Ok, I was all set to vote for Palmer for Chair but I'm working on my ballot this week and doing lots of reading and have started getting cold feet. I'm frustrated with Mendo and agree the Council needs fresh faces and I like the idea of new leadership. I think my political align pretty well with Palmer and I like her personally -- she has a great attitude and seems easy to work with and I could see that translating to a good leadership style.

But I'm suddenly getting nervous. Council Chair has a lot of power. It's a big job with a ton of logistics. Palmer has a great resume and I'm a huge fan of her advocacy. But she's never been in a role with this many moving parts, this level of logistics. I am stressed about it. ANC can be a challenging job but it's very small compared to Chair. Her day job has always been as more of a team player.

She also has proposals for changing the way the Council works. I don't disagree with her proposals (re-forming the education subcommittee and hiring on more staff to draft and review legislation) but that kind of change can be hard and she has no track record with it -- no track record with building teams (other than her campaign team, which is smaller than typical because she decided to do public funding) or building a program from the ground up. I have done those things and it is really challenging work.

It's hard to imagine voting for Mendo (though I've done it in the past so it's not THAT hard) but I'm just starting to wonder if Palmer's enthusiasm and style can overcome these deficits in experience. Can some of Palmers supporters make the argument in favor? I want to vote for her but I need to get past this reservation.

(please don't accuse me of being a Mendo plant -- I genuinely want to vote for Palmer and want to hear the best argument in her favor on the issue of experience and leadership ability, I have been angry with Mendo since the Council overturned Prop. 77)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Voted for Janeese Lewis George because she wasn't Brandon Todd and it's been GREAT! No regrets at all.

I love Janeese! She's responsive, speaks with constituents on the street, and most importantly, fights against traffic violence and out of control drivers in Ward 4.

She wants to reopen Beach Drive to vehicular traffic and also thinks violent criminals should go unpunished. Think before you post.

Reopening upper Beach drive is important for Ward 4.

Improvements to 16th and 14th make it even more important to reopen Beach Drive to provide people in Ward 4 alternatives.

Could you elaborate? I'm in Ward 4, and have seen very little impact from the Beach Drive closure. I'm curious what you mean about changes to 14th & 16th.

Anonymous wrote:Erin seems like a nice person but doesn’t have the energy for the job.

she certainly has a lot more energy than the old scarecrow currently in office

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Voted for Janeese Lewis George because she wasn't Brandon Todd and it's been GREAT! No regrets at all.

I love Janeese! She's responsive, speaks with constituents on the street, and most importantly, fights against traffic violence and out of control drivers in Ward 4.

She wants to reopen Beach Drive to vehicular traffic and also thinks violent criminals should go unpunished. Think before you post.

Reopening upper Beach drive is important for Ward 4.

Improvements to 16th and 14th make it even more important to reopen Beach Drive to provide people in Ward 4 alternatives.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry to say, ethics lawyers aren’t the brightest in the bunch.

Non-lawyers who think ethics lawyers are human rights lawyers are certainly below that level.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Voted for Janeese Lewis George because she wasn't Brandon Todd and it's been GREAT! No regrets at all.

I love Janeese! She's responsive, speaks with constituents on the street, and most importantly, fights against traffic violence and out of control drivers in Ward 4.

She wants to reopen Beach Drive to vehicular traffic and also thinks violent criminals should go unpunished. Think before you post.

Reopening upper Beach drive is important for Ward 4.

Erin seems like a nice person but doesn’t have the energy for the job.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry to say, ethics lawyers aren’t the brightest in the bunch.

Anti-development activists like Mendelson aren't much better. His entire claim to fame was his failed attempt to stop an office building (upton) place from being developed in the late 1980s.

Sorry to say, ethics lawyers aren’t the brightest in the bunch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From her website:

After my judicial clerkship, I worked at a law firm, spending most of my time on pro bono matters.

This either is completely untrue, or a very damning statement on her ability to perform billable work. Either way, it has exactly the opposite effect that she hopes it will have.

Hella ignorant. She is a human rights lawyer - she was hired by the firm to direct pro bono projects. Are you unaware of what pro bono projects large firms do? Yikes.

First, she's a federal ethics lawyer, not a human rights lawyer. Second, you are suggesting that Clifford Chance hired a first year associate to "direct pro bono projects?"

And you think *I* don't know how large law firms work? OK.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Voted for Janeese Lewis George because she wasn't Brandon Todd and it's been GREAT! No regrets at all.

I love Janeese! She's responsive, speaks with constituents on the street, and most importantly, fights against traffic violence and out of control drivers in Ward 4.

She wants to reopen Beach Drive to vehicular traffic and also thinks violent criminals should go unpunished. Think before you post.

Oh the irony of the juxtaposition of your two sentences is... <chef's kiss>

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Voted for Janeese Lewis George because she wasn't Brandon Todd and it's been GREAT! No regrets at all.

I love Janeese! She's responsive, speaks with constituents on the street, and most importantly, fights against traffic violence and out of control drivers in Ward 4.

She wants to reopen Beach Drive to vehicular traffic and also thinks violent criminals should go unpunished. Think before you post.

Anonymous wrote:

Voted for Janeese Lewis George because she wasn't Brandon Todd and it's been GREAT! No regrets at all.

I love Janeese! She's responsive, speaks with constituents on the street, and most importantly, fights against traffic violence and out of control drivers in Ward 4.

Anonymous wrote:From her website:

After my judicial clerkship, I worked at a law firm, spending most of my time on pro bono matters.

This either is completely untrue, or a very damning statement on her ability to perform billable work. Either way, it has exactly the opposite effect that she hopes it will have.

Hella ignorant. She is a human rights lawyer - she was hired by the firm to direct pro bono projects. Are you unaware of what pro bono projects large firms do? Yikes.

Well I voted for Erin. I hope she wins.