Wilie waltzes, Frank fizzles

As the curtain falls on San Francisco's most heated mayoral election in recent memory, challenger Willie Brown appears to be well into his post-production waltz -- taking bows and blowing kisses to all.

Brown paraded through the Mission District last Thursday with his typical swank garb and million-dollar smile, as well as all the charm and confidence of a newly-elected mayor.

"I'm going to sign and date this for you, so you'll know it came from the mayor of San Francisco," Brown said, handing an autographed campaign poster to a wide-eyed youngster.

All speculation aside, one fact remains: this battle hasn't been won yet.

No doubt November, 1995 will not be remembered as one of Mayor Frank Jordan's finest months. But until the city's voters have had their say Dec. 12, Brown's camp will have to keep the celebratory champagne on ice.

Seven days remain for the mayor and former assemblyman to pound the pavement, shake hands, make promises and do what ever it takes to secure enough votes to break the deadlock of the Nov. 7 general election.

Despite some ill-timed antics by the former police chief and rumors of quickly evaporating finances, Jordan's camp has not yet conceded victory. There's still hope, they believe, if Jordan can somehow claim at least a third of the liberal vote surrendered by third-place finisher Roberta Achtenberg, while restabilizing the conservative base that garnered him 33.4 percent of the vote in the general election.

"I want to be upbeat and let people know this race isn't over by a long shot," Jordan said last week. "People have to see me continue to work hard."

But the image of Jordan many San Francisco voters have stuck in their head is far from the one the mayor would prefer; a photograph of a stark-naked Jordan standing in the shower with two local disk jockeys, made public 10 days before the election, did not exactly spark the kind of publicity he had anticipated.

"We really took a bath with that shower," one Jordan campaigner lamented.

But the 61-year-old Brown has done little to cause voters to be enamored of him lately, either. Despite his alumnus status, Brown's close ties with the tobacco and gaming industries and his image as a smug, lip-servicing politician have not exactly won the hearts of many SF State students.

"Even though he's toilet slime, I'm going to vote for Willie Brown," said 26-year-old Dag Bergrud, a humanities major at SF State. "Roberta Achtenberg should have won, but (Brown) is the lesser of the two evils."

Most indications show Achtenberg supporters swinging in favor of Brown because of her post-election endorsement of the former speaker of the state assembly, even though the former city supervisor had continually lambasted Brown just hours before.

"I'm going to support Brown because she (Achtenberg) supports him," said Amy Goldman, a liberal studies major. "I think he has the political weight and the know-how to gets things done for the city in a progressive way -- and I think Frank Jordan is on the wrong track."

"I don't like Jordan's assault on homeless people and youth. I'm a lefty, and he's a conservative. I really don't like him," the 34-year-old added.

But some students who voted for Achtenberg said neither of the two remaining candidates are worthy of their vote.

"I'm stuck between incompetence and sleaziness," said Pete Doktor, a 27-year-old social science major who said he'll abstain from the vote next Tuesday. "I find it hard to trust someone (like Brown) who wears $1,000 suits. It's not just because of his clothes, but his record of panhandling to big businesses."

Brown's ability to corral stragglers from the Achtenberg bandwagon may lead to Jordan's downfall, whose attempts to charm the gay community have continually failed, pundits say.

"It is too far of an ideological leap for Achtenberg supporters to vote for Jordan," said Richard DeLeon, an SF State political science professor. "They're going to vote for the person who is closest to their notch on the ideological spectrum."

And it's not just the Achtenberg vote causing Jordan problems -- the mayor is taking jabs from within as well. Ten members of the Board of Supervisors have given their endorsements to Brown, as have several San Francisco law enforcement associations.

In the first week following the general election, pollsters found Brown to be sitting pretty with as much as a 2-to-1 advantage over the incumbent Jordan. Word from the Brown camp late Monday still had the former speaker holding a convincing 27 percent advantage.

Victory appears close, but the cigars haven't been unwrapped just yet.

"Things are looking real good, but this thing's not over until it's over," said one Brown spokesman. "People are working real hard, though, and we're very hopeful."

Brown, who received a bachelor of arts degree from SF State in 1955 before moving on to Hastings College of Law, has pledged to stay true to his roots with progressive measures aimed at improving things for students -- present and future -- at his alma mater

"Of course, since San Francisco State is located in the city, many of the services needed by students -- street cars, police protection, all those things -- are within the control of the mayor," said Brown. "And currently they're not functioning well or providing the students with the on-timeness or safety that's required. And that inhibits learning."

"The current mayor has done nothing to change that," Brown added. "But I will. It's not like it's two people running and neither one of us have held an office. This (Jordan) is a failure guy versus a guy that might do the job. I think I would go with the guy who might do the job."

[ Golden Gater Online December 5, 1995 ]

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