News flash! Bay View Mayoral Endorsement: Peskin #1, Breed #2

Aaron Peskin by Bay View Editorial Board This week, San Francisco voters face what is in effect a referendum on the Willie Brown machine. This paper proudly endorsed Willie Brown in his first bid for San Francisco mayor and was sorely let down by a corrupt style of machine politics that turned its back on poor and working-class families and communities. It is well-known that the City’s subsequent mayors including Gavin Newsom, Ed Lee and London Breed have been part and parcel of the political machine Willie Brown has kept well-oiled for many decades.  Mayor Breed’s administration is currently embroiled in on-going corruption probes as various former department heads are now behind bars. Instead of supporting recent efforts to institute direct reparations for Black San Franciscans, Breed opted to pour tens of millions of City dollars into non-profits overseen and run by political cronies. Her signature Dream Keepers program is now mired in ethics violations. Don’t get us wrong. We believe in the Dream Keepers mission and hope the program survives with an emphasis on much needed financial literacy and ethics compliance for inequitably under-resourced community-based organizations. But the recent meltdown underscores the problem with Breed’s style of politics. Gatekeepers...