Prop. D: Filling board openings

THE CHRONICLE’S VIEW When a city supervisor leaves office before a four-year term ends, the mayor names a replacement who fills out the term or until there's a scheduled election. This measure would weaken the mayor's hand by forbidding the interim supervisor from running for a full term. DISSENTING VIEW

Thankfully, federal law doesn’t let the president appoint members of Congress if there is an unanticipated vacancy but instead requires that voters in each district elect our own representatives. Not in San Francisco. We are the only city or county in the state of California where the mayor gets to appoint whoever he or she wishes to fill vacancies on the Board of Supervisors. It is an unchecked power that has tilted City Hall out of whack — and it’s time for the voters to fix it.

Proposition D, which stands for “Democratic elections,” closes this loophole by giving voters of each district the opportunity to elect their own district supervisor in the event of a vacancy. As a District Six resident, I want to know that if our current supervisor, Jane Kim, is elected to the state Senate next month, that we, the residents of District Six, get to choose our new supervisor, and not have one appointed for us by the mayor.

I am sure that most voters in Supervisor Scott Wiener’s district would want that, too, if he should win.

The reason Proposition D is endorsed by the nonpartisan League of Women Voters is that representative democracy works best when the people choose who they want to represent them. That’s also why it has support across the political spectrum.

It’s time to let the voters decide — vote Yes on Proposition D. Let’s elect our elected officials.

Sue Bushnell is the vice president of the South Beach/District Six Democratic Club.