M&R: Racial politics marked BART board's search for new chief

(info on sweatfree campaign is mid-way in the article)

Sunday, August 26, 2007 San Francisco Chronicle
Phillip Matier,Andrew Ross

 

The selection of longtime BART second-in-command Dorothy Dugger as the transit agency's new general manager was loaded with politics - a lot of it racial.

It started last month when the search firm charged with seeking out a diverse range of candidates came back with a list of 30 possible GMs - of whom 16 were African Americans. Only one was Latino and none was Asian American.

The BART board's three-member search committee whittled the list down to nine earlier this month, five of them African American and the rest white.

That triggered pointed questioning from some board members about the mix, including questions from James Fang as to why no Asian Americans or Latinos had made the cut.

"It seemed unusual that the search firm, which is supposed to find qualified minority candidates, only found African American candidates," Fang told us.

Tensions peaked when the search committee narrowed its choice to Sacramento light-rail boss Beverly Scott, who is black, and Dugger, who is white. They were also the only women from the final nine.

Before the search committee could make a planned Aug. 16 trip to Sacramento to get a final appraisal of Scott, BART board member Bob Franklin left a phone message for panel President Lynette Sweet - telling her that, by his count, Dugger already had the votes for the job.

It wasn't long before Franklin and his colleagues, overriding Sweet's attempt to put off the vote, called for a special meeting Thursday to confirm their choice.

Sweet, who is African American and has pushed for more minorities and women in management positions, cried foul. She was joined by a large contingent of African American women who turned out at the meeting to support Scott.

"Dorothy is our general manager and we will have to work with her," Sweet said Friday. "But I don't feel there is a level playing field, and unless we make a concerted effort to make it level, we won't get there."

Some of Sweet's colleagues are reeling over her decision to make a public stink over the selection process, including her accusation that Franklin violated the Brown Act open meeting law by counting votes ahead of the selection.

BART's lawyers say Franklin did nothing wrong, and now there are rumblings of a board coup to remove Sweet from the panel's presidency.

Stay tuned.

Sweating it: It's been nearly two years since the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed landmark legislation barring the city from buying uniforms and other goods manufactured in the world's sweatshops - a law "with real teeth and real enforcement," Mayor Gavin Newsom said.

Not too real, however, as it turns out. None of the companies doing business with the city has complied - nor have any of the 45 firms that officials checked out as possible alternatives.

As a result, the city has basically gone around its own rules in order to keep its cops in bulletproof vests and its Muni drivers in their distinctive brown uniforms.

"That's the truth," said city Purchaser Naomi Kelly.

She said there appear to be two main reasons companies haven't fallen in line with the law.

One, uniform dealers must not only promise that they don't use sweatshops - they must also ensure their subcontractors don't, either.

If it turns out there's a sweatshop somewhere along the supply chain, the dealer could be liable for a fine of as much as 20 percent of the contract.

The second problem is the law's requirement that suppliers give the city the names of their subcontractors and reveal how much money those subs are being paid - something the uniform people say would give competitors an unfair advantage if they got hold of the information.

As a result, a law that was intended to force contractors to do the right thing has wound up forcing the city to do the most expedient thing - either keep dealing with contractors that haven't complied or, in the case of bulletproof vests, write up short-term deals that sneak in under the law's $25,000, three-month threshold for contracts.

"It's not something we want to do," Kelly said of going around the law. But the city can't put cops at risk, either.

On the other hand, it's a bit of an embarrassment to find a leader in the sweatshop fight skirting its own rules - which is why Newsom and Co. are talking about changing the rules.

New guidelines are being drawn up that would replace the all-or-nothing law with a points system that would direct contracts to companies with the least amount of sweatshop work.

It's not something that sits well with anti-sweatshop advocates, who say the change will not only undermine San Francisco's law, but will also drag down the standards for the 170 other cities, states and school districts around the country that have passed or are working on similar ordinances.

Wade Crowfoot, the mayor's point man on the sweatshop fight, likens it to the long, incremental struggle to get insurance companies to recognize domestic partners a few years back.

"Rome wasn't built in a day," Crowfoot said.

Maybe, but for crusaders such as longtime activist and former state lawmaker Tom Hayden, it feels like the city is blinking.

"With this decision to avoid compliance, San Francisco risks losing its standing as global leader," Hayden said.

But hey, the law sure made for a nice headline at the time.

The high road: State Attorney General Jerry Brown is pulling up stakes, leaving his loft in Oakland's flatlands for a nearly $2.5 million, 4,200-square-foot home high in the hills.

The deal is set to close this week for a five-level, Japanese-style home atop Skyline Boulevard, built by a designer who worked on Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's Zen-inspired compound in Woodside.

Brown has spent the past 13 years in lower Oakland, first at his communal loft and most recently in a midtown Telegraph Avenue apartment he shares with his wife and chief adviser, Anne Gust, who wanted something more quiet.

"You hear the BART trains every time they go by," Brown said of his apartment digs, "and every time the street-cleaning trucks go by, they shake the building."

As for continued speculation that the 69-year-old Brown is mulling one last run for governor: "I haven't ruled it out," he said, "but then I haven't considered it."

Some things never change.

EXTRA! Catch our Web page at www.sfgate.com/matierandross.

Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Phil can be seen on CBS 5-TV's morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call them at (415) 777-8815, or e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle