About Me

Who Am I?

Who am I? Why, I’m the 34th (and hopefully last) entrant into the race for mayor of San Francisco. I guess that makes me the Mr. Irrelevant of San Francisco politics! But we know how things went for our other Mr. Irrelevant. So don’t count me out too quickly …

More seriously – since I have chosen to remain anonymous for the time being, for now I won’t be telling you exactly who I am.

But in general terms I can tell you that I am a family man, a husband and a father. I have a terrific wife and I’m very proud of my children. I’m also a son, and a son-in-law, and a sibling, and an uncle, and a cousin.

I live here in The City, of course, out west in “the avenues” , aka “the outer lands”.

Why Anonymity?

Doesn’t it seem silly? Running for office without telling anyone your name?

Let me state at the outset that I am a serious, responsible, and well-grounded person, with a solid track record and no outstanding bench warrants or tax liens.

However, before I made the decision to move ahead with my campaign I wrote down a list of the reasons why I might want to start out anonymously. I came up with quite a few reasons, actually. Most of them I won’t share with you just yet. But I will share a couple with you now, so you can be the judge on whether I’m actually a serious guy, or just one of those flakes who wastes space and money in the California Voters Guide.

The leading two reasons deal directly with my family:

There are a couple of things about me and my past that I have either not shared with my kids, or have directly lied to them about. This was done for what I believe are sound parenting reasons. It’s always been my plan to ultimately come clean with my kids on this stuff. But only after they’re out of school and established in their new adult lives.
Of course if things go well over the next couple of months I will have to come out into the open in late spring, at the latest. And at that time I will of course have to publish facts about my background. Which means my hidden things will be hidden no longer.
That would mean that I will have to come clean to my kids earlier than originally planned. Given the circumstances, that will be OK, as long as I’m a legitimate contender in the race. They are good-hearted, responsible, and reasonably mature kids, and I am pretty confident my disclosures won’t cause them to deviate from the proper life path.
But if in the end I can’t achieve the necessary critical mass in the campaign, well then, we’ll just keep my little secrets hidden a wee bit longer.
Given today’s often disgusting world of social media, uncivil discourse, privacy invasion, harassment, shaming, and the like, I’m not anxious to expose my kids or my wife to public exposure and examination unless there is a really good reason to do so.
And I will tell you that even when I come out I will do everything in my power to ensure that the public learns as little as possible about my kids (for sure), as well as my wife. They will most certainly not be used as ornaments to adorn my fabulous political persona. Quite the opposite.
But there will be only so much I can do in that regard. And my kids are, by definition, young, inexperienced, and vulnerable to the temptations of social media. They’ve been pretty responsible so far (as least as far as I know), but again, why expose or tempt them unless there’s a good reason.
And to be honest (which I will always strive to be), I do actually believe that starting out anonymously might just afford me certain advantages in these early stages of the campaign. I won’t spell those out – don’t want to give away any competitive secrets. But I am serious about that.
You may think that I’m crazy, but we’ll just see …

There’s much more to the story, but by now you get the idea. I believe I have until June 11 to file the actual required paperwork and pay the fee (which I can afford, by the way). So if I can get enough traction in the media, and can come up with enough experienced supporters and potential donors before then, I’ll come out into the open, and you’ll get to meet my most excellent family. Briefly. Very briefly.

Outsider Status

One of the primary things I have to offer to San Francisco voters is the fact that I am not from city’s political world. Or it’s union world. Or it’s elite ruling class. As you will learn, I’ve got a lot of life experience, but none of it is within the San Francisco “City Hall – Industrial Complex”, as I like to call it.

This is something that I think that you, the voter, will come to like about me. I have no political connections to nurture, have no back room deals made, and have no obligations to city power brokers.

I’m also not in this for the money. Now I’ll be happy to take the salary – I’ve got multiple college tuitions coming up in the near future. That $350K a year will certainly be helpful in that regard. But I’m already financially comfortable (more or less), so I won’t need to extort any city contractors or make any quiet deals with developers or lobbyists to cover my lavish lifestyle expenses. (Wait – that didn’t come out right – I don’t maintain a lavish lifestyle – oh, you know what I mean). 😉

Furthermore, I’m not really into this whole politics thing, anyway. I’m running for mayor to help San Francisco get back on track. Not because I want to be a politician. I am not running for mayor so I can then run for congress or governor. I feel like four years should be enough time to get the ship righted, so unless it is clearly necessary to serve longer I plan to only serve one term.

