LTE: The election matters

District 13 not decided yet

(Submitted to the San Francisco Examiner, 15 October 2002, in response to "Fences mended, Sacto next".)

Editors,

It would be nice to at least pretend that the November 5 election matters. It's true that Democrats vastly outnumber members of any other party in this town, but that's all the more reason to keep readers informed of other options.

Both San Francisco contests for State Assembly are three-way races: in the 13th District, Leno is competing with Republican Gail Neira and with me; in the 12th District, Leland Yee faces Republican Howard Epstein and Libertarian Michael Denny. (Denny has already scored one important victory, striking down a racist regulation preventing him from using his Chinese name on the ballot.)

I won't pretend that a Democratic nominee doesn't have a huge advantage with party-line voters. But let's not hand out ribbons before the race is even run.

Chris Maden
Libertarian Candidate, State Assembly, District 13
The City

The election matters

(Published 23 October 2002 as though in response to a different article, actually published on the 16th; also note that the language about Mike's anti-racist victory has been excised.)

It would be nice to at least pretend that the Nov. 5 election matters ("Yee walks moderate path to Capitol," Oct. 10). It's true that Democrats vastly outnumber members of any other party in this town, but that's all the more reason to keep readers informed of other options.

Both S.F. contests for state Assembly are three-way races: in the 13th District, Mark Leno is competing with Republican Gail Neira and with me; in the 12th District, Leland Yee faces Republican Howard Epstein and Libertarian Michael Denny.

I won't pretend that a Democratic nominee doesn't have a huge advantage with party-line voters. But let's not hand out ribbons before the race is even run.

Chris Maden
Libertarian Candidate
State Assembly, 13th District
The City