In a post more fitting for GavinWatch than the SF Chronicle, former Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein criticized Gavin Newsom for his role in aiding the proponents of Proposition 8.

If you’re a liability but you keep reminding people you’re there, it’s gone beyond commitment to a cause and into the narrower world of self-importance.

Going from bad to worse, Bronstein takes the Mayor to task for everything from his drinking problem to the dying vegetables in his “victory garden.” All but declaring Newsom’s bid to become Governor dead, Bronstein writes, “Maybe he’ll get a legacy appointment to the Senate if Dianne is governor.” Harsh.

But back in their suites at 5^th and Mission, the bosses at the Chron re-anted in their war against all things progressive in San Francisco. In today’s Chronicle “news” coverage of the local election, Heather Knight admits to fitting "the facts" into the story provided to her by her corporate editors – that while “left leaning” candidates for Supervisor may be winning, SF voters are “surprisingly conservative on issues.”

Progressive (not ultra-liberal ) candidates swept the election in SF — from President to Community College Board. In an election where hundreds of thousands were spent attacking candidates for their opposition to JROTC, San Franciscans elected progressive School Board members who support alternative leadership development programs.

Despite getting outspent over $10 million to a few hundred thousand on ballot measures, progressives still won more than we lost — Yes on E, recall reform; Yes on J, Historic Preservation Commission; No on L, Community Justice Center; Yes on M, rent control; Yes on N, O, and Q, new revenues; No on P, takeover of the Transportation Authority; Yes on T, substance abuse treatments services; Yes on U, de-funding the war. Hardly a conservative sweep of the measures!

Of course, there is a significant legal difference between passing a measure and defeating one that would do the opposite. In this election, no significant bad measure passed – on the propositions, progressive gained ground and lost none (the only conservative measure to pass was Proposition V, the JROTC policy statement that is non-binding.) I guess it’s not surprising that this is not discussed in the Chron’s coverage.

Of course the progressive wins in the Supervisor races is the big news in SF politics. With well over $600,000 spent to defeat good, neighborhood-based progressive candidates, downtown came up empty once again. After their brutal assault on me 2 years ago, you’d think they’d learn their lesson. I guess old habits die hard.

Maybe one day we will have a newspaper that goes out and covers the news, based on the real facts. Until then, go to the blogs to find out what’s really going on.