Category Archives: politics

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Not for Sale: Rod McLeod wants to be a San Francisco Superior Court Judge–and it won’t cost you a dime

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Rod McLeod–an accomplished trial lawyer and partner at one of the world’s biggest firms–is running this June for a Superior Court judgeship in the City and County of San Francisco.

But he doesn’t want to be bought and sold like a common politician.

To McLeod, that would be unseemly.

He’s decided to take zero campaign contributions in order to run as a truly objective and impartial individual, beholden to no one, especially those who might expect that donations come with strings attached.

“I don’t want to be the best judge money can buy,” said McLeod, a native San Franciscan and American Filipino, who went to Saint Ignatius High School, and earned his law degree at UC Berkeley’s Boalt School of Law.

Personally, I’ve been good friends with McLeod for nearly 30 years, and I can say he never takes the easy way out.  I’ve known him as a man of uncompromised principle who stands up for what he believes in—even if it could hurt him.

And it has.

At one time, McLeod was considered a rising star in local San Francisco politics after his appointment to a vacant spot on the city’s Board of Education in the ‘80s.  Winning the seat outright in an open election should have been a cinch, except for his unwavering decision to keep his children in Catholic schools.

That glitch was enough to send McLeod back into the private sector to focus on his stellar legal career (he’s currently a partner at Jones and Day).  Not exactly a hard fall. But definitely, it was the public’s loss. McLeod, who was in the Army for over a dozen years as a paratrooper, has always been ready to serve.  But when I last saw him, the plan was for an early retirement with his wife Naomi in her homeland, Israel.

So in a way, McLeod’s last minute decision to run for the position of retired Judge Wallace Douglas was a real surprise.  It’s also a pay cut.

What wasn’t a surprise was McLeod’s campaign approach.

“Judges shouldn’t be for sale,” McLeod said.

San Francisco is different from other counties where races for judge can cost just a few thousand dollars.

McLeod says two of his opponents have already raised more than $100,000 each. What’s that money buy?  A bit more than cardboard signs.

When politicians like Barack Obama fly in to raise cash, donors give mightily because they believe money buys access and influence. Want to get your pet issues on the radar? Write a check, get an advocate.

What’s a donor’s expectation in a judges’ race?  When you go before him, will the new judge quickly bang the gavel and say, “Not guilty”?( It may save in court time, but let’s hope the judge recuses himself before that happens).

Normally in  hotly contested judge races, the victor need only promise to be tough on crime.

But Superior Court judges do civil as well as criminal cases. McLeod’s two main opponents (an assistant public defender, and an assistant D.A.), may not be as broadly experienced  as McLeod, an accomplished civil litigator.  

When you think of it, voting for judges is just a strange way for the public to pick a competent, fair and impartial judge. Campaign money is really a waste.

That McLeod can’t be bought and paid for makes him an appealing and refreshing choice as the best person for San Francisco’s Superior Court—period.

blog, diversity, news, politics

Jimmy Carter’s race statements are right, but at odds with Obama’s Plutonian race strategy

When Jimmy Carter says it’s about race, I believe him to be as true as his boiled peanut recipe.

But Carter’s bluntness in his comments to NBC that the animosity toward Obama is race-based, is much too direct for Obama’s current style, and could upset the president’s momentum.

Obama is too cool for direct. Apparently, his race politics are way too subtle for the country.

The way Barack Obama has become a winner in politics is by diffusing the race issue and making it seem irrelevant.

In the Obama universe, issues don’t revolve around race. In this political solar system, race isn’t at the center like the Sun.

It’s more like Pluto.

It really is the formula to Obama’s success, and his new politics of bringing the country together. That’s not to mean he’s a Clarence Thomas , or that he forgets the importance of ethnicity and race in public policy.

It’s just that he knows race bogs down everything . It’s polarizing. And it prevents him reaching the kinds of compromise that helps one effectively lead an entire country.

So he sidesteps it.

Obama’s compromise on race is to show up, make it obvious he’s a black president, but not to dwell on it. For Obama, race is more the subtle subtext and not the raging headline. It was his secret to his campaign and his success.

And it throws the GOP off-track. They don’t know how to deal with a 21st Century Race politician.

When the GOP can’t argue the facts, as in health care, or when it can’t stem the support for the president on real issues, then it goes ad hominem and race is the old standby. The whole birth certificate issue and the Islamic middle name issue are nothing more than racist attacks on Obama.

Of course, all the stumbling around on race is based on how most people don’t want to admit racism is happening or even in existence. It plays to the moral conscience of both the white perps and the white liberals, who think they are perfect. Aren’t we all better than that? We’ve gone beyond race, right?

Well, not exactly.

So when Maureen Dowd writes her NY Times column about essentially saying, “Damn, we got racism here;” And when Jimmy Carter, our Southern gentleman, starts talking from the heart about racism at play in the policy debate, well then, by gum, we have racism.
What are we going to do about it?

I’m starting to see the wisdom of the Obama strategy. He’s just figured out a way to deal with race so he can get things done. The answer. Don’t deal with it.

It’s a tad zen-like.

By comparison, those who know the old politics on race are like cold warriors. Maybe we should try to do as Obama and ignore all this and try to press on, hoping that policies and people can change, and that by focusing on the bigger picture we can all be led to a new place together. Does that sound too grandiose or Lincolnesque? So be it. To do otherwise, is to bog down in the past, polarize, and get no where. Didn’t Obama show us that?

Maybe this is another one of those times that race bubbles up in Obama’s path, like the Rev.Wright affair. That means one sure-fire prescription could work now: A little speech therapy to put everything back into order in the Obama political universe, where race is minor.

