All posts by Amok

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

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.

Going after Goldman: Finally, the real culprits could pay for the housing crisis

So Goldman created an investment it knew would fail and sold it to investors? Sounds like “The Producers.”

Here’s what Goldman can do as a goodwill gesture:

What if everyone currently  underwater in a mortgage were given  a short position of  1,000 shares of Goldman stock, right now?

That could help a lot of people–especially if Goldman takes a nice drop down. Thank you, GS.

Or they could give 1,000 shares of GS stock to screwed over mortgage holders  once the stock bottomed. That way, we can all rise from the dead at the same time.

Goldman says it’s innocent. But that’s standard comeback fare in the face of a fraud charge.  Here’s my bet: As Enron was to California’s energy crisis, Goldman was to California’s  subprime mess.

Goldman’s only defense is based on greed: Hey if the housing market didn’t collapse we’d all be winners! 

Yeah, sure. But then again it was  the complicated credit swaps it concocted  that created the circumstances for the housing bubble to burst.

Demonizing Tiger: Woods’ villification has racial overtones

People talk about Nike using Earl Woods’ voice out of context in an ad prior to the Masters. But is anyone grousing about the full-page family values ads now appearing in the major dailies featuring Phil Mickelson and his cancer-suffering  wife Amy? 

Talk about exploitation. Even better that Mickelson is white, the better to offset and polarize the whole situation in a way America can understand. i.e., Mickelson good, Tiger bad.

Bad Tiger! This is your punishment from the culture at large for being a selfish, amoral, pleasure seeking human being.

If you had been a bank, you could have received a bailout. But now it’s everyone’s turn to dis and dish.

This is one bandwagon I’m not hopping on.

Now they’re even commenting on how Tiger swears on the golf course (no secret).  Suddently golf and sport has gotten all puritanical and proper.  Does anyone get on baseball players for spitting? Howabout how basketball players handle their mouthguards, then high five each other. How unsanitary. Oh, and about that vigorous ass patting…

All of that is nothing compared to jumping on Tiger, the devil himself.

I hope Tiger recovers soon.

Consider the sexual proclivities of other public figures and how they’ve bounced back. After Monica Lewinsky, Bill Clinton is a revered world crisis solver. After biting women in secret hotel trysts, Marv Albert is back doing the NBA playoffs. (“YES!!”). After dumping his longtime wife in favor of a scandalous affair with a younger woman, newly divorced golf anchor Jim Nantz was there at the Masters with the call. 

Even David Letterman gets a light lashing after his intern trysts. Always good to have an extortionist come in and trump your bad hand. 

So comebacks do happen. But is there extra joy in dumping Tiger because Woods happens to be of mixed race?

He is at once the greatest black and Asian American golfer to ever play. He may be the greatest golfer period.  When he was good he was treated like royalty. But his indiscretions find him being treated with a whole let less compassion. He’s not a pariah yet. His golf game is too good. But the culture seems to be turning against him more so now that Mickelson can be the public face for the new Victorian era of golf.

Never mind Mickelson’s gambling habits. That’s an allowable vice, I guess.

But just ask yourself if Tiger would  be treated differently if he were white?