Candidate for
Democratic Party Central Committee; Assembly District 13

As a member of the DCCC, I will work to reform the committee and make it responsive to all San Franciscans. I will listen first to neighborhood groups rather than downtown, to tenants rather than big landlords, and to city planning professionals rather than to real estate developers. Most of all, I will make your interests my primary interest on the DCCC. I will work for three main objectives:

(1) I will work to increase the stock of affordable housing in the city. First, we must protect the affordable housing stock that we have by preserving rent control against attacks by big landlords and developers. In addition, we must put together an alliance of tenant advocates, developers, people of color, neighborhood groups, and progressive organizations to increase the density of housing along certain transit corridors in the city. This would decrease the pressure on tenants and landlords that is caused by the current shortage of housing.

(2) I will reform the processes of the DCCC itself. We must shift the emphasis within the DCCC from consolidating power to expanding participation in the Democratic Party. The DCCC should not make endorsements of one Democrat over another, as this inevitably alienates one segment of our party. Moreover, the DCCC should not raise money from big-business contributors to support one Democrat over another. At best, this creates an appearance of impropriety that causes cynicism among the electorate and decreases participation by voters in the Party. At worst it creates corruption of the democratic process. The DCCC needs serious reform. I will work to end such practices and to increase outreach to neighborhood and community groups so that the DCCC is more responsive to the real needs of San Francisco residents

(3) I will help ensure the success of district elections. Those who serve on the DCCC will greatly influence whether we will succeed in implementing the will of the voters in approving a district elections system. District elections provide an opportunity for candidates to arise from their communities who have real constituencies in and understand the challenges facing those communities. Districts are small enough so that a grassroots campaign can successfully elect a community-based candidate. Recent trends in campaign spending, however, threaten to overwhelm this potential. Unlimited "soft money" spending resulted in the most expensive local election in history last November/December. Unless we enact serious campaign finance reform, including public campaign financing, we may see the same corporate interests that currently control citywide elections also will be able to dominate district elections. I therefore will push campaign finance reform on the DCCC. Finally, it is essential that the DCCC stand for progressive, city-wide principles in order to prevent the potential balkanization of the city under district elections. The DCCC should be a body that helps coordinate and resolve competing interests among the different districts.