San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Don’t cheer for California becoming oneparty state
The November election will probably turn California an even deeper shade of blue than it already is. And that’s not necessarily a good thing.
Democrats now hold 29 seats in the state Senate to Republicans’ 11 seats. With a blue wave heading our way, thanks to the chance to vote President Trump out of office, the spillover effect could raise the Democratic total to 35 Senate seats to just five for the GOP.
California is going to be almost literally a oneparty state. Democrats may well celebrate. They shouldn’t.
For decades, California was governed by a loose combination of moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans. Their mutual need for each other’s votes created a middle ground that kept each party’s
California is going to be almost literally a oneparty state. Democrats may well celebrate. They shouldn’t.
more militant wings in check.
That’s already gone, with Democrats holding twothirds supermajorities in both the Senate and Assembly even before the election. The battles are largely between progressive Democrats and moderate Democrats, with progressives challenging the moderates at every turn. That will only intensify with the accelerated disappearance of Republicans.
In other words, the Legislature could turn into an expanded version of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Who’s up for that?
Then and now: The national polls on the presidential race consistently have Joe Biden with a sixto 10point lead over President Trump — but remember, in 2016, Hillary Clinton had a similar lead at this point in the race.
The difference is that now it’s Trump on the hot seat, with the tough task of having to convince the handful of undecided voters out there that he didn’t make the coronavirus pandemic worse or cause them to lose their jobs.
And this time, there’s no James Comey riding to the rescue. Confirmed controversy: The Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett taught America quite a bit about constitutional law, the fate of the Affordable Care Act and a woman’s right to an abortion, but very little about how
Barrett might interpret the law if she is confirmed.
It’s clear the Joe Biden campaign, whose success underlies Democratic hopes of ever getting anything done, was interested in having the party look defiant but dignified in the hearings. So there were no wildhare procedural moves, no mass boycott of the hearings — no red meat for progressives, but also no reason for moderates and independents to look sideeyes at the party.
In that regard, California Sens. Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein did well for California. They both got A’s in constitutional law, and neither hurt the Biden ticket.
And in typical Democratic fashion, the left wing of the party promptly called for Feinstein’s removal from the committee.
If there is one thing Democrats do well, it’s eat their own.
Name game: I see that Willie L. Brown Middle school survived the purge of the San Francisco school board’s renaming committee.
The committee has selected 44 schools for possible renaming, on the grounds that their current namesakes, like Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and even Dianne Feinstein, are guilty of everything from owning slaves ( Jefferson) to mistreating Native Americans ( Lincoln) to displaying the Confederate flag as part of a historical flag collection outside City Hall ( a flag Feinstein later removed).
I have no doubt, however, that if the trend continues, I too will eventually be found guilty of something and join the ranks of the removed.
Perhaps the best thing for the city to do is to take a page from New York and assign each school a number and be done with it.
Tilt up: The megamilliondollar settlement to fix San Francisco’s tilting Millennium Tower came with a nice financial fix for the building’s homeowners.
Under the agreement among the developer, the builder and the city, homeowners are being reimbursed for their loss in property values that resulted from the big sink.
I didn’t get a penny. I bought my unit after the tilt was discovered. The homeowner checks, which I hear range from $ 350,000 to up to $ 1 million, began arriving last week.
Luckily for the Millennium owners, the lost value was based on precoronavirusshutdown real estate prices.
Sidewalk speeders: Outside dining can be a lot of fun, but it also comes with some risks.
Just the other day, a woman was killed in San Jose when a sport utility vehicle plowed into outdoor diners.
Nothing that tragic has happened in San Francisco. But along the Embarcadero between Mission and Howard, where Boulevard, Angler, Saison Smokehouse, Perry’s and Ozuma have all set up tables on the wide sidewalk, it can be a bit hairraising.
The views of the Bay Bridge can’t be beat, but it’s worrisome when the bicyclists, skateboarders and the electric scooters come whizzing down the walkway at breakneck speeds.
We spent a small fortune putting in bike lanes to protect our nonmotorist friends, but many still prefer the sidewalks, which I believe is against the law.
If it continues, somebody is going to get hurt, or at the very least get covered with smokehouse barbecue sauce, burgers or sushi.
Fly flip: A diner at Boulevard pointed out to me that the focus at this year’s vice presidential debate was the fly that landed on Mike Pence’s hair — whereas in the 2016 debate cycle, the fly everyone was talking about was the one on Donald Trump’s pants.
Want to sound off ? Email: wbrown@ sfchronicle. com