Airbnb scored a big win in last night’s election in San Francisco, crushing Prop F, a measure that would have strictly limited short-term rentals in the city. The company spent $8 million opposing the measure, more than 16 times the amount spent by the “Yes” camp.
Interesting nugget: 138,000 SF residents have used Airbnb in the past year. Keep in mind that there are only 446,841 registered voters in the city…
Mayor Ed Lee coasted to reelection, capturing well over 50% of the vote while three challengers split the remainder. In a surprise to exactly no one, scandal-plagued sheriff Ross Mirkarimi went down in flames, with challenger Vicki Hennessy beating him by about two-to-one. Full SF election results here.
Looking ahead to next November’s election… out of state plastic bag manufacturers are doubling their efforts (double bag joke, anyone?) to defeat California’s statewide ban on single-use plastic bags. Jessica Calefati, San Jose Mercury News:
“Out-of-state bag makers leading the campaign to repeal a 2014 law banning their product spent $3 million on signature gathering alone -- and in a surprise move recently filed another initiative on the same topic, a highly unusual strategy that appears to be the political equivalent of a trick play in football….
"’Voters faced with too many choices get confused, and confused voters tend to vote no on everything,’ said John Matsusaka, executive director of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California. ‘In this case, that's exactly what the proponents of the referendum want.’"
Not to be outdone, SEIU has also introduced duelling ballot props on the same topic – raising the minimum wage. The move underscores a split between rival parts of the same overall organization, with SEIU Local 1021 introducing the latest initiative while SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West backs an earlier proposal. Christopher Cadelago, Sacramento Bee:
“Polls show strong support for hiking the wage floor in California. The Field Poll in August found nearly seven out of 10 voters support incrementally raising the minimum pay by $1 per hour each year over the next five years.
“Still, it’s unclear how voters would react to overlapping – or competing – proposals, both of which would index the minimum wage once they meet their respective minimums. Under state law, the initiative receiving the highest number of votes would take effect….
“Kristin Lynch, a strategist for SEIU 1021, said she was confident that the two sides will eventually come together. But she stressed that the SEIU state council’s version was the superior draft because it gets to $15 an hour one year faster and doubles, to six from three, the number of guaranteed sick days.”
An anonymous tip may lead to an ethics investigation into whether Attorney General Kamala Harris received gifts over the legal limit. Phil Willon, Los Angeles Times:
“A state ethics agency has told California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris that it may launch an inquiry into an allegation that she received gifts from a company owned by a San Francisco interior designer that exceed legal limits.
“On Oct. 13, the Fair Political Practices Commission sent a letter to Harris, who is running for U.S. Senate, stating that the agency ‘is considering initiating an investigation concerning your receipt of furnishings, accessories and services from Ken Fulk, Inc., over the gift limit.’
“The allegation was made in an anonymous tip to the agency, said FPPC spokesman Jay Wierenga. He cautioned that the agency investigates more than 1,000 complaints a year and initiates hundreds more. The agency has simply requested a response from Harris at this point, which is pending, he said.
“’I would categorize it as routine,’ he said.”
A welcome torrent of rain spattered California this week, but experts have been quick to remind us that the drought is nowhere near over. Spencer Michels looked at California’s drought-solution options for PBS NewsHour and found that dams are at the heart of the discussion:
“California is soul searching right now on how to deal with the drought. Should it build more dams? Or are there already enough dams — more than 1,400 — in the state, and not enough water to fill them up anyway?
“A year ago, when the water shortage was becoming acute, Californians passed a $7.5 billion water bond, with nearly $3 billion slated to go to water storage, which most people read as dams. But despite the passage of the proposition, Californians are still arguing over whether to build dams and which out of several proposed to construct.”
Comcast’s Carol Dahmen was a familiar name to hardcore California political junkies – even before she started the petition to disbar the author of the “Sodomite Suppression Act.” Nathaniel Miller interviews Dahmen at the Sacramento Journalism Review for a “People of Sacramento Commenting on the News” segment:
“She’s 50, a Sacramento native, a Sacramento State graduate, lives in West Sacramento, serves on the board of directors for the American Association of Political Consultants and the California Museum and works as the political marketing manager for Comcast Spotlight.
“She has more than 20 years of professional experience in politics and, in her current position, educates political professionals as to how they can best deliver specific messages to targeted audiences. The traditional campaign — throwing a lot of money at broadcast television — no longer works. It’s her job, she explains, to ‘give campaigns confidence that the media they’re buying is going to be effective.’”
And, last, we leave you with a simple pleasure: a dozen or so mugshots of people arrested on Halloween. What else can be said about that?
