WILLIE BROWN TIME
San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown may on the down
side of his political career in Baghdad by the Bay, but that
doesn’t mean he isn’t trying to keep his hand in the state’s
politics as king maker.
His latest foray is a meeting he pulled together yesterday to
discuss the Gov. Gray Davis recall tragedy
besetting the Democrats.
Who showed probably is not a surprise — Davis’s ornery
political guru, Garry South, a couple of Sen.
Dianne Feinstein’s old campaign hands, and
political consultant Richie Ross, who was probably
representing all of his clients: Lt. Gov. Cruz
Bustamante, state attorney general Bill
Lockyer and the United Farm Workers. The California
Teachers Association was also said at press time to have had a seat
at the table.
“It reads like back to school night for Brown’s Sacramento
cabal,” says a legislative aide to a member of the San Francisco
Board of Supervisors, referring to Brown’s tenure as speaker of the
state assembly. “Brown thinks he can decide who will be mayor of
San Francisco, who will be on the board of supervisors, and now
he’s trying to pull the strings on how the Democrats will handle
the recall.”
The meeting was one of many that have probably been occurring
around the state, as Democrats try to figure out how best to avoid
being ignominiously tossed from the governorship.
Bustamante, Lockyer and Feinstein have both denied interest in
running against Davis, and their wisdom may be playing out in poll
numbers that show Davis performing better when put up next to a
specific potential Republican candidate.
Both the farm workers and the state teachers association are
longtime shills for Brown and the state Democratic Party, and
they’ll be critical to getting the vote out in urban centers and
across the state.
Perhaps surprising was that Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s
people were locked out of the meeting, as were people from Sen.
Barbara Boxer’s camp. According to the legislative
aide, rumors in City Hall had Pelosi trying to horn in on the
meeting, and perhaps even holding her own get-together in order to
appear on top of the political scene in her adoptive home state.
Her exclusion is even more surprising considering the House of
Representatives is on summer recess and she certainly would have
been available.
IT’S OFFICIAL, JUST ABOUT
Sen. George Allen is telling Republicans in
Washington that he finally got his man to run against Sen.
Patty Murray in Washington State next year.
Rep. George Nethercutt, who has been riding the
fence about whether or not to challenge the two-term senator, isn’t
confirming anything, but Allen and his people on the National
Republican Senatorial Committee aren’t denying it, either.
Nethercutt was the second-best hope for the GOP after Rep.
Jennifer Dunn took a pass on the challenge, but he
had been publicly leery of jumping into the race.
Allen made commitments of fundraising help, however, and the
White House seemed supportive enough to push Nethercutt over the
edge.
An established political name was seen as critical to downing
Murray given the fundraising necessary to defeat an incumbent,
especially in a liberal-voting state like Washington.
That said, Washington is seen a potential swing state for
Republicans in 2004 if the issues fall right, and despite
Nethercutt’s conservative voting record, he is a popular in-state
political figure, particularly in rural areas.
