A Speaker Is Heard, a ‘Citizen’ Caned

The first striking thing about Willie Brown’s lopsided victory in the San Francisco mayoral election is that voters in one major city decided they’d had it with the citizen politician concept. Bring back the old-fashioned professional. A career pol.

As barbaric as that might seem these days.

San Franciscans wanted somebody who not only could find the bathroom, but also a bargaining table and the right people to put around it. Somebody who could charm, cajole and coerce. Somebody who could--pardon the vulgarity--wheel and deal. Reward and punish. Pay off or knock heads.

Remember this: You open the tap and water comes out. Drive on pavement across a bay. Send the kid to a local state college. That’s all possible because some crafty pols at an opportune moment wheeled and dealed.

Good ideas are cheap. The trick is to get them passed and implemented. Brown’s a master at getting it done.

Mayor Frank Jordan was seen as a nice guy, but over his head. A bumbler. Four years ago, the career cop and former police chief persuaded voters who were sick of crime, derelicts and the city’s wacko image to elect him as a “citizen mayor.” They tossed out a career pol, a liberal. Then, Jordan became somewhat of a laughingstock.

“I hear people say they want fresh blood, but more than that they want competence,” says David Binder, a neutral San Francisco pollster. “They say many offices--like mayor of San Francisco--should not be for learning on the job.”

Jordan was staging a comeback, however. And until just before the primary election, he could claim to be stable and sensible, if boring. He could contrast himself with Brown, who was flashy but not to be “trusted.”

Then the 60-year-old mayor did probably the dumbest thing ever in a political race: He jumped naked into the shower with two disc jockey-strangers. With a photographer recording it for the newspapers. Unbeknownst to his campaign staff. Because his wife thought it would be hip and appeal to young people.

*

The second striking thing about Tuesday’s victory is that it was Willie Brown’s, from start to finish.

Jordan didn’t just lose it in the shower. Certainly if not for that stunt the race would have been closer than the 14-point mini-landslide. But Brown went out and won this race.

First, against his intimates’ advice, he ran. The former Assembly speaker thought--because of all his Sacramento baggage--that it would be a very close race. And it was during the primary. But his main concern was whether the mayor’s job was even doable. One of his most trusted friends--Rudy Nothenberg, who had been Jordan’s first numbers cruncher, and now may be Brown’s--told him he’d be crazy to run.

“He said urban America is in such turmoil,” Brown recalled Tuesday night in his victory speech at Longshoremen’s Hall. “Resources are so short, people are so intolerant. . . . But you know, ‘You may be just crazy enough to do it.’ ”

And so he did, campaigning dawn to midnight at bus stops, neighborhood parks, union halls--up to 12 events a day, roughly 800 total, amazing all who knew him. “The greatest surprise to me,” says Jack Davis, his campaign manager--and Jordan’s in 1991-- “was how Willie transformed from being Mr. Speaker to Mr. Candidate and loved it.”

Brown didn’t just campaign, he made smart moves. He refused to take Jordan’s bait and get into a shouting match about his integrity. He stuck to the message: “I offer leadership.”

The veteran legislative leader also used local people--rather than his Capitol cadre--in key campaign roles, thus giving San Franciscans a bigger stake in the fight.

By election day, Brown had attracted 4,000 people to his organization. His field operation--a concept dismissed by many political consultants today--was first class and highly effective.

*

The third striking thing about Willie Brown’s victory may be so obvious that it’s overlooked. He’s the first black mayor of San Francisco, but beyond that, his election embodies the American dream.

The poor kid from rural Texas--who fished tips out of a barbershop spittoon--graduates from a segregated high school and catches the first bus for San Francisco, where he’s elected mayor.

“Think about it,” Brown, 61, told his victory celebration. “This great city, more than 40 years ago, opened its arms to me. This city said you are welcome and you can reach your full potential--if you just do it.”

That’s something to think about and celebrate, regardless of your politics.