The limits of tolerance

National | Backlash over sex party for S.F.'s elite nearly kills bond issue

San Francisco voters on June 3 narrowly approved a municipal ballot measure calling for a $100 million bond issue to help finance a new stadium/mall complex for the San Francisco 49ers football team. Such events are fairly common, but the slim margin of passage-less than one percent-suggests both a brewing backlash against San Francisco's elite culture and that culture's ability to survive criticism.

The bond measure was heavily supported by the 49ers, the city's Democratic leadership, and various local liberal interest groups. Altogether, this coalition massively outspent the measure's opponents, $2 million to $100,000. But the entire drive for what was known as "Proposition D" nearly self-destructed a month before the election when the campaign's manager, prominent liberal political consultant and San Francisco power broker Jack Davis, held an X-rated party attended by Mayor Willie Brown, various elected city supervisors, and many other civic leaders supportive of the proposition.