Nobody thought that Proposition B – a simple “good government” Charter Amendment on the November ballot – would attract much attention. Supported by every Supervisor except Ed Jew, Prop B would require the Mayor to replace or re-appoint most of his city commissioners within 60 days after their terms expire.
But with Mayor Newsom’s sudden request last week that all commissioners and department heads resign so he can decide who will stay in January, Prop B may become more prominent. If Newsom wants to “clean house” with appointees who are not doing their job, starting with Prop B – rather than firing everybody – makes more sense. And if Newsom was paying attention to which commissioners’ terms had expired, we wouldn’t even need such a Charter Amendment.
The Mayor appoints most city commissioners, who are sworn into office and serve a fixed term (usually four years.) But many are “hold-over” commissioners – their actual terms expired years ago, but the Mayor has done nothing and they continue to serve on that body. Under Prop B, most city commissioners would have to be replaced or re-appointed within 60 days after their terms expire – or else get removed by default.
Prop B is relatively non-controversial, and even some of the Mayor’s allies view it as a common-sense Charter Amendment. One Commissioner told me that it’s “difficult” for the Mayor’s Office to keep track of all commission appointments, and when their terms expire. But Mayor Newsom has an appointment secretary – whose job it is to keep track of these commissioners and notify him when somebody’s term is up.
It is not lost on many that Newsom’s former appointments secretary was Ruby Rippey-Tourk, who had an affair with the Mayor while her husband ran his campaign. Time sheets show that Rippey-Tourk never put in a full week’s work during her last nine months, and upon leaving qualified for $10,000 of the City’s Catastrophic Illness Program.
Could we have avoided the need for a Charter Amendment like Prop B if the Mayor’s appointments secretary was doing her job?
But Prop B did not get much attention before the Mayor’s September 10th request to have all commissioners and department heads resign. Newsom wants the opportunity to start a second term from scratch, and this allows him the chance to get rid of the “dead wood.” He could have started by firing the Commissioners whose terms have actually expired – rather than force everyone to walk on eggshells for the next four months.
The Mayor now admits he only wants to get rid of 8-10 commissioners and department heads, and that the vast majority of people who submitted their letters of resignation last week will keep their jobs. But he still refuses to state who he plans to fire. Newsom can already fire Commissioners whose terms have expired, or at least decide whether they deserve to stay longer.
It is telling that the Mayor won’t name who he plans to axe, while his P.R. team calls it a reform-minded move to clean house. Some of the hold-over commissioners are Willie Brown appointees, and if Newsom were truly eager to shake things up they would be at the top of his list. But it now seems from the Mayor’s conduct that the people he will fire are not those who’ve worn out their welcome – but those who have shown an insufficient level of loyalty.
Prop B enjoys broad support, although a few people are opposing it. Barbara Meskunas of the S.F. Taxpayers Association (who works for Ed Jew) argues that it will remove qualified commissioners at the public’s expense. The measure’s fatal flaw, she argues, is that it would not lower the quorum requirement for commission meetings if a vacancy results due to a hold-over getting kicked off.
Others have argued that Prop B could be subject to abuse. If the Mayor doesn’t like what a Commission is doing, he can simply not re-appoint Commissioners when their terms expire – quietly killing the Commission’s ability to do anything. But Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, who sponsored Prop B, says the automatic removal could build public pressure on the Mayor to actually fill such vacancies.
Now that Mayor Newsom has called for all his Commissioners to resign, will he argue as part of his re-election campaign that Prop B is not necessary since he’s already cleaning house? If so, it would be bitterly ironic – and scandalous if the media lets him get away with it – given that the incompetence of his office is to blame for the plethora of hold-over Commissioners.
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