Gerrymandering, Upzoning and Calvin Coolidge Too

by Quentin Kopp

• • • • • • • • • • December 2025 • • • • • • • • • •

It was Thomas Jefferson who declared in an August 4, 1881 letter: “Politics, like religion, holds up the torches of martyrdom to the reformers of error.” Oh, how we need in Washington, D.C., those “reformers of error.” Instead, we have a government of men and women (I mean you, Attorney General Pam Bondi) that creates fear among most of the governed.

We’ve just endured legislative gerrymandering in our Golden State to answer Texas, whose gubernatorial practice of reshaping its House of Representatives districts this year, instead of the time-honored system of doing so after the next U.S. census in 2030, is complete. Our ambitious governor wanted to answer Texas’s Republican governor, who twisted the geography of four Longhorn State districts to “fix” them for Trump’s last two years as the worst Republican president in our nation’s history. (I’ll take Calvin Coolidge any day!) That caused the expenditure of millions of California taxpayer funds to present Proposition 50 to voters last month. Now, Republican Assemblyman David Tangipa from Fresno, 18th district voters and the California Republican Party have filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles’ U.S. District Court seeking to block the new district lines until at least the 2030 census.

But we have our own San Francisco political governing problems. Mayor Lurie’s selection to replace feckless Joel Engardio as District 4 Supervisor was astonishing because it exposed a Room 200, City Hall failure to know the history of Beya Alcarzia, a young woman with a less-than-stunning history in business and none in governance. Moreover, infuriation of Filipino-Americans, who’ve never experienced in our city and country a supervisor from their ranks, despite decades of contribution to our economy, education and happiness. Whether the mayor can correct (and overcome) such a misstep will be known on June 2, 2026, when voters in the Sunset can demonstrate their choice in City Hall and call an election. I’ve endorsed David Lee, a native, who promises to end Recology’s nearly 100-year monopoly on our garbage collection contract in favor of competitive bidding. David, a former Recreation and Park Commissioner, began his campaign on November 15th at West Sunset Playground, a creation of which he championed.

City Hall’s ballyhooed “upzoning” of San Francisco neighborhoods (Richmond, Sunset, etc.) will have occurred at City Hall after we went to press, but the mayor and his Planning Director turned no heads at the November West of Twin Peaks Home Improvement Club Meeting held at St. John’s Armenian Church because of overflow attendance requiring more space than at Forest Hills Clubhouse to which it returns in January 2026. There are now 21 neighborhood clubs in the Council, and monthly meetings are open to the public under the leadership of Denise La Pointe of the Twin Peaks Home Improvement Club. Free beverages and some food are served. As a November attendee, it became apparent Mayor Lurie is understandably attributing his “upzoning” ordinance to state law authorized by aspirant State Senator Scott Weiner’s legislation requiring housing construction throughout a state that has fewer residents this decade.

Contrary to my expectation, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi’s daughter is not running for her mother’s seat; she announced her intent to replace Weiner in the California Senate in next year’s primary election on June 2nd. (Republicans need not apply.) Filing for Congressional office doesn’t end until next year and may produce a less poisonous candidate than the “upzoning” creator!

The aforementioned lawsuit claims the new Prop 50 maps for House districts are unconstitutional because a voter’s race was used as a factor in redrawing the districts. The plaintiffs hired a U.S. Assistant Attorney General, Harmeet Dhillon’s old San Francisco firm (Dhillon Law Group) as their attorney. Dhillon, a Dartmouth College graduate like your scribe, is now the Assistant Attorney-General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, appointed by President “Bone Spur,” Epstein File Star, who will (or even has been) be illuminated with fame and a cultural wallop we’ll include in presidential history books.

Incidentally, a federal trial court has enjoined the Texas redistricting, which may be a precedent for the California case if race was a redistricting factor in Texas, in a decision that has been appealed: The Texas decision has also been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Other states are also breaching redistricting normality, to give the governing party advantages in the 2026 House of Representatives elections, including Missouri, North Carolina, Utah, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New York, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and Ohio, where previous maps were only controlling until 2024 due to failure to achieve bipartisan support after 2020’s census. Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Indiana refused to do so; meanwhile, our Sacramento legislative “beauties” tried unsuccessfully to conceal property tax increases resulting from low-income housing bonds to render such bonds easier to pass by simply telling them to see the “voter guide for tax rate information.” Fortunately, Gov. Newsom vetoed Weiner’s bill, stating “...this bill…will reduce transparency for how the new taxes or bonds will actually be spent to benefit the local community.” Our own Assemblywoman Catherine Stefani tried to outwit taxpayers by allowing the tax effects of bond measures, now found in the mail to voters, to be emailed or posted on the government’s website. It, too, was vetoed by Newsom. Thank you, Gavin.

That calls to mind President Calvin Coolidge’s inauguration speech over 100 years ago: “The wisest and soundest method of solving tax problems is through economy…The collection of any taxes which are not absolutely required, which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to the public welfare, is only a species of organized larceny.” (Emphasis added.) “Under this republic, the rewards of industry belong to those who earn them. The only constitutional tax is the tax which ministers to public necessity.”

“Bone Spur,” Trump seems to be following Mayor Lurie in reducing the number of federal government agencies. Incidentally, Sean Elsbernd, former S.F. Supervisor for 8 years, is now directing reductions recommended by SPUR. The briefly extant federal Department of Government Efficiency (aka DOGE), led by Trump’s ex-friend Elon Musk, identified about 1,500 U.S. departments that should be shuttered. Some still exist illegally, like the Legal Services Corporation, established by Congress in 1974 to provide free legal assistance to Americans in civil cases who couldn’t afford a lawyer. The legislation required that authorization for continued funding would expire in 1980, thus mandating 1980 Congressional legislation on whether to re-authorize it, like some 1,500 other existing federal commissions that have not been re-authorized. They are known in some circles as “zombie commissions”. Two months ago, 166 more were in the “expired” category, sucking taxpayer money.

I conclude with warm best wishes for Happy Chanukah on 15 December (the holiday of lights for 8 nights) and 25 December 2025 for Christmas. I expect to be in Los Angeles on New Year’s Day, attending the Rose Bowl game, but not the Rose Parade in the morning because I am ambulatorily limited. I do, however, wish all readers and their families a Happy, Healthy 2026.

A couple in District 4 went for an afternoon drive and stopped for gas. As hubby filled the tank, his wife declared she couldn’t believe it costs money to fill tires nowadays. “Why in the world do they charge for air?” she asked. Her husband replied, “Inflation.”

Quentin Kopp is a former San Francisco supervisor, state senator, SF Ethics Commission member, president of the California High Speed Rail Authority governing board and retired Superior Court judge. 

December 2025