The San Francisco Chronicle has launched an all-out propaganda war against District 6 Supervisor Chris Daly. Is it because Daly effectively works for causes the Chronicle opposes? Is it the Supervisor’s intemperate behavior, or his past assertions that he does not trust what he reads in the Chronicle? These factors are part of the equation, but the real reason is deeper: the Chronicle views Daly as the perfect foil for its campaigns to end district elections, discredit San Francisco’s political left, and to guarantee Mayor Newsom’s easy re-election. Mayor Newsom was not offended by Daly’s allegation that he previously used cocaine: to the contrary, Newsom was thrilled that Daly’s attack avoided media questions about his proposed elimination of vital city services. The Newsom camp knows full well that every time Daly attacks Newsom the mayor’s popularity increases, which is why the Chronicle keeps adding fuel to the fire.

The difference between Chris Daly and the San Francisco Chronicle is that one wins elections while the other loses circulation. Chronicle editors have taken time away from issuing layoff notices to launch a blistering attack on Daly, who has allowed himself to become the perfect foil for the paper’s pro-downtown, pro-landlord agenda.

Chris Daly wants to be the face and voice of the progressive opposition to Mayor Newsom. Daly’s desire converges with the interests of Newsom and the Chronicle, who believe they can use Daly’s ill-advised personal attacks on the mayor to discredit the left and show the Mayor in the best possible light.

The only time the Chronicle has given Daly favorable coverage was in the lead-up to the June 2 Progressive Convention. Why? Because the paper desperately wanted Daly to run against Newsom, and hoped its positive coverage would entice him to do so.

Since Daly decided not to run, the Chronicle has acted toward him like a jilted lover. The paper was so eagerly anticipating the opportunity to discredit the political forces surrounding Daly in a mayor’s race, that they probably had a stack of anti-Daly editorials already written; when Daly surprised observers by not running, the Chronicle issued a scathing editorial on June 20 urging that the Board censure Daly for alleging that Mayor Newsom had used cocaine.

The truth is that Newsom and the Chronicle were thrilled over Daly’s cocaine reference, because it allowed reporters to avoid asking the mayor’s budget staff why so many millions of dollars in vital city programs were slated for elimination. Nearly every Supervisor expressed from anger to disbelief at some of the mayor’s proposed cuts, yet the Chronicle made no effort to get an explanation for his budget decisions from Mayor Newsom.

To the Chronicle, the “scandal” and “uproar” is not about denying assistance to people with HIV/AIDS; rather, it is Chris Daly’s factually unsupported reference to the mayor’s alleged drug use.

Unfortunately, Daly’s repeated personal attacks on Newsom are weakening his perceptive policy critiques. Since there was room full of people ready to bash the Mayor’s budget priorities at Tuesday’s meeting, there was no reason for Daly to take the lead in launching such attacks.

But the Chronicle showed its true colors by inventing a front-page headline on June 20 that falsely claimed that City Hall was in “uproar” over Daly’s comments. The only “uproar” was in the Chronicle’s editorial offices, as editors looked for a way to capitalize on a single sentence in what by all accounts was otherwise an extraordinarily powerful and effective speech against the mayor’s health cuts.

The Chronicle war on Daly comes as the paper has given over-the-top and repetitive coverage to the Ed Jew scandal. It has gotten to the point where the Chronicle attacks on Jew do not even pretend to involve “new” developments; they just recycle former stories under new bylines (sfist.com has likely provided the best coverage of the Jew scandal).

Let’s be very clear about Ed Jew. Since taking office, he has not cast a single vote that made a difference in the outcome on legislation before the Board.

For all of Jew’s wrongdoing, the Chronicle has given coverage to this story far out of proportion to its impact on people’s lives.

What do the inflated attacks on Jew and Daly have in common? Both are designed to show the evils of district elections, a point the Chronicle has emphasized in covering both of these politicians.

With a new district board slated for election in November 2008, the Chronicle is hoping to generate popular outrage against Daly and Jew to help pass a repeal of district elections in June 2008. June is the downtown establishment’s last chance to return to the citywide elections they prefer, and which increases corporate San Francisco’s clout.

Once new Supes are elected by district in November 2008, district elections is here for at least another eight years. That is why the Chronicle is so desperate to frame the Daly and Jew “scandals” in an anti-district elections light.

The Newsom camp was giddy over expectations it would face Daly in the fall mayoral election, and has loved Daly’s role in framing Newsom as a man of the people fighting off unfair budget cuts from a renegade Supervisor. The Newsom campaign knows that Matt Gonzalez does not make such mistakes, and may still be hoping that if they goad Daly enough, his family will reconsider and he will enter the mayor’s race.

Daly can make it hard for even those who agree with his policy stances to defend him. But the fight over the city’s budget priorities is about people in need, and it is Daly who has brought the mayor’s cuts to vital people-serving programs to the forefront.

Send feedback to rshaw@beyondchron.org