Willie Brown(s): What the Democratic Party Has Become

Remember the term “Power to the People”? Willie Brown thought it meant “Power to Willie.” Just the other day Willie Brown showed his true colors by inviting California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to speak at the San Francisco Martin Luther King, Jr. Day breakfast. Forget the fact that Schwarzenegger is in the pockets of the wealthiest financial interests in California, forget the fact that he has short changed our schools, forget the fact that he had redemptive Tookie Williams killed. Forget the fact that on the day when we remember “A Dream,” Schwarzenegger and his team were preparing to end the life of a sick, incapacitated man. The Dream truly has become a nightmare.

Why? Because of career politicians like Willie Brown who has made the public trust their public trough. They have traded on influence and power to enrich themselves while throwing out little tidbits of progressiveness in order to assuage the ignorant public.

The Democratic Party has many like Brown. Many are lawyers, many are on Wall Street, many are lobbyists. The agenda is always the same. How do they make a buck for themselves through trading in their political capital. They consider the National Trust to be their capital fund. Republicrats have always come down on “welfare cheats” and who better to know than those who take the most from the public trough without really working: Politicians, lobbyists and their ilk

To get a clear picture of cronyism one might look at the San Francisco Police Commission appointed by Brown before citizens made reforms stripping the Mayor of so much power in the appointment of the Board. The Board under Brown did absolutely nothing. They would hold meeting where they said absolutely nothing, never questioned the police about questionable practices and nothing ever happened. Today’s board is like night and day compared to Willie Brown’s. There is finally some sense of responsibility and justice.

Who will ever forget when Brown was pied at a speaking engagement? Instead of laughing it off and showing that he could take things in stride, he had charges filed against those who threw the pies and they were jailed for several months. That is the true character of Willie Brown.

Of course, that is the way Willie always ran things. His special friend and cronies were always given special favors. Willie always wanted the limelight and seemed to prefer spending time with the social elite over the people on the street. Instead of shining the light on the needs of the people, Willie always had the spotlight shined on himself. That is the kind of person who has helped bring the Democratic Party into the deep hole where it rests today.