On Wednesday, the Budget and Finance Committee of the Board of Supervisors will take up a bill that would give a payroll tax credit to local employers who hire ex-felons. I imagine this new law, if enacted, would lead to lots of employment rejection letters for nonfelonious citizens. Letters like this: Click on the photo at right to see a chart of current hiring-based payroll tax breaks available to businesses. Dear Mr. Morgan, Read More

The votes are in and political partisans are either celebrating or mourning the election results. The only item that hangs in the balance is one of the more controversial measures: Proposition H, a policy statement asking the school board to give all students the right to go to neighborhood schools (as opposed to a lottery in which geography is just one of several factors). Read More

‘Ranked-choice voting is a failed experiment,” according to Supervisor Mark Farrell. Today, Farrell and Supervisor Sean Elsbernd will propose a charter amendment to end ranked-choice voting in San Francisco. It will need a majority of votes from the Board of Supervisors to get on the ballot in June, but I can’t imagine any supervisor will be able to vote against it after the spectacle we are about to witness as we calculate the votes in this mayoral race. Read More

Like my mother yelling and ringing a cowbell at my basketball games, supporters of Ed Lee may have gone a bit overboard. Reports have surfaced that folks who want to see Lee elected mayor in November set up tables in Chinatown where they marked — or instructed people on how to mark — mail-in ballots for Lee. Lee’s official campaign has distanced itself from the actions of these self-proclaimed “Ed Heads,” calling for a stop to “any activity that undermines confidence in the election or the voting process.” Which is a hilariously tall order, if you think about it. Read More

In the commercial, an ominous, floating picture of Sarah Palin fills the screen while a woman’s voice urgently says, “The same tea party billionaires who funded [attacks on public unions in Ohio and Wisconsin] are funding Prop. D in San Francisco.” Wait, what? Read More

For those of you keeping score at home, there are now three proposals to amend The City’s Health Care Security Ordinance — one by Supervisor David Campos, one by Supervisor David Chiu and one by Mayor Ed Lee.   Read More

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd asked his colleague Jane Kim a worthwhile question at Monday’s Rules Committee meeting: “What is more important to [our] communities? Having dollars available for services? Or standing on a principle that has been deemed unconstitutional?” Kim, for the record, prefers the latter, but we’ll get back to that. Read More