The Greenberg Brief: San Francisco – Reflections, Failures and Predictions

So much has happened in the last two years, it’s hard to separate the events of 2022 from this year. We fought back against rogue officials by recalling four of them: Chesa Boudin and three SFUSD board commissioners. At the polls we fought back insane district attorney candidate John Hamasaki, who was trying to return San Francisco to a non-prosecution town void of cops altogether. We finally have a real, competent and respected DA with Brooke Jenkins. We fought off far-Left wing Alpha “Honey Mahogany” Mulugeta running for District 6 Supervisor.

In the early part of this current year, we saw the sudden rise of the San Francisco Reparations Plan, even though it was actually developing behind the scenes and in stealth mode since 2021.

We saw fierce debate at city hall over the need to secure funding for our police department, all while shops continue getting burglarized and looted, and carjackings brazenly occur at gunpoint.

We saw the abhorrent, renegade, so-called “Socialist” Dean Preston defending Hamas’ actions committing sub-human, grotesque atrocities, perpetrated against innocent Israelis and then Preston further shamefully just introduced a Resolution to the Board of Supervisors while exploiting his Jewish roots, mostly condemning Israel in the current war. Debate on this terrible legislation begins early 2024.

San Franciscans now see a wave of money organizing into Leftists vs. Moderate camps, referring to Democrats of course, all readying for the March 5th, 2024 primaries. The stage has been set for a showdown over control of the local twenty-four member San Francisco’s Democratic Party leadership, the SF DCCC. Two competing slates of delegate-candidates have emerged: the Labor & Working Families slate, and the SF Democrats for Change slate. (Guess which is the socialist, anti-recall, anti-cop, group?).

And we continue to feel further momentum building against Mayor London Breed, who’s failings across much of her last 5 years in office make it increasingly hard to justify her re-election next November. She holds frequent press conferences and televised statements touting some alleged accomplishments, while avoiding comment on controversies and administrations failures. The APEC international leaders conference last month may have been a success for the twenty-one nations’ visitors, but San Francisco itself saw little benefit, and many business owners tallied up meager to zero net profits from the week-long private spectacle. The sparkling sidewalks prepped for global visitors went right back to drug tents and homeless shortly after the conference concluded. Just announced is Breed’s additional demand for city hall’s departments to cut spending further back, as we are seeing a major budget shortfall. Many voters and business owners have asked, why wasn’t Mayor Breed recalled along with Chesa Boudin?

San Franciscans will also notice a reshuffling of the deck of local politicians. Catherine Stefani is candidate for state Assembly, AD19 as successor to Phil Ting, and she’ll most likely win the primary for that race in March.  She just won reelection last year for local Board of Supervisors representing District 2 for a four-year term, so she’ll bail early and move up to Sacramento after her victory. Matt Haney will cruise to re-election for his AD17 seat in the capital too.

Good news on law enforcement and criminal justice efforts: In the puzzle of local players affecting prosecution, along with ousting Chesa Boudin last year, we now have two superior court judges with records of dubious, pro-criminal stances, and are being challenged at the polls. With local judges, they retain their seat on the bench, unless “challenged”. San Francisco voters are tired of repeat criminals with repeat arrests being let out by activists-as-judges. Michael Begert and Patrick Thompson are poised to become the rare accessories to a failure to prosecute, and they are being held accountable. Spikes in drug and crime saw shocking high numbers of arrested individuals released by these two specific judges, who often repeat their crimes. Surprisingly as well, city hall officials are pushing back, actually denouncing our democratic election of superior court judges, calling election challenges “dangerous and politically motivated.”

I’m personally surprised more judges of the fourteen-seat superior court were not challenged this time around.

Who else is on the San Francisco’s ballot this coming March? Nancy Pelosi and Scott Weiner who will easily, and obviously, win re-election. Like them or not, there have been no serious, viable organized challengers to these legislator/powerhouses in a long time.

A victory by the more “moderate” democrats for control of the local SF DCCC Democratic Party committee mentioned above will indeed send a much-needed signal to the hardest Left of the city – that their garbage policies and garbage elected officials we’ve had to contend with over the last few years deserve to be placed in the trash. Progressives of their ilk should have no place in city leadership, as well-attested by conditions right here on the street.

Happy New Year and here’s to hoping for a great March, 2024 election outcome.