Sophie's World

The drive to recall Supervisor Sophie Maxwell has failed, with over half of the almost 6000 signatures gathered invalidated for one reason or another. Of those rejected signatures, 973 were thrown out because people had signed more than once, 875 were signed by people who were not registered to vote, 163 had preprinted signatory information on the petition, 45 were signed by people who registered to vote after signing, and 189 were signed by people who don’t live in Maxwell’s District 10 (covering Hunters Point and Potrero). Come on, people, if you really want to get Maxwell out, it seems like a pretty basic proposition that you should 1) live in her district and 2) not sign your name on the petition three or four times. (You should register to vote, too.).

The recall effort against Maxwell, an electrician, the only African-American on the Board, and until the latest election, the only female on the board (we now have three), sets off some warning bells for political watchers. Maxwell and others suspect that corporate interests who dislike Maxwell’s anti-development positions for the Third Street corridor have been funding the recall effort. Maxwell, however, is unable to confirm this because the people pushing the recall forgot to file the necessary financial disclosure documents. On the other side, the main person pushing for a recall, Willie Ratliff, says that this is solely a grassroots effort, and he represents people who are upset that Maxwell has not done more to address District 10's high murder rate and the environmental problems at Hunters’ Point, that she isn’t getting District 10 residents access to good jobs along the Third Street development corridor, and that she's inaccessible in general. He tried to get Maxwell recalled last year, but that effort failed for lack of signatures as well. (Ratliff, modestly, would like to see himself appointed as supervisor in Maxwell’s stead. Maxwell's term is up in 2007, barring any successful recall drives before then. Expect to see Ratliff again.)