In San Francisco's ornate City Hall...
...on the balcony in front of the Mayor's Office...
...there was an investiture ceremony for a dozen new and returning commissioners from various city commissions.
Possibly because a few of the commissioners involved were being named to the War Memorial Trustees Board, which is of some concern to the rich of San Francisco, the city's Chief of Protocol, Charlotte Mailliard Schultz was making sure the event went smoothly which isn't something I've seen her do before at these ritualistic affairs.
If one were to name the Most Powerful Evil Queen of San Francisco, the competition between socialite Dede Wilsey and Ms. Schultz would certainly be fierce, but I'd be inclined to give Charlotte the crown, if only because she's married to the octagenarian George Schultz. Reagan's former Secretary of State was one of the major architects in putting together the current Bush administration, which automatically vaults him into Most Evil Person on Earth contention.
As is traditional at these occasions, Mayor Gavin Newsom showed up fifteen minutes past the scheduled time of the ceremony and as is usual he only seemed to know who about half the commissioners actually were.
He gave a rambling, strange speech that included a "we probably shouldn't be talking about money in City Hall" crack making fun of Supervisor Ed Jew's problems and he also urged the commissioners to take their jobs seriously, not to use their positions merely to "consolidate power bases," and to "show dignity in their dealings with the public and their colleagues."
Gavin's lecturing others about "behaving with dignity in office" after spending most of his first term in office drunk, possibly stoned, and carrying on at least one adulterous affair...
...was amusingly hypocritical but nobody seemed to care.
They just wanted to get their picture taken with the photogenic mayor...
...and one woman even threw her baby into his arms which didn't seem to make our mayor very comfortable.
One of the highlights of my brief work with the California Nurses Association in 2005 was when we surrounded George Schultz and Charlotte on their way to the Fairmont for a Governator fundraiser. George was a little non-plused to have his car surrounded by angry nurses. :-)
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