Young Democrats: questionnaire for Rob Anderson, candidate for District 5 Supervisor

SAN FRANCISCO YOUNG DEMOCRATS
CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE – 2008www.sfyd.org

1. Why are you running and what makes you qualified for this position?

This will be my third campaign for District 5 Supervisor. My first campaign in 2000 highlighted the city’s failure to deal with homelessness. I tried---and failed---to get city progressives---including, Matt Gonzalez, the eventual winner---interested in a new initiative to deal with homelessness. Interesting to note that in the campaign for Mayor of San Francisco three years later, Supervisor Newsom used the homeless issue to get elected, while Gonzales had no substantive response to Care Not Cash. I’m running against Supervisor Mirkarimi because I think he’s been a terrible supervisor and represents everything that’s wrong with San Francisco progressivism.

2. What are the main challenges facing the San Francisco Young Democrats as an organization in the context of this position?
Young Democrats face the same challenges as other Democrats in SF. The main disadvantage young people face is a lack of experience and information. You’re coming to the party late. The only advantage we older Democrats have is having been in the fray longer.

How will you address those issues if elected?
You can get a good idea of how I address city issues from my blog, District 5 Diary:
http://district5diary.blogspot.com/

If you are the incumbent, please list at least three concrete accomplishments in the office.

3. Identify two challenges facing young San Franciscans politically in the context of the position you seek?

As young people, you are playing catch-up. You have to study the issues, read everything you can get your hands on, and go to meetings on the issues that interest you the most (you can’t be effectively involved in every issue!).

What specific commitment will you make to address these issues if elected?

Address which issues? You’re the ones who have to be specific. I think Mayor Newsom has done a good job on homelessness and graffiti/tagging. But, like SF progressives, he’s been terrible on development and housing, with, in a city desperate for affordable housing, the luxury highrise condos on Rincon Hill, the Market/Octavia Plan, UC’s hijacking of the old extension property on lower Haight Street, and, with city progs, pushing the 527-page Bicycle Plan through the process without the environmental study the law clearly requires.

4. If elected, what ideas and commitments would you put forward to engage more of San Francisco’s young people in the political process?
You have to take responsibility for your own commitments. As I say, you have to engage on the issues by doing a lot of reading---starting with the city’s dailies and weeklies and the blogs---and going to meetings on the issues that interest you.

What specifically would you do?

See above.

5. Please describe in sufficient detail at least one of your accomplishments that has improved the lives of young people. These examples should illustrate effective skills and capabilities you think apply to the office you are seeking. These accomplishments may have happened at any time in your personal, professional, or public life.
I’m not particularly interested in “improving the lives of young people.” You have to improve your own lives. If an idea or program isn’t good for everyone---for the whole city---it’s not a good idea/program. Nor do I think it’s a good idea to Balkanize the Democratic Party or the city into different groups based on age, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. (See my responses on this in the questionnaire from the Chinese American Citizens Alliance at:

http://district5diary.blogspot.com/2008/06/chinese-american-citizens-alliance.html).

Candidates get the same question from every group. What have you done for us? Is Anderson good for the Jews, blacks, gays, etc? We’re all in this together, and I would never support anything that isn’t good for the whole city.

6. Experience: Also, please list or describe your current and past activities in the community in which you have acquired skills that relate to the office you seek. Include your role in the activity and when you were involved. Involvement consists of many areas such as family, neighborhood, community, employment, or public life. Please explain how your experience would make you an effective advocate for young people as an SFYD office holder.

The most important skills I bring to the party and the city are my reading, writing, and thinking skills. The greatest failure of many in SF politics is an intellectual failure. The biggest problem city progressives have is their inability to think outside their ideological box, which is the most important thing young Democrats need to understand: Ideology is more of a hindrance than a help in understanding local issues. Too many progressives---including many Democrats---seem to think they have a special moral/intellectual advantage just because they are progressives. They don’t. Determining the truth about city issues has nothing to do with ideology.

My family life---my private life in general---is no one’s business. That is, my religion or lack thereof, my drug use, or my sexual orientation is no one’s business but my own.