Let Koch brothers roll — they’re likely to lose big
For political junkies, it doesn’t get any better than the conservative Koch brothers announcing they are going to pump $889 million into the 2016 elections. Democrats responded with the usual shouts of shock and dismay, and clean-government types did their typical hand-wringing about the evil of big money in politics.
I say bring it on. Charles and David Koch, whose Koch Industries is the second-largest privately held company in the U.S., have more than enough money to spend and to lose, and my bet is that they are going to lose big. In the process, they’ll also be fleeced big by the Republican operatives who make a killing on big-dollar players.
As for impact? If money were the deciding factor in
politics, we’d have had Sen. Michael Huffington and Govs. Al Checchi, Bill Simon and the mother of them all, Meg Whitman, who stuffed $170 million into the pockets of various consultants and lost by a landslide.
I can’t tell you how much fun it is being a member of the Super Bowl 50 committee. It’s quite a conversation piece to toss out at parties or just when hanging at the bar.
I just hope our Super Bowl next year has a bit more style and fun than the one they’re holding in Arizona on Sunday.
The game just seems to have lost its luster this year. In fact, the whole Super Bowl may be in danger of hyping itself over the cliff.
What was once a funfilled battle of football titans peppered with colorful characters like Joe Namath and John Madden has become a bland collection of players who clearly do not want to talk to anyone.
The way things are going, the game is going to wind up being played in the studio.
Let’s make a point of taking the bowl back next year and show the world that Super Bowl week can really be fun.
If I were a tour guide, one of my first stops would be the restored and revamped Pacific Telephone building at 140 New Montgomery St.
The upper floors are the home offices of Yelp and other businesses, but the ground floor lobby is a work to behold. They spent more than $80 million rehabbing the place, and it shows.
Walking through the Art Deco doors is like stepping into a Gotham City set. Somehow they managed to perfectly restore the place, right down to the brass mail chutes.
Darius Anderson and the crew at Platinum Advisors turned out about 100 of their clients for a $500-a-head breakfast fundraiser for Mayor Ed Lee’s re-election at Original Joe’s the other morning.
That’s the way to do it. Everybody was in at 8 and out by 9. And trust me, the profit margin on eggs is a lot higher than with wine.
Why is Lee bothering to raise money, when he probably won’t have any real opposition?
For starters, he’s signed up a slew of consultants and campaign managers who need to be paid.
Plus, he’s sending the message to anyone who might still be considering a run that if they do take him on, he’s armed and ready to fight.
The Chinese Hospital had its annual Board of Directors installation the other night, and among those present was newly appointed Supervisor Julie Christensen.
Chinese Hospital is the home turf of Rose Pak, who is no fan of Christensen. She’s never shy about throwing jabs at politicos in public. Luckily for Christensen, Pak wasn’t the emcee and so wasn’t anywhere near the microphone.
But she will be at the mike on the grandstand for the Chinese New Year’s Parade, and I’m sure Christensen will get an earful then.
Movie time: “A Most Violent Year.” It got zero Oscar nominations, but this is my pick for picture of the year.
Think of “The Godfather” meets “The Last Picture Show.” A dramatic mix of gangsters, moral dilemmas and doublecrosses, set in New York in 1981 with an excellent cast. Jessica Chastain puts in a particularly good performance as the daughter of a mob boss.
“Into the Woods.” I’m coming in late to this one, but it’s a very entertaining musical collection of fairy tales. Meryl Streep scored an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress for her role as a witch and she may get it. The movie is that good.
Katie Couric was in town for a gun violence awareness event hosted by Ron Conway at Cavalier for the tech community Thusday night.
She spoke a bit about obesity and guns, the subject of her new documentary. Halfway though the talk, I looked around and realized most of the crowd was too young to
know who she was.
I had the wonderful opportunity to host the premiere showing of “3 Still Standing,” the story of comics Will Durst, Johnny Steele and Larry Brown — who dreamed big in the 1980s, only to find that life had other plans.
“You know, this reminds me of the days of Comedy in the Park,” I said. “Back then we had a contest over who would say ‘f—’ first. Well, I just won.”
And by the way, the film should be on your mustsee list, as it was on mine.