sets my salary. i wish you luck and independence from whoever is serving as mayor. i want to thank the environment commission, which is something we are very proud of, for his willingness to serve as a new member. london and michael are quite familiar to their commissions. they will both be here. thank you, chief. i know you are pleased to have both of them. you have already told me you are pleased to have both of them. i am enthusiastic about their commissions. it's a good thing for everybody. we will have the opportunity to give people an opportunity to give people on their respective boards the opportunity to serve as well. thank you, lily chan.

she will be serving on the golden gate park concourse authority, which is interesting for so many reasons. i'm grateful that you are willing to continue your service here and the city as well. human rights commission, reappointing cecilia, michael, and julius. you have done a great job. i appreciate your support of our director, into the good work, the human rights commission continues to do. where is sam? there you are. thank you, sam. thank you for your willingness to continue to serve on the immigrant rights commission, and your good stewardship and leadership in the committee. michael nguyen. we technically swore in michael, but it was private. i appreciate your willingness to come here are any more public

setting and have the honor to swear you in. carol kingsley, who was supported unanimously, which is pretty impressive, on the police commission. she will be serving as the newest police commissioner. i'm very enthusiastic. the board of supervisors seems to share that. well, air and good lucome and g. not the easiest of commissions, but incredibly important. we went through a lot of presiresidents. i'm appreciative of her willingness to serve. the rent board. do not screw up something that

is working. we had a debate on a solution to a mysterious problem. we do not have a problem because we have a balanced rent board. people that want to obtain a strong relationship and inappropriate one. as a consequence, i felt like i did not need to reappoint new folks. felt like i could reappoint the existing folks. they're doing a great job. thank you for your willingness to continue your service. i do not know why -- all of you were enthusiastic, too, when i called you. i thought maybe one or two of you wanted to take a vacation from the service. i am grateful that you were willing. i am also grateful the

retirement board is getting a lot of attention. pensions are getting a lot of attention. some people have confused san francisco with sacramento. it is a big difference. budgets, pensions, retirements. nonetheless, this is an important body and board. we have two great people who are willing to serve. i know he is very enthusiastic. he was very concerned that we appoint people of high integrity, high skills, that tended to be above a lot of the politics in this town. we have two great people there. i imagine he wanted to be with all of you. he wanted to be with his wife in particular. wendy paskin-jordan is here as one of the new appointees to the

retirement board. she will join victor makras, who is very familiar to us. i kind of try to convince you. i was not sure victor was so excited about this. i asked him. hi needed somebody of his character. i am very pleased. i think those are two great appointees, wendy and victor. this will continue to elevate what is already a model retirement board for the rest of the state. the two remaining divisions, the small business commission, jamie, thank you for your willingness to serve. as a small businesswoman, you know a thing or two about the challenges and reveal. lu o'brien -- how long have

you serve? not even a full year. this will extend his turn. -- term. you guys ask good questions yesterday. it is important. finally, al norman. al, thank you for your willingness to serve in the southeast community facility commission. i always thought -- we need to raise this far out there of what we do for the southeast community facility. we'll have a lot of conversations. al is a legend out there. thank you for that. who else are we missing? oh, yeah, nancy. you will also be continuing your service. i apologize. we did not know you were going to make it. i'm glad you made it, nancy. thank you for extending your service with the golden gate

concourse. i will remind everybody -- if you are going to disagree with me, please give me a heads up. that does not mean that things do not, in front of you that are controversial and on the fly, you might have a point of view, and you should share that point of view. on big issues, all i ask is a heads up. only on two occasions -- frank, i imagine this has happened to you periodically. i have a call at 2:00 in the morning where one of my department heads was removed by the commission. nobody gave me a heads up. i was a little concerned about that. those are the kind of things. give me a heads up. otherwise, exercise your independence. exercise your insight. that's why you're here. i just want the opportunity to

have a chance to dialogue if we are on different sides. then you use your judgement and conclude as best you could what is the right path for the people of san francisco, who do not represent some special interest. the folks that show up here are important. folks that do not have the time to show up here are equally important. please remember there are a lot of people out there that count on you to also have a voice that cannot make it down to your committee hearing or board. that is something that is very, very important to me. that's why you are here. you are here to represent the city. that city includes those that do not have stickers or buttons, that do not show up at 6:00 p.m., that also deserve your attention and your goodwill and your stewardship. those are really two points.

otherwise, i'm very happy that you're here. i'm very thankful. thank you for coming down to city hall. supervisor duffy is sitting there with his arms crossed. what is it? are you ready? all right. anytime someone has his hands crossed, that means get going. they are shutting down. [laughter] york physiology changed my standing up, and raising your right hand. when i say i, you state your name. why don't we go down here? larry will go back, and we will end with you. during such time, we hold the position of -- and then you will mention your respective commission board or body.

