Much to celebrate—much to castigate
• • • • • • • • • • July 2025 • • • • • • • • • •
President Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke these words on the 28th of January, 1954 at the Republican Lincoln Day dinner across our country. “Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and fruitful in our national heritage.”
On Independence Day, I was reminded of a historical observation, to wit; “Isn’t it remarkable how our pioneering ancestors built up a great nation without asking Congress for help?” As an example, I report my longtime friend and former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, voted against a resolution (H. Res. 488) condemning an illegal Egyptian alien for his anti-semitic terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, against Americans marching peacefully in support of the release of Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas in Palestine. The illegal alien, Mohammed Sabry Soliman, attacked peaceful demonstrators with homemade Molotov cocktails, wounding at least 14 people who suffered burns and other injuries. Soliman traveled to the U.S.A. on a tourist visa and was admitted to our nation in Los Angeles on August 27, 2022, but within one month filed an asylum application and remained in our country. Colorado law enforcement officials have encountered Soliman multiple times since his August 27, 2022 arrival. A New Jersey Congressman, Jeff Van Drew (D) from Northfield, N.J. Was the resolution author. He urged every member to support the condemnation of anti-Semitism and “Politically Motivated Violence,” yet his forum leaders refused to do so. The resolution was approved 280 to 113, with 29 “heroes” not voting like Little Jimmy Costa, a Democrat from Fresno, plus “No” voters Kevin Mullin of South City, who represents the southern part of San Francisco not covered by Pelosi, Brad Sherman of Los Angeles, Zoe Lofgren of San Jose and another friend, Mike Thompson of Napa. Another six simply took a hike by answering “present.” Only 75 Democrats supported the resolution; 113 voted “No.”. So much for abhorring anti-Semitism!
San Francisco’s governing board and mayor refuse to require competitive bidding for garbage collection rates, so we confront the highest in California.”
Meanwhile, that frequent taxpayer-bedeviler, Recology, Inc., seeks to fleece property owners and renters again, this time with a 30% increase over 3 years. Recology wants a base service increase to $62.03 for homes and $234.88 for apartment buildings. The Refuse Rate Boarding hearing began at 12:30 p.m. on June 25, in Room 400, City Hall, and will continue as needed on July 14 and 29, 1-4 p.m. in Room 416. San Francisco’s governing board and mayor refuse to require competitive bidding for garbage collection rates, so we confront the highest in California. Submit a protest by mail to Room 316, 1 Carlton Goodlett Place, S.F., 94102, or in person at any hearing in Room 416. Not a single supervisor has denounced such an increase as we go to press. These garbage monopolists have dictated to taxpayers for over 90 years. Our $160,000 per year supervisors care less.
Science has captured attention nationally with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. from Santa Monica, as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. What a nut! I was his great-uncle John Kennedy’s “Get-Out-The-Vote” chairman for Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties in 1960 and his father Rover Kenndy’s Lawyers’ Committee chairman in Northern California before his 1968 assassination, but I’m not happy to learn that a new survey last year found Republicans are 22% less likely than Democrats to have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust in science. Meanwhile, 80% of Democrats think research scientists are honest, but only 54% of Republicans do. Please, Lord, stop any new U.S. pandemic.
Meanwhile, we must rebuild our armed forces under Secretary Pete Hegseth, who seems encouraged to do so. He stresses basics like physical fitness, a single qualification standard for all men and women, and the lethality of military forces. A 2022 statistic indicated that 46% of soldiers are Black, Latino, or other minority groups, and more than 15% are women. Hegseth’s accurate, in my opinion, in declaring that recruits “...wanted to get a woke indoctrination, they just go to college,” as he told a congressional hearing last month. “Instead, they’re joining the military.” As a Korean War Air Force veteran (we commemorated on June 25th at the Korean War Memorial in the Presidio last month), I’m pleased by the breakdown and hope it’s accurate.
As of June 20th last month, the state government expects general funding spending on health care for illegal immigrants to be $10 billion in the fiscal year 2025-2026, which began July 1st. That’s higher by almost 50% from Governor Newsom’s original budget presented last spring and pays for about 1,700,000 illegal aliens. State legislature Democrats want radical new taxes on legal inhabitants of California to pay for the illegal aliens’ medical bills! Aren’t we lucky? But, then, those aliens are illegal. The “mainstream” media claims they’re just “undocumented,” so show me your legal alien documents next week, pal!”
Do you remember when guardians of local and regional governments were always concerned with the farebox recovery ratio when operating Bay Area public transit agencies like Muni? As State Senate author of legislation establishing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, aka MTA, I believe such a method of measuring a system’s effectiveness constitutes the best indication of taxpayer consideration. The best example was BART’s extension to San Francisco International Airport (“SFO”), which required San Francisco voter approval of a hard-fought ballot measure in the 1990s to achieve against outspending by taxicab companies, their union and the airlines and their unions during a campaign caused by SFO’s general manager who didn’t want another government entity within his “sacred” borders. That generated the post passengers in the system and a farebox recovery from those travelers of almost 70% of BART expenses. That efficiency no longer occurs, and MTA hasn’t measured farebox recovery since 2023, with BART boasting 24% farebox recovery in the entire system and the SFO extension unavailable too often to travelers. Caltrain has the best at 25%, Muni recovered 9% (!), Sam Trans a surprisingly low 6%, and San Jose’s Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) in a city with over 1,000,000 people only 6%. AC Transit remains one of the worst at 8%, but SF Bay Ferry raised 24% from fares, and even the Golden Gate Bridge received 16% from wealthy Marinites.
Meanwhile, tax-and-spenders like State Senator Scott Weiner are busy driving up taxes for public transit riders. His Senate Bill 63 imposes a new half-cent sales tax for every Bay Area transit system (See above) and could be double for San Francisco. It’s passed the State Senate and awaits a hearing in the Assembly Transportation Committee next month. As my friend David Crane pointed out in SF Standard last April, BART, another tax-eater, spent $409,000,000 in 2015 on employees while hosting 135,000,000 rides at $3 per ride employee cost. By last year, BART had spent $734,000,000 on employees but had hosted only 55,000,000 million rides — an employee cost of $13 per ride. Its workforce also increased by 28% to 4,292 employees. If 2024 boardings were the same as 2015, employee cost would have been “only” $5 per ride. Thus, BART increases its employees while losing 59% in boardings. Five labor unions among BART employees make campaign donations, which keep the governing board members in office to raise fares so ridership declines with each higher fare. You like it? I don’t!
I celebrate Independence Sunday at the Holy Cypress Lutheran Church in Pacifica, where I remind attendees of General Norman Schwartzkopf (1934-2012), who declared: “You can have the best equipment in the world, you can have the largest numbers in the world, but if you’re not dedicated to your cause, if you don’t have the will to fight, then, you are not going to have a very good army. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle. True courage is being afraid and going ahead and doing your job.”
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.
July 2025
