Elections Commission
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City and County of San Francisco
Elections Commission
Approved: 1-15-03
Minutes of the Meeting held
January 3, 2003
President Mendelson called the 29th meeting of the San Francisco Elections Commission to order at 1:04 pm.
2. COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Thomas Schulz, Alix Rosenthal, Brenda Stowers, Richard Shadoian and Michael Mendelson. ABSENT: Robert Kenealey. Also present were Julia Moll and Claire Sylvia from the City Attorney’s Office.
3. FLAG SALUTE was led by Commissioner Rosenthal.
4. Discussion and approval of the minutes for the Elections Commission Meeting held on December 18, 2002. Commissioner Rosenthal MOVED to approve the minutes, Commissioner Stowers SECONDED. Commissioner Schulz requested that in his comments on page three, under “items for future agendas”, the word “redistricting” be changed to “reprecincting”. This amendment to the MOTION was accepted. The MOTION carried with the appropriate correction.
5. POSSIBLE CLOSED SESSION: President Mendelson stated that there would be no closed session for this meeting.
6. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Richard Rothman spoke about his not knowing when he would receive his ballot/VIP and the problems he encountered when he called the Department of Elections (DOE).
Mr. Rothman suggested that DOE staff be informed of the schedule for sending out the various ballot types. Mr. Rothman also suggested that the DOE merge with another department which would permit the department to have more permanent staff. Doug Comstock spoke about the lack of an opposing argument for Proposition E in the November Voter Information Pamphlet (VIP). Mr. Comstock stated that a representative from his group was told that his argument had to be on a disc by the DOE staff person at the front desk and that the Acting Director refused to take the submission after being informed of the situation. Kathryne Burke said that she was concerned about items not on the agenda. Ms. Burke asked the Commission to look into election day registration, reprecincting, recruitment, training and evaluation of election officers.
7. OFFICER’S REPORT: President Mendelson stated that he was to have made a brief discussion of last year’s events but in light of the number of citizens who wanted to comment on paid arguments at today’s meeting, he will postpone the report to the next Commission meeting.
8.DIRECTOR’S REPORT: Jennifer Novak represented Acting Director Arntz.
Ms. Novak reported that there is currently no space to store the ballots for the upcoming Mayoral race. The space at 240 Van Ness has been shut down by the Fire Marshal. It is estimated that $138,000 is needed to bring the 240 Van Ness location up to code.
9.Discussion and possible action to propose legislation to the Board of Supervisors to eliminate paid ballot arguments from the VIP. Vice President Rosenthal recommended that the Commission move into a committee of the whole to discuss the topic. She stated that she wanted to highlight the fact that this Commission does not have jurisdiction to eliminate paid ballot arguments. The Commission would be discussing the possibility of a recommendation to the Board regarding eliminating paid ballot arguments or any other recommendations. Commissioner Rosenthal said that it was important to hold public hearings on this topic and that the Commission not make a decision until after those hearings are completed.
Commissioner Stowers asked the Deputy City Attorney to confirm that the Commission does not have the authority to eliminate paid ballot arguments. Julia Moll replied that the Commission has the authority to make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors.
Commissioner Rosenthal said that the Commission was not bound to the specific language and that changes can be made to the draft legislation.
Commissioner Schulz said that budget savings seemed to be the context of the legislation and that he was in favor of getting a list of other ways to save money. Commissioner Schulz asked from where the draft legislation originated. Commissioner Rosenthal said that it was her understanding that it was forwarded to Acting Director Arntz by a representative of the Board of Supervisors.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Mark Solomon called the Commission’s attention to the footer at the bottom of the proposed legislation, which says “Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr.”. Mr. Solomon said that this is how the Mayor submits an item to the Board of Supervisors. Denise D’Anne, member of the board of Senior Action Network, said that her group supports keeping paid ballot arguments. Jane Morrison read a prepared statement in favor of paid arguments. Doug Comstock said that the Coalition of SF Neighborhoods was in favor of paid ballot arguments and asked the Commission how many bids it received for the printing of the VIP. Robert Haalund said that the Harvey Milk, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Democratic Club was against eliminating paid arguments. Agar Jaicks said that he’d lived in San Francisco 50 years and urged the Commission not to support the removal of paid arguments. Arthur Chang said that he was speaking on behalf of San Francisco Common Cause which is in favor of paid arguments. Jennifer Clary, President of San Francisco Tomorrow, said that the paid arguments were an important voter education tool. Norman Rolfe, said that paid arguments were a means of expanding democracy. He said that having only one point of view against a ballot item was not enough. Howard Wallace, on the staff of healthcare workers local 250 of SEIU, said that the union is very concerned, scrutinizes legislation very carefully and is in favor of keeping paid arguments. He said that by taking away the paid arguments, the City would be lowering the voter turn out. Peter Fries said that the proposal had no specified budgetary figure attached. David Spero, said that he does a “trash poll” for every election by going through 15 – 20 precincts and looking into the trash there. He said that it is clear from this that the public relies on the VIP. The VIP ballot arguments give “a multiplicity of voices”. Mr. Spero said the problem with the VIP was the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor putting too much on the ballot - not the citizens, and that the DOE needs permanent staff. Ted Gullickson, with the S. F. Tenants Union, said that the VIP was an invaluable tool for groups like his to get their views out in a cost effective manner. Bill Barnes, from Supervisor Daly’s Office, said that some of the changes in the proposed legislation made a lot of sense, such as being able to change a factual error in your argument. He thanked the Commission for supporting Supervisor Daly’s proposal to pay for the return mailing of absentee ballots and congratulated Acting Director Arntz for saving money on the mailing of the VIP during the November election. He suggested that the Commission investigate how official opponent arguments are selected.
President Mendelson asked Mr. Barnes if he knew when this item would be going before the Board of Supervisors. Mr. Barnes said that there will be a new Board President and new committee members selected within the next six weeks, and to have this item heard before February is very unlikely. Mr. Barnes said that he’d like to hear from the Deputy City Attorney to learn whether the item has been introduced to the Board of Supervisors.
Julia Moll stated that the draft proposal has not been introduced at the Board of Supervisors. She clarified that the DOE is working with the Mayor’s Office regarding the budget for FY2003/2004, and the Mayor’s Office was concerned that the money submitted for paid ballot arguments did not cover the actual costs of producing and mailing those arguments. The Mayor’s Office asked that the Acting Director of Elections present this draft proposal to the Commission for its input before the Mayor’s Office proposes it to the Board of Supervisors.
Commissioner Rosenthal invited the audience to come back to the Commission’s next meeting on January 15, 2003 at 7:00 pm in City Hall Room 400.
Commissioner Schulz asked if the Budget and Policy Committee would consider this item as part of its agenda as well.
President Mendelson stated that this was an important issue facing San Francisco citizens. He said that the Commission now has the figures demonstrating the costs engendered by the production of the VIP which will be available for the next Commission meeting. Preliminary numbers indicate that the cost was approximately $800,000 to produce and mail out the VIP. The DOE received $133,000 from the paid arguments. President Mendelson asked the audience to spread the word that the Commission wants a full and fair hearing to continue the dialogue on the subject of eliminating the paid arguments even though the Commission does not have the primary jurisdiction over this action.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Denise D’Anne commented that all printed materials should be produced double-sided to conserve resources. Peter Fries stated that action item documents must be available to the public for examination ten days before the meeting.
Meeting ADJOURNED at 2:00 PM.