is that easy? all right. you have your right hand up. i -- [inaudible] i do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states, and the constitution of the state of california, that i bear trap, faith, and allegiance to the state, that i take this obligation freely

without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i am about to enter. and during such time, as i hold the position, as a member -- [inaudible]

for the city and county of san francisco. congratulations, everybody. [applause] i appreciate how effective that was. [applause] >> the most important thing abuot this decision was the

decision itself, and the words that would matter most are in the 138-page document that are processed in thea ppellate court. they did not just set out to win a lower court decision. they set out to withstand scrutiny at the appellate level, successfully and unsuccessfully, understanding what the court is up against. judge walker set forth rules that became the foundation to which this will, i believe and hope, be appealed and

adjudicated at the supreme court. i'm not a lawyer. i'm not going to profess to make the legal argument that has bee n made. the most important thing is to get a solid decision out. not a win, but to get a decision where the arguments made are validated, and my understanding was that the points they made that they emphasized were advanced in this decision, and that is a significant thing. so i will leave that to legal scholars, but the next phase of

analysis would be the argument, not just the win at walker's court. >> in terms of going ahead with preventive measures, have decisions been made? >> we have always abided the rule of law. when courts said start and stop, we said we started and we st opped. no one was married today. no one was able to get a certificate or license. there were couples that were quite disappointed. some had come with the impression they would be able to get married this afternoon, and obviously that was another blow. those hopes, nonetheless, are not dashed, and we will see what

happens in subsequent decisions as processes of the courts. [unintelligible] >> it's an important point. we had adjudication in california and elsewhere on state grounds. this is the first court on federal principle, and it is the principle of our founding fathers here. it has been used to expand people's rights, not deny them. to the extent this is a constitutional challenge, this is very much a narrative we have lived with in this country. it is a narrative that is

familiar to those in virginia, and the last major constitutional challenge. when we look at the issue of interracial marriage. this is a fast-tracked narrative, so i am hopeful. i would not have imagined it. we have had good days and bad days, we have seen success advanced around the world, and i don't think anyone could have imagined a more optimistic setting. we have had setbacks in other states that have given us pause and caution.

this is who i am, my last breath. this has never been about politics. you look back in your life and you are staying in principle. you are given a moment in time to do the right thing. i said this to my father about the issue. good people i love disagree.

but whether you agree with me or not, you know it. i have a big propblem voting for people i don't trust, because they are telling me what they think i want to hear, not what i believe. this is what i believe, and my cards are on the table. i saw that as a student of history. in 1967, 70% of americans opposed interracial marriage. there is a fundamental principle here that has been used over and over and over again, for

women's rights, racial and ethnic rights. it makes sense. you have a minority of people being oppressed, you need the courts to do that. that's why there are distinguished and separate branches of government. it's not surprising this has taken the course that it's on.

>> the meaningful decision, it was crystal clear that they did not want to just win the decision. they want to win it in the right way. what i believe is they won it in the right way, which is why this is a more significant victory. but the arguments are compelling that it is positive and successful. justice kennedy, for better or for worse, seems to be the one based on his colorado decision

that would be put in the spotlight. he was wright in lawrence v. texas. it will be interesting to see him argue this, because in so many ways he was prescient. look. personally, this is an extraordinary moment, because real people's lives have once again been affirmed. at the same time, you temper your appreciation because you recognize the work that's been ahead. this is another step in a very long process, but perhaps the

most historic and compelling, because this is a federal decision based on the u.s. constitution, and i should remind people, bush wanted to change the constitution for a reason, because he thought there was something wrong. we think there is something right, that there is nothing in this constitution denying equal protection in due process.

>> [inaudible] >> if i lose fighting for something i believe in, i am proud. i would reather lose an election than capitulate my true beliefs. there are politicians better tat that than me, and many are better politicians. but i believe in this. i am not an idealogue about

this. i have family members that disagree with me vehemently about this. i remember when i was a kid, i thought, don't hold hands in public. it's not what i believe in. it's not what my contemporaries believe in. and i will say this, time is on our side. i have friends and young folks whoa re not caught up in this. they don't get it. there is an expectation that time will play itself out and we'll see how that occurs, but thisá>f is going to help with tt process.

i feel like all of us are starng to see what the problems in this country are. i think plenty of people are opinionated. i don't think there's many forums where you can really express yourself or try to make a difference or anything. i mean...wha'...whatdo... what do i do, ya' know? the only people that i'm able to affect are the people who care about what i have to say. there is something you can do, but i'm sure it wouldn't be, uh...easy. different man: i get angry about it, but it's like... ya' know, in my own apartment. [laughs]