Race To Nowhere & Other Non News
Anyone who actually cares about this year’s nutty SF mayoral “race” knows that the only candidate with fundraising mojo besides golden boy Gavin is “showman” Chicken John Rinaldi. The burning man refugee last week claimed he’s qualified for matching public funding in his campaign by raising at least $25,000 up front from donors, giving him a war chest of $50,000. It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the Mayor’s campaign bucks, but not a bad start for a jerk of all tirades who used to play in a band with G.G Allin. 
He’s a classic self centered SF political character, and plenty of folks will vouch for some creepy, callous and corrupt behaviors on his part. Although, in politics, that also describes just about everyone worth voting for…
Neither Chicken or Gavin bothered to appear, but anyone keeping up on the fray might want to head on over to Fog City Journal for a look at a recent “mayoral candidate” forum of the other eventual losers held in the Tenderloin. There are some really interesting photos by editor Luke Thomas of nutcase vegan candidate Grasshopper Kaplan throwing a tantrum and getting arrested while the other candidates idly watched. Sure beats those boring Presidential gameshow like debate debacles.
In other mayoral candidate media blitzing, we have Dr. Ahimsa Sumchai’s profile in the SF Bay Guardian that reveals the Hunter’s Point community activist had a 116 day jail sentence, and lost her medical license for awhile after a Post-Traumatic Stress breakdown featuring “explosive outbursts of anger and paranoia” a few years back. That should certainly give her an edge in the race’s raging runner up run down this November.
Oh and it should be noted, despite being tastelessly skewered in a comic from SF Weekly scribe Matt Smith, incumbent Gavin is happily touting a new corporate advertising deal this week between Muni & Clear Channel. In a typically glib press release he says the advertising arrangement benefits “the citizens of San Francisco and sets the tone for the future of the SFMTA.” Michael Colobruno, a VP at Clear Channel Outdoor and former aide to State Senator Carole Migden who has arranged free Billboards for his former boss and other local politicians no doubt played a role in hooking up this multimillion dollar contract with MTA officials that Gavin’s so gleeful about .
um he hasn’t actually received the money yet, nor has he qualified, they need to go through all the records (many of which are INCOMPLETE) to verify he did in fact qualify for money, if he goes through all that he will not receive any money until the end of September.
plus as a receipient of our money, he is REQUIRED to appear at debates and yet he refuses. I guess breaking the law is ok if you’ve got a funny face.
try doing some research, then write more. you are a good guy but you need to stop jumping the gun with this stuff.
also, be aware that Chicken John has had a reputation for being a bit of a scammer….there’s several websites that talk about this…plus he himself has said he’d spend the money on “top shelf booze and imported figs” - do a google and you’ll find it, he’s not going to win and he’s not going to advance the causes anyone cares about….just getting his mug and name in the press!
Oh come on ‘TruthSoothes’, on a shoestring budget he has already done far more for issue awareness than other candidates would with $50k.
Might it help him do more for issue awareness if he showed up at the debates?
I’ve searched for his platform, and all I can find is that it is “the bed of his pickup truck.”
What a fraud.
What issues has he raised awareness of? I’ve been following this non-race pretty closely, and all I’ve really heard him say is “more art, but not art I don’t like”
“explosive outbursts of anger and paranoia”. the pay-per-view cage match/’debate’ against Chris Daly & her would be something i might actually plunked down money to watch.