I don't think the fact that the Supervisors in the Sunset and Richmond are both in danger of losing their seats at the same time is a coincidence. Both Jake McGoldrick and Ed Jew have been a thorn in the side of our mayor – one from the left and one from the right. Were they both removed, the mayor would appoint two new Board members who would vote as he wants them to vote. Newsom is viewed as a shoo-in for reelection, and he wants to return to office a Board of Supervisors more cooperative with his plans, and that could never override his veto. Without opposition from the Board, he would be free to cut the Public Health department, and to let homicides continue to rise in the Bayview.

But why a recall of Jake McGoldrick now? He has only one more year to serve, and then he’s termed out. The reasons are simple: (1) to discredit him politically to make running for higher office more difficult, and (2) to put a mayor-approved replacement in office, giving him or her a better chance of winning the November 2008 election.

At least one high-profile progressive Democrat is poised to run for supervisor in District 1 next year. The mayor would have a hard time defeating him with a new face. He had no luck last year with his two picks in Districts 4 and 6. But someone who had already served a year as Supervisor would have a high enough profile to guarantee a good chance at winning.

And then, why remove Ed Jew from office, after he as served only five months in office? The reasons are equally simple.

(1) Ed Jew is independent. Even though he is very conservative, he does not always vote the way the mayor wants him to vote. Witness Jew’s “no” vote on the Bayview redevelopment plan. Jew is a wild card, and the mayor wants someone he can count on to vote his way.

(2) Ed Jew is very popular in his district, even after serving only five months. He returns every phone call, answers every email, and schedules and publicizes regular appearances at coffee shops in District 4 to meet his constituents. He is also a very likeable person. Were he allowed to served out his term, he would be almost unbeatable for reelection in 2010, and difficult to stop if he decided to run for higher office. And no one in the state party machine wants an independent voice in Sacramento, whether progressive or conservative. They want him out of office now, before he gets any more popular.

So how to remove Ed Jew from office? Unlike Jake, there is no one in the Sunset willing to mount a well-funded recall effort. The tactic had to be from a legal front. The three issues that Jew has been confronted with are: (1) the $40,000 that he received from Quickly Tapioca employees (2) questions about campaign finance and (3) where does he actually live?

First, the $40,000. Jew says he received it to give to a consultant. “An unidentified employee” at Quickly Tapioca says that Ed Jew demanded it as payment to help them with their permit problems. Aside from the fact that no one who has ever met Ed Jew can even imagine him demanding a bribe, it seems completely out of character.

Whenever a politician on the take is arrested, a collective sigh of relief is heard. One reads everywhere, “I wondered how long he was going to get away with that.” More people come forward with similar stories of how he demanded money from them also.

But when the accusation was made against Ed Jew, the response was exactly the opposite. Everyone was completely shocked. More importantly, not one single person has come forward to add to the charges. Demanding bribes is not only inconsistent with his character – it is not anything he regularly does.

In a city and state where graft and corruption by certain officials has been an open secret for years, what a convenient coincidence that the very first time Ed Jew supposedly does something wrong, he gets caught in an massive FBI sting that is aimed only at him.

Next, the issue of campaign finance. The issue is simple. He put about $80,000 into his own campaign, which he initially listed as loans, but then restated them to be contributions on his final report. I understand the significance of the difference between loans and contributions. But this appears to me to be a simple technicality. There is no unreported money from shadowy strangers. No “independent expenditures” from people tied too closely to his campaign. Just a re-classification of funds that he gave to his own campaign.

Finally, the issue of where he lives. I don’t know where he lives. His neighbors on 28th Avenue say they never see him. But so do the neighbors in Burlingame where his wife lives. Maybe he sleeps on a cot in his office. Or maybe he never sleeps at all. Between his work at City Hall, his meetings in the Sunset, and still trying to run his flower shop where would he find time to sleep? An acquaintance of mine who lives and runs a small business in the Sunset told me, “I don’t care where he sleeps. He’s a good supervisor. He gets things done.”

I have seen how he works. He agreed to meet with the WestSide Green club at 7:30 a.m. on a Monday at a coffee shop in the Sunset. When we got there early to stake out a table, he was already there eating breakfast. He had gotten there even earlier to inspect a tree or a pole that had been knocked over by a car.

That’s how Supervisor Ed Jew works. He responds to constituents. Some think he over-reacts. When trees were being planted to beautify the Sunset someone called his office to complain. Ed Jew immediately put a halt to the planting. With Jew, the squeaky wheel does get the grease. But without any requests to grease his palm in return.

I am not defending Ed Jew’s politics. I object very strongly to almost everything he advocates, from his attack on school desegregation to his vote to uphold the mayor’s veto of foot patrols. But I object even more to my district being treated like a candy store for the mayor. I object to removing from office a man who won the majority of votes on the first round. I object to the thought of being represented for the next three and a half years by someone appointed by and beholden to the mayor.

I object to these attacks on Supervisor Ed Jew, which I believe have been instigated for purely political purposes.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Rita Goldberger is a Sunset Resident and Green Party member. Her views do not necessarily reflect the views of the Green Party or its other members. Ed Jew is scheduled to come back from China today.