Paul Hogarth wrote a hard hitting piece in Beyond Chron on Sup McGoldrick’s Budget Betrayal today. He also reviews other key votes when McGoldrick betrayed progressives on issues that he claimed as part of his platform:

McGoldrick’s Budget Betrayal
by Paul Hogarth, 2008-07-10

One of the biggest mistakes that Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin ever made was to appoint Jake McGoldrick as chair of the Budget Committee. This year, with the City facing its most dire fiscal situation in years, we needed a Budget Chair with the political savvy to save social programs without pitting groups against each other. But that’s exactly what happened with Jake at the helm, as the Supes consider funding programs by cutting $5 million from the city’s public campaign fund. McGoldrick says the move is necessary to stop the cuts, while he “promises” the Board will return the money after he leaves office. To make matters worse, labor unions are upset that McGoldrick is backing the privatizing of security guards at SF General Hospital in what he claims is a move necessary to save vital services—as the Supervisor once again pits progressive groups against each other. Beyond Chron has long warned progressives that McGoldrick can’t be trusted when the rubber hits the road – but with five months left in his term, he continues to do damage.

I regret not paying closer attention in late June when the Budget Committee restored most of the health and human service cuts through the add-back process, after many had warned it wouldn’t be simple. The Board of Supervisors generally restores the Mayor’s cuts each year, but trickle-down cuts from the state level have shrunk our options to move money around. But $20 million in proposed cuts got restored literally overnight – and few people bothered to ask how this was possible, or how it was done so easily.

Like a bad hangover, now we know the answer – and part of it means taking $5 million out of the City’s public campaign fund. First established in 2000, this program helps candidates running for Mayor or Supervisor who agree to spending limits by giving them public matching funds – as a means of expanding the playing field. At yesterday’s Budget Committee, McGoldrick was left telling activists that this was necessary to save social programs – and made a vain promise that the money would be returned later (i.e., after he leaves office.)

But it didn’t have to be that way. “Structurally, this budget process was flawed from the get-go,” said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi. “There are other parts of the budget we could have cut – but in this 30-day window period, we had no surgical ability to do the diligent process that was needed.” When Aaron Peskin chaired last year’s Budget Committee, he skillfully drove a hard bargain with the Mayor – cutting enough out of the Police budget to save social programs. This year, he let Jake McGoldrick holding the bag on the legislative end.

But it’s not just “good-government” advocates who feel that McGoldrick let them down. SEIU Local 1021 is furious at McGoldrick for allowing the Mayor’s privatization of security guards at SF General to go through – which will “save” the City another $5 million. Like the raid on the public finance fund, McGoldrick now tells progressive activists that the alternative is $5 million in AIDS cuts and childrens’ health programs. But SEIU says that McGoldrick could have done better – and is upset that he betrayed repeated pledges not to support privatization.

Beyond Chron has warned progressives for years that Jake McGoldrick is unreliable. In 2004, he betrayed tenants on Rent Board reform. In 2006, he almost killed the Trinity Plaza deal – and in January 2007 inexplicably promoted legislation to lower affordability requirements for big developers.

And who can forget Jake’s deciding vote last year on 3400 Cesar Chavez – where he let down Mission housing activists who hoped to kill a 60-unit condo project? On the eve of that vote, the developer threw a fundraiser for McGoldrick to fight a proposed recall attempt. The next day, a self-proclaimed affordable housing “hero” cast a deciding vote to save the project.