There was a swearing-in ceremony Tuesday afternoon of new Commissioners appointed by Gavin Newsom as he starts his second term as Mayor of San Francisco.
These affairs tend to be jolly, as family, friends and colleagues join onto the small balcony under the rotunda on the Mayor's side of the building.
There's also plenty of politicking in the hallways between City Hall insiders such as Mike Farrah above.
Newsom made his way to his office after the swearing-in followed by a pack of reporters...
...so I joined them, and listened to a Channel 4 reporter ask the mayor about the disastrous San Francisco Zoo situation.
Newsom started with glib remarks about media overkill on the zoo story, making a joke about how rabbits hopping too high at the zoo would be treated like a front-page event these days.
Then he turned on his wonk mode and rattled off a series of statistics and dates and how everything was being investigated to find the real truth of the situation, and he would take action then.
At the end of the interview, he finally stated what many of us have been waiting to hear, which is that there are real human beings involved in the story and nobody should be blaming the victims.
"It doesn't matter what shape the young men were in, or if they were behaving in an inappropriate manner. The animals shouldn't be escaping no matter what."
Newsom did another interview about his appointment of Carmen Chu to the Board of Supervisors, and made a few patronizing remarks about the disgraced Ed Jew and San Francisco's Chinese community.
Newsom also mentioned that he would be campaigning this November for Ms. Chu to take the seat for four more years in a citywide election.
Finally, he swore in Mary Jung, a Civil Service Commissioner, who I presume had arrived late to the ceremony. It was a charming gesture. According to the Mayor's Department of Communications, there are so many commissioners being appointed right now that a whole new batch will be sworn in Wednesday afternoon on the same balcony.
The guy looks like a politician. That makes him UnSanFranciscan -- can't we at least elect ones that look interesting?
ReplyDeleteNice pics.
Hi -
ReplyDeleteI wasn't late. Civil Service Commissioners have additional language in their oath, so this had to be done separately, after the other Commissioners were sworn in. The language is: I am opposed to appointments to public service as a reward for political activity and will execute the office of Civil Service Commissioner in the spirit of this declaration.
You're right. It was charming.