March 4th was the date, The Nabe was the place to be when Police Commissioner Joe Alioto Veronese, Assemblyman Mark Leno, Senator Carole Migden and former Assemblyman Joe Nation vied for your vote. Philip DeAndrade moderated this leg of California’s hottest legislative race. Around 90 people showed up – our biggest event yet. Click on Blog at left to read an article about the event in the Bay Area Reporter.

Members voted as follows: First round IRV, counting 1st choices only: Leno 21. Migden 14, Nation 3, No Endorsement 2, total 40 votes cast. 2nd round: Eliminating the votes for Nation and No Endorsement, those voters’ second choices added 1 each to Leno and Migden, and 2 to Alioto Veronese (one voter had no 2nd choice). Since Alioto Veronese, like Nation and No Endorsement, got less than 15% of the vote, his votes were eliminated.

Final count: Leno 22, Migden 15. 24 votes were needed to make the 60% endorsement threshold. So the Club’s official position is: No Position. You can still click on the candidates’ photos at upper right, except for the one who dropped out, to go to their web sites.

Audio and Photos:

[slideshow id=22]

Photos: Rebecca Wilkowski

Tuesday March 4th ’08 7pm
The moderator of the event was Philip DeAndrade.

Opening Statements


Mark Leno
Carole Migden

Joe Nation
Joe Alioto Veronese

Question #1: Our state budget does not reflect the values we support. Given the lack of state revenue, a republican governor, a 2/3 majority requirement to pass a budget, what strategies would you employ to bring about a change in how Sacramento does business?

Joe Alioto Veronese
Mark Leno
Carole Migden
Joe Nation

Question #2: Given the recent setback in passing comprehensive health care legislation at the state level, do you think there are any interim steps that we can take to address parts of the problem? For instance expanding coverage for people with pre-existing conditions; limiting profit margins for health insurance companies; health care for low income populations. Anything short of single payer we can do now?

Carole Migden
Joe Nation
Joe Alioto Veronese
Mark Leno

Question #3: Heliports in 94107: This community has an opportunity to weigh in on two heliports: SF General Hospital and another for the pediatric unit of the UCSF hospital which is planned for the foot of Potrero Hill. How do we work out the issues? There are “goods” on both side of the issue. UCSF is exempt from local land use rules and from paying property taxes. How would you help to insure that community voices have a role in shaping UCSF’s development plans specifically in cases such as the proposal for a helipad on the new hospital?

Joe Nation
Joe Alioto Veronese
Mark Leno
Carole Migden

Question #4: Our state prison system is in crisis. We currently spent $10 billion a year on a state prison system that is broken. The prisons operate at 200% capacity. Rehabilitation, drug counseling, and vocational training have all but disappeared. Virtually the same statement can be made about public education. Overcrowding, programs cut, an educational system now ranked 47th in the country. Yet prison spending is increasing while education budgets are slashed. What would you do as one single voice to change this situation?

Mark Leno
Joe Alioto Veronese

Carole Migden
Joe Nation

Question #5: Doyle Drive: Hurricane Katrina and the Minneapolis I-35 bridge collapse have drawn our attention to the immediate need to strengthen the nation’s infrastructure. Locally, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, CalTrans has given Doyle Drive leading up to the GG Bridge a safety rating of 2 on a 100 point scale. The Minneapolis bridge was rated 50. Using Doyle Drive are an example, what can we do at the state level to insure that the Bay Area infrastructure can meet both daily and emergency needs? You might specially address the notion that in order to get the $58 million from the Feds we need to be able to take a toll on Doyle Drive that requires some State legislation.

Carole Migden
Joe Nation
Joe Alioto Veronese
Mark Leno

Question #6: The southeast portion of the city has historically served as the dumping ground of San Francisco’s most toxic industries. Asthma rates among our kids exceed the rest of the city. And yet when we try to close down our polluting power plant, the state requires us to replace it with other fossil fuel plant for reliability forcing us to choose between the health of our kids and keeping the lights on. What will you do to help us out of this dilemma?

Joe Alioto Veronese
Mark Leno
Joe Nation
Carole Migden

Closing Statements
Mark Leno

Carole Migden
Joe Nation
Joe Alioto Veronese

Thank you note from Joe Nation

Quint King
Secretary, Potrero Hill Democratic Club
[email protected]

For all audio of the debate in a single playlist you can play back in iTunes or Windows Media Player, click HERE.