As I said, race is not the Sun, it’s more like Pluto, making the strategy absolutely Plutonian.

blog, diversity, journalism, news, politics

Amokwatch: Serena, Kanye, Joe Dub—outbursts galore, and race is the subtext; And guess who’s missing? The Asian American victim; Also, a quickie review of Leno

They all went amok in a bad way: Serena, Kanye and Joe Dub.

And we’ve heard from all the perps and their victims and supporters on all sides, except one.

Who’s speaking about  the Asian American woman, the linesperson who dared to speak out and correct the foot fault of Serena Williams at the U.S. Open?

No one.  Because no one cares about her.

Poor Kim Clijsters who just had to sit back and let victory drop into her lap, they care about her. But the line judge? We’ve heard nothing. A name of “Shinno” has come up on the web. But there’s no sympathy for her.

She’s the invisible victim.

If anything, there’s been a little back pedalling on the outrage toward Serena. Now people are saying it’s just Serena’s passion for winning.

I heard one blowhard talk host talking about how in such a championship situation that it was a  “chickenshit” call by the line judge.

Hey, what is sports without rules? You don’t give out mulligans when its for real. When the Giants strike out do you say strike three was b.s., give us strike four?

No, the line judge was right. But this isn’t about rules. It’s about race.

Let’s play substitution. If a line judge looked like Serena or Kim Clijsters and made the call, do you think Serena would have felt she could get away with that b.s. outrage?

She was being a bully, plain and simple. She felt she could get away with it, because the line judge was looked to be Ms.Meek Asian Book Worm. She stereotyped us, had it in her head that it was OK, and let out her venomous wrath without any respect.

Do you think Serena would have done that to a black judge? A white judge? One who didn’t appear to be meek and readily dominated?

If you don’t think race had something to play in the dynamic, your head’s in the sand. Asian Americans just don’t get the respect they deserve in general. And in little things like this, it’s out there for all the world to see.

Just ask yourself where is the line judge, and why isn’t there an outpouring of sympathy for her after she made a fair and correct call and engendered the wrath of Serena?

Why isn’t she on Jay Leno’s show?There was an Asian stand in on a joke. But no one said let’s get the Asian victim. Why?

KANYE NOT TOO SWIFT

As for Kanye? His move the other night was reverse Joe Wilson.  Wilson is the segregationist  who can’t accept that a black man is president in the modern day and calls Obama a “liar.” Kanye can’t accept that a white chick like Taylor Swift is up there  winning the hip-pop and hip-hop culture’s VMA?  What irony for those who remember the day when MTV refused to play black artists. But now Taylor Swift, the 19-year old cross-over country act who draws them in with chick pop gets out of the white country ghetto and under Kanye’s skin.

But he’ll bounce back. He nearly cried on Leno last night.

LENO OUTSMARTS THEM ALL

When Leno was just a sub on The Tonight Show, I used to freelance jokes to him. I never was paid better per vowel.

So I’m a bit partial to Leno, though I am a former Poonie like Conan. But what struck me was how Leno has outmaneuvered, outpoliticked everyone in the big game of showbiz “Survivor.”  When he left the 11:30 slot, he got the 10 pm slot. For those of us who have watched “Letterman” earlier in some markets, the format can work. A lot of people don’t want to stay up late anymore.

Leno drew 18 million at 10 p.m. last night. And now you can bet all the expensive 10 p.m. dramas will be worried. Dollar for dollar, Leno’s show will prove to be cheaper per rating point, and more profitable.

OK, now for the show. Was it funny? It makes you smile. That’s it.  Leno’s brand of corn sells. And it works. If he has good guests and good gets (Kanye West’s silence about his mother was as good a get as possible last night),  then Leno will soar.

And then everybody will go to bed at 11 p.m.

Too bad for local news. Too bad for Conan.

blog, journalism, news, politics

Ling and Lee are free: All it took was a former president

If you were wondering where Al Gore has been in the  diplomatic effort to free his two employees jailed in North Korea, Bill Clinton provided you the answer.

Gore wasn’t big enough.

It takes a former president with with enormous global charisma to do what was needed to produced  Laura Ling and Euna Lee. the two journalists with Gore’s Current TV found guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time in North Korea.

Jimmy Carter wasn’t big enough. Bush I and II? Are you kidding?

The North Koreans wanted Bill Clinton over for dinner.  And they got him.

Once I heard Clinton was heading to see Kim Jong Il, I knew it would be just a matter of days that the pawns in question  would be produced, safely in all  his high drama.

Now the question is what does the U.S. give up in exchange. Clinton is a start, but it’s just the beginning to a real transition to…..?

It’s unclear. Currently, there are no official diplomatic ties between the U.S. and North Korea. So Clinton going as an unofficial offical keeps the status quo both in check, but potentially in flux.  Obama and Clinton can maintain their hardline. But Kim Jong Il gets to show all his people that he still has standing, with or without nukes. He’s got Bill Clinton over for kimchee  and a photo op.

Americans are supposed to be puzzled as to what’s next.

But if you’re in North or South Korea, you’ve got to be in awe.

If you’re starving in North Korea, you have hope today.  U.S. recognition brings the possibility of change.  If you’re in Seoul, you have to worry.  If you’re in either country and you  doubted the power of his hairness in North Korea, you are simply starstruck. The guy who looks like he’s on his death bed still has some juice. He got Bubba to stop b,  and all the players got a little something.

Clinton got to ride into the sunset the hero. You think Clinton hesitated to be in that role, one-upping both his wife and the current president (both of whom were admittedly hamstrung).  Clinton’s stock rises.

It certainly was worth it to Kim Jong Il.

And Laura Ling and Euna Lee ?

They now come home safely, with the story of their lives.