Go back to News pageGOODBYE PORK PIE: With California Democrats in danger of losing control of the state Assembly -- the 80 seats were evenly divided after Tuesday's election, and one race could still swing from the Democratic candidate to the Republican -- there's a chance that Speaker Willie Brown will be demoted to plain old assemblyman. And if that happens, San Francisco stands to be a big loser.
It's no secret that Brown has used his powerful post to ensure that the city receives favorable feeding on the legislative gravy train, and sources say resentment toward San Francisco is widespread.
Margaret Kisliuk, the city's Sacto lobbyist, says that if Brown is bounced as the state's second-most-powerful pol after the governor, it will be a disaster for San Francisco.
"There are people waiting to 'get' San Francisco for getting more than our fair share," she says.
Adds Mayor Jordan's honcho Jim Wunderman: "It would be a great loss, a whole new day for everybody."
San Francisco has controlled the speakership for the past 20 years. Brown has held the job for a record 14 years; before that, Democrat Leo McCarthy held it for six years.
Brown says that if there is a tie vote for speaker, he keeps the job. But that's in dispute, and look for lawmakers to try to sort out the mess in the coming weeks.
SHARKS ARE CIRCLING: Political gunslinger Clint Reilly couldn't quite dodge all the bullets election night and ended up with some wounds: two gigantic losses that could jeopardize his chances of being hired for choice campaigns in the future.
Reilly was a bipartisan loser: Democrat Kathleen Brown lost in the governor's race and Republican Supervisor Annemarie Conroy lost her seat on The City's Board of Supervisors. Brown slid from a 26-point lead, and Conroy was considered throughout the campaign to be a virtual shoo-in.
It looks like Reilly's troubles aren't over. Sharks in the Brown campaign are smelling his blood and beginning to circle. Word is that the candidate and Reilly have already begun finger-pointing for her loss, with Brown so furious over the handling of her campaign funds that she may ask for an outside audit.
When the dust settles, it's safe to speculate that Reilly will no longer be the odds-on favorite to handle President Clinton's re-election campaign in 1996, as has been rumored.
Meanwhile, Mayor Jordan is pondering how to navigate the legislative waters without Conroy, whom he appointed to the board two years ago. Who will the mayor cozy up to in an attempt to get new allies? Sources suggest Supes Susan Leal, Barbara Kaufman and Willie Kennedy.
TALKING TRASH: Conroy may not have seen her loss coming, but political activist and amateur pollster Robert Barnes did. Barnes conducted a not-very-scientific study of discarded slate cards in garbage cans around registrar of voters office, and guess what he found? Conroy coming in sixth, and the five candidates who won -- Kevin Shelley, Carole Migden, Susan Leal, Tom Ammiano and Mabel Teng -- coming in one through five. No other poll conducted in recent weeks had those results.
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