take much to get him to change his mind from taking a progressive position to that of a right wing one. Global warming is a perfect example. Obama made this a key issue in the campaign and even after he was elected. But as soon as businesses and others started crying about the money they would lose if we started living in a less destructive manner, the bills in Congress got weaker and less likely to pass. Only a strong environmentalist would not cave into the pressure from large campaign donors and the public.

So it's some of both you two, and there's no point in fighting about it. We've got far bigger problems.

Long before Steve, I predicted Ross would turn (coat) Democrat.

Politicians about to be termed out need a new job. And they usually get it via an appointment (ie, Carol Migden on the Waste Management board). And Democrats and Republicans only appoint their own kind to these sinecures.