We Noe Dems got together this week to chat with candidates, read position papers, ask question, and engage in civilized and informed debate around candidates. We all agreed that we’re lucky to have some many excellent candidates, including a few that just missed the 60% mark that’s required to get our endorsement. Here’s who we picked for DCCC.

Our guess is that most democrats in SF can’t answer all of these questions. Let us help.

The DCCC is the Democratic County Central Committee. The committee’s charter includes, among other things, increasing voter registration, educating the electorate, and make endorsements in all elections. These people have a lot of influence on who gets on the ballot and what voters believe they should vote for and against.

Speaking of elections, we’ve got one coming up on June 5, 2012. In addition to voting in the Presidential Primary, we’ll all have the opportunity to vote for new members of the DCCC.

The Noe Dems PAC will meet with candidates this week and will make recommendations for the general endorsement meeting next month.

Herewith, the candidate surveys for the 27 citizens running for the DCCC. It’s never too early to do the research that allows you to exercise your franchise in a more educated manner.

Alix Rosenthal

Bevan Dufty

Carole Migden

Chris Gembinski

Christopher Vasquez

David Campos

David Chiu

Dean Clark

Gabriel Haaland

Hydra Mendoza

Jamie Wolfe

Jo Elias-Jackson

Joaquin Torres

John Avalos

Justin Morgan

Leah Pimentel

Leslie Katz

Malia Cohen

Marily Mondejar

Matt Dorsey

Petra DeJesus

Rafael Mandelman

Rick Hauptman

Scott Wiener

Stu Smith

Vince Calvarese

Zoe Dunning

Photo by Live Soma

We’ve all seen them – occupying Justin Herman Plaza, protesting outside of banks, climbing into the back of the paddywagon. Now you can meet a panel of Occupiers: Craig Rouskey, Diana Mascara, Ben Hansel, and Richard Kreidler. This is going to be a terrific program. As usual there will be about 30 minutes for a Question and Answer Session after some brief comments by each speaker. Note this meeting will start earlier as there will be elections for the new Noe Valley Democratic Club Board of Directors. If you have a recommendation for the board, feel free to send that suggestion to Hunter Stern in advance or propose your candidate that night. Wednesday March 21, 7:00 pm St Philips Church 725 Diamond Street, off Elizabeth St.   We look forward to seeing you March 21!

After it all, we have the same mayor, the same D.A. and the sheriff that was endorsed by outgoing sheriff Mike Hennesey?

For the 60% of you who didn’t vote, the winners of the election were Mayor Ed Lee, District Attorney George Gascón, and Sheriff-elect and D5 supervisor Ross Mirkarimi.

For the 40% who did, and the 50 or so deeply interested citizens of Noe Valley, Dr. Corey Cook dropped by our November meeting to explain it all. Dr. Cook has a PhD in Political Science, and is Assistant Professor of Politics at USF and Director of the Leo McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good. He is also a resident of Piedmont, so he didn’t really have a horse in this race.

Cook provides a few really interesting points:

If Ed Lee weren’t in the race, Supervisor David Chiu would have been the winner. Interesting, given that Chiu didn’t place in the top three.

In the D.A.’s race, if Sharmin Bock had come in second and David Onek third (they were only split by a couple of thousand votes with Onek in second), then Gascón may have lost. Instead, he won big.

In the Sheriff’s race, Cook expressed surprise that Chris Cunnie and Captain Paul Miyamoto didn’t share more votes in the first- and second-place slots. Instead, their second place votes went to Mirkarimi, giving him the necessary 50% majority in early rounds of ranked-choice counting.

Cook saw the strong showing of John Avalos as a sign that San Francisco’s progressives are still a political force. In fact, Avalos had more  votes on the day of the election than any other candidate.

Commenting on the presidential race, Cook said that President Obama would be in bigger trouble if it weren’t for the weak Republican field. He feels as though the race to the right in the primaries will result in low general election enthusiasm for the eventual nominee (Mitt Romney).

It was a banner night for all of us political science geeks in the crowd.

We also heard from One Minute for Peace, a group dedicated to reducing spending on military. Check out their site for a cogent argument in favor of drastic cuts in military spending.

Our panel will include:

Hydra Mendoza, Vice President of SF Board of Education

Ken Tray, teacher and Political Director of the United Educators of San Francisco

Heather World, public school parent and writer

The panel will discuss school assignments, Prop H (which is opposed by NoeDems), teachers’ unions, and more, taking questions from the audience.

Wednesday October 19 at 7:30 pm

St Philip School

725 Diamond Street @ Elizabeth, in SF

All are welcome and to this free event.

Mayor
1st choice – Dennis Herrera
2nd choice - Bevan Dufty

District Attorney
1st choice – George Gascón
2nd choice – David Onek

Sheriff
1st choice - Ross Mirkarimi
2nd choice – Chris Cunnie

Local Props
A – Yes
B – Yes
C – Yes
D – No
E – Yes
F – No Recommendation
G – Yes
H – No

St Philips Church Community Meeting Room, 725 Diamond Street @ Elizabeth Street, SF

Wednesday Sept 7, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.

We will be using ranked-choice voting in the endorsement meeting. Here is the endorsement meeting ballot:NVDC Nov 2011 Ballot

NVDC Bylaws require that only members in good standing who reside within Club boundaries may vote.  Good Standing means that a member has paid his/her 2011 dues.  Past members of the club are eligible to vote when in good standing.  Dues are:

1.       $30;

2.       paid on a calendar year basis

3.       Due in month of January of each year

MEMBERS ARE NOT IN GOOD STANDING UNLESS YOU HAVE PAID DUES IN 2011.  Dues will be accepted at the September endorsement meeting. If you are not a member of the Club you cannot vote at this meeting.

Absentee voting is permitted so long as the ballot is submitted to the President, Hunter Stern, or Andy Fleischman, the Past President, and the member submitting the ballot meets the voting criteria above.  Absentee ballots may be submitted anytime on or before the Endorsement Meeting. Completed ballots must be placed in an envelope, sealed, signed on the outside of the envelope and submitted no later than at the time of the vote at St. Philips. 2011 dues must be submitted with the Absentee Ballot if you are not yet a member in good standing.

Ms. Melissa Griffin tries to keep debate-weary candidates lively at James Lick Middle School.

We had about 200 citizens turn out for our lively Mayoral Forum, moderated by the always delightful Melissa Griffin, who kept the candidates focused and filled us in on their Zodiac signs. This kind of community democracy is what makes us keep heading out into the night to ensure that voters are well informed and candidates hear the voice of constituents. We NVDC members love that stuff!

Those of us who endured the J to get to the forum were among those giving a rousing round of applause when Green Party candidate  Terry Joan Baum suggested removing fees for Muni. At least then we’d get what we paid for.