Response to Harvey Milk Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender Democratic Club Questionnaire

May 21, 2004

Dear Harvey Milk Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender Democratic Club

Your questionnaire is way over the top, the political equivalent to asking candidates to bend over and spread their cheeks. It was evidently drafted by an officious committee. You should have appointed a sub-committee to edit the questionnaire, for some of the questions are preposterous and/or cryptic to the point of making little sense.

Take question #6: “Do you support District Elections in all districts for electing the Board of Supervisors? If not, please explain.” Please explain to me how there could be district elections in one district and not in another. Isn’t it an all-or-nothing deal?

The tacit premise---that an honest candidate could possibly have an informed opinion on all the district candidates since 2000---of questions #25-#27 is ridiculous. Like some of the others, the question invites phony responses, and you will get a lot of them.

Other questions---those that require a PC response---are obnoxious: “What would you do to promote racial justice?” Well, I might take a Negro to lunch, just for openers.

And “How would you address police misconduct?” I would take their donuts away and send them to their rooms.

Your questions touch base with almost every “progressive” group in the city, though I don’t see the dog issue anywhere, an oversight a sub-committee could have caught. Don’t you believe in pet “guardianship”?

...Your opposition to Care Not Cash seems to be folded into questions #38a and #38b. I support Care Not Cash whole-heartedly. Our smug progressive community has been guilty of political negligence by essentially ignoring the homeless issue for years, until Gavin Newsom, to his eternal credit, came along with Care Not Cash, which, he would be the first to admit, is only the beginning in dealing with the problem. He is off to a good start, bringing SRO hotel rooms on line for the homeless and putting Angela Alioto in charge of the committee drafting a ten-year plan to access federal money. Our lame, PC-addled progressive community fiddled and diddled for years while thousands of people died on our streets. So much for compassion! So much for political vision!

To answer your questionnaire fully would be demeaning, and I would hate myself in the morning.
Nevertheless, I would still welcome a June 5 interview with your group. We need to work on our relationship.

Regards,

Rob Anderson
Candidate in District 5
1516 McAllister St.
SF CA 94115