by Adriel Hampton
San Francisco Examiner
Monday, September 8, 2003
ANGELA ALIOTO is raring for the mayor's race dogfight. "I'm dying to have a debate where I get to debate my colleagues," Alioto told supporters Sunday, dissing past mayoral forums as inadequate for follow-up questions. "I want to debate them, I want to cross-examine them." Alioto has led the pack in breaking out of format, though to little avail. Even in comparison to last week's staid gubernatorial debate, San Francisco political forums are constrained, allowing little chance for rebuttal or follow-up, and so far, allowing candidates to fill the air with empty rhetoric instead of response. True sparks -- in debate and in old-fashioned hit pieces -- are unlikely until after the gubernatorial election, making for an exceedingly nasty final four weeks as lefty candidates work to squeeze into a runoff and tenderize Supervisor Gavin Newsom in the process. ... Muni driver Charles White helped Alioto win the driver's endorsement the same way union officials advertise their candidacies -- by getting campaign literature in the bathrooms. "I took her campaign to the toilet," he joked. ... Both Alioto and Newsom opened satellite offices in the Bayview on Saturday, just blocks away from each other on Third Street. The southeast office is Newsom's third outlying his sprawling Van Ness Avenue. headquarters. Alioto's, she says, is the first of 20, though they'll be small spaces. The Bayview spot is painted a vivid "Alioto Blue." Street theater greeted Newsom, with dancing "Republicrats" mocking his opening. ...
Residential Builders Association chief Joe O'Donoghue was at Friday's art opening at Supervisor Matt Gonzalez's City Hall office (energetic paintings by Tom Schultz), a monthly affair. He chatted with anarchic activist Marc Salomon and said his building group has parted with Newsom for too-tight ties to downtown interests and that they are looking to back Alioto or Gonzalez.