San Francisco Superior Court Judge Loretta Giorgi ruled correctly last week to cut a measure banning male circumcision from the November ballot. The ruling was based on state law that forbids cities and counties from making up their own rules on widely practiced medical procedures. Read More

The next time you hear cries about transparency in government in San Francisco, you may want to see if the shouts are coming from behind opaque glass. A city known for its laborious political process — where any decisions are subject to myriad public hearings, debates and community courting — this week became the home of the backdoor stunt, whereby three major policy initiatives were snuck onto the November ballot by our most left-leaning supervisors without any discussion. Read More

The Board of Supervisors could change or even repeal voter-approved ordinances, years after their initial passage, under a charter amendment Supervisor Scott Wiener introduced Tuesday for the November ballot. Wiener said he is proposing the measure in response to criticism about the number of ballot measures, such as, “Why can’t the Board of Supervisors do its job and pass legislation without asking us to pass it for you?” Read More