By Bruce B. Brugmann
And so the Anti-Sunshine Gang in City Hall, which for two years has been conducting a nasty vendetta against the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, capitulated quietly at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting without a fight or even a whimper.
The capitulation came in a two line phrase buried in item 28 in the middle of the board’s agenda. It was a report from the rules committee recommending the Board of Supervisors approve a motion for unnamed nominees to the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force. “Question: Shall this Motion be approved.”
Board Chair David Chiu asked for approval in his usual board meeting monotone. And the approval came unanimously, with no dissent and no roll call vote and not a word spoken by anybody. He banged the gavel and that was that. And only a few veteran board watchers knew that this was the astonishing end to a crucial battle that pitted the powerfuf Anti-Sunshine Gangs against the sunshine forces and the citizens of San Francisco. It was a battle that would decide whether the task force would remain an independent people’s court that would hear and rule on public access complaints. Sunshine won.