My Resume

Here I will list, in general terms, things from my work and life experience that will give you a feel for what my working career and life in general has looked like.

As you will see below I’ve done and experienced many things, often from both sides of the coin – which I believe gives me a broader perspective and a wider understanding than many (maybe most?) people.

My working career, in general terms (and in no particular order):

I’ve been a manager, and I’ve been just a working stiff.
I’ve had sweaty, dirty, repetitive and sometimes mildly dangerous blue collar jobs, including a Teamsters Union factory job. And I’ve worked in plush corporate settings where suits and skirts were the uniform, nobody’s fingernails got dirty, and the air was always well conditioned.
I’ve been a member in good standing of two different unions. I’ve also been a manager of unionized employees.
I have worked for small and not-so-small family-owned businesses. And I’ve worked for a Fortune 500 company. I’ve also worked for myself (in many ways the hardest job of all).
I’ve fired people (quite a few, actually). And I’ve been fired myself. More than once, in fact. So I have a good feeling for what that feels like, from both sides of the table.
I’ve arrested people. And I’ve been arrested myself – and tossed into jail (one of those things I’m not anxious for my kids to know about).
While on the job I’ve been assaulted with punches, kicks, head butts, spitting, occasionally a knife, and once found myself staring down the barrel of a gun (not fun, that one). So I’ve had a taste of law enforcement, experiencing what that’s like from both sides of the coin.
I’ve been a salesman, and I’ve also been a customer for salespeople. In some cases a very good customer. I know all the tricks – and I’ve used many of them myself. You know – the ethical ones. 😉
I’ve been a wage slave, and a salary man, and a self-employed business owner. which means I have experienced first-hand the unique challenges and stresses and worries that come from each one of those conditions.`

As for where I’ve lived:

I’ve been a renter (across 14 different houses and apartments – and that’s not a typo) and a homeowner (which I am now).
I have lived the bulk of my life in four different major metropolitan areas of America (all in the top 20 in terms of population). About ten of those years have been spent living in San Francisco, with nine more years living in the surrounding Bay Area. Note that I think this gives me a distinct advantage versus someone who has spent their whole life in only on place – even if that place is as groovy as San Francisco. You just learn and understand much more about life when you see and experience more of the world.

Travel:

I have traveled widely, both on business and for pleasure. My travel has included many destinations both domestic and international. My count of American states visited is currently up to 34. My international travel has encompassed four continents (North and South America, Europe, and Asia). I have learned from and been exposed to many things in those travels that inform my current world view, things I believe make me a better and wiser leader.

Conclusion:

Because of one or two stupid decisions made when I was young I had to start more or less at the bottom of the economic food chain. Which is what I did. Thankfully I have been blessed with the intellect and the work ethic to get ahead in this world. Combined with some luck, and maybe a little privilege too, in the end I’ve managed to do OK for myself.

If I had it all to do over again, would I choose the same path? Uh, no. I did the things the hard way, for sure. Which I don’t recommend, and wouldn’t repeat, given the chance.

Yet actually, in the end, I believe that the wide assortment of life and career experiences that I have gathered in my quite varied working career have, in fact, prepared me extraordinarily well to assume the role of political leader. I believe that my large range of experiences give me a tremendous advantage in this election, by allowing me to be able to honestly relate to a wide spectrum of citizens in a way that others cannot match.

And finally:

To quote Harry Callahan, “I know what you’re thinking”. You’re thinking “hey, Vagabond Son, there isn’t a lot of detail here”. Which I agree is true. But I can’t get too detailed with this stuff or my anonymity will get blown. And we can’t have that – for now, anyway. When I come out I’ll cheerfully fill in more details.

VAGABOND SON FOR MAYOR OF SAN FRANCISCO

Photo by Deane Bayas – www.pexels.com