>> good evening, and welcome. i am president of the league of women voters in san francisco. it is a nonpartisan political organization dedicated to the active and informed participation of all citizens in government. we never support or oppose candidates. but we do take stands on issues. for further issues about candidates and election issues, visit the web site

www.sfvotes.org. that's sfvotes.org. we want to thank our co-sponsors for tonight's forum. sfgtv and the san francisco public library. you will hear from the unopposed candidate for public defender. he will have a chance to present his views on issues affecting the city and the public defender's office, answering your questions about those issues. to submit questions for the candidate, look for a volunteer who will be handing out index cards. i also wish to remind you of our ground rules. the literature, campaign signs, or buttons can be distributed or posted inside the meeting room. no video taping or flash photography is allowed due to the fact that sfgtv is taping

this forum. please turn off or mute yourself loans and other electronic devices. it is my great pleasure to introduce our moderator this evening. barbara is a board member of the leak, serving as co-chair of voters services. her career includes teaching speech and communication at san francisco state university. the city college of san francisco. and new york university. she is a corporate trainer and public speaking, presentation, and media skills. >> this year, we have one candidate for public defender. the candidate will answer questions you in the audience segment as well as questions that have been submitted to the web site. the answers will not be timed. you have many important

decisions to make on november 2. this form will give you an opportunity to be heard. let's begin. >> i am very honored to be here. >> what are your thoughts on death by lethal injection and california's future related to the death penalty? >> it may not come as a surprise to you that i am very much opposed to the death penalty. if there is a lesson that we have learned, the death penalty in california, and for that matter, the indicted states, it has been a failure. we don't have a fair and objective way in order to determine who gets the death penalty. that is one of the fundamental problems with it. if you look statistically across the united states or even here in california, you will see the

people of color overwhelmingly suffer that fate. it has always been historically so. on top of that, it has been a fiscal failure. we're spending millions of dollars unnecessarily to incarcerate individuals who, in most cases, have appeals that go on for years and years. it doesn't give finality to victims in the case or the individual who has been sentenced. i think that the public sentiment has changed. i think it is time that we reconsider this state's laws relating to the death penalty, this nation's laws. the time is now. >> how will your office handle arrests that come from prop l if it passes? >> that has been a very

controversial issue, and i have seen it both sides of the debate. my personal feelings on this lot is that it is unconstitutional. i believe that having a citywide ban of sitting on the sidewalk will criminalize behavior that otherwise should not be criminal. we have reached a point in san francisco where we have a dialogue about a problem, and everybody wants a quick fix. the quick fix is to pass a law. i can tell you that we see the aftermath of these laws. and the very few cases wind up in court, because the justice system does not have the time to deal with these cases.

that is the reality. our caseloads are heavy, our dockets are heavy. beyond that, could you imagine a jury tile -- trial on whether someone was sitting on the sidewalk or not? there needs to be solutions. it will it change behavior the voters will decide. >> what is the hardest case you have had to defend relating to marijuana. >> marijuana cases, we still see them in san francisco we see sales and possession cases. i represented a man that was charged in cultivation, and he

was truly using marijuana for his health condition. but it was before the medical marijuana laws had passed. and so we had to argue to a judge that he had a right to use marijuana because his condition at that time, it was a novel idea. we won that case, but it took almost a year. i still see him. you occasionally become friends with your clients, and they will that never let me it -- they will never let me forget that. he would have faced a state prison sentence and had he been convicted. >> how has this shape your opinion on proposition 19? >> i am for the legalization of marijuana. i think it is hypocritical in

our society that we outlaw marijuana and not alcohol. i think that the time has come for california to reconsider its laws, and it is the citizens#o$ that have taken it o where it is now. it has taken a tremendous amount of public education on this issue. people have, for years, talked about the fact that as a society, it doesn't make sense that we are criminalizing marijuana. there was the movement to decriminalizing marijuana that made it a misdemeanor. and it was often charge as a felony. there are lots of places where people are sentenced to jail and prison.

hopefully through 19, calipf3 will lead the way. >> how will the revelations of the crime lab debacle4ma change discovery in representing the clients you have represented? >> these are excellent questions, don't get me started on the crime lab. that was certainly an event at this year that shook the foundations of the criminal justice system. what happened, there were reports that a chemist who worked in a crime lab for many years, a longtime employee, was taking cocaine from the crime lab home and using w technician's sister. when we found out about it, it was several months later, and it was thought at the

police had just learned about it, it turned outrv÷ that they d known about the problems with this chemist. $6the reason why it when you he a chemist that has access to it, it calls into question every case. ef@we have hundreds of drug cass that are tried every week hall of justice. hall of justice. p'd found that some of the weights were not properly recorded. there was no way for us zñ$@&e%i that because we don't have access to the crime lab,éçx the evidence was often late when the drugs were brought in. cases were dismissed. #"vyou were asking about the legalization of drugsylj, and

everyone would have thought that san francisco would have fallen in the oceantsm because 700 cass were dismissed. life wenté$. on as usual. the sad part of the debacle:j< s that justice was not served in those cases. ju$ose cases had to be reviewed by the office. we had to gou"ç back and look at hundreds of cases that involved at thisáwk particular technician and contact the individuals in those cases and determine whether the case is needed topñe brought back to court. there were some cases where there were more sample that was reported, and there were cases where thuwere . it was hard to figure out what exactly had happened. (xéwe are still reeling from the impact from that, but we're making sure thatsdn every case s properly adjudicated.

n$f>> what have you done to proe diversity on the public defender's desk? [ to me. whend of the things i pledged to do oft diverse offices in the country. i bej. i appointed the first woman chief attorney. vññpeople might not know this, t the whole concept was originated by a woman, ]h and she lived inn jose, had aí2ç family, and wantd to become a lawyer. at thatñ time, women could not become lawyers. she had to change the law÷/ allow women to become lawyers. a+tthey used to say that only we males could become lawyers.

she changed it to say person. s but fc minorities. she then s's under the law, andayd won her suit. she became the first woman california and became a criminal defense attorney. she tried manykky cases from san francisco to los angeles. b of the public defender'su office. defender's office came into being. íxçit reminds me about the importance of diversity. wye50% of my management team are women. jxzthe office is led by women.

almost 60% are women. , i am very proud of the diversity. g twice received the bar association's award for both genders. % statement. m0fif you are not registered to vote, others to register as well. the5ñz actual deadline is octobr yoy

of this overwhelmed public servant who, you knowvotez do a as grown into one of the best offices in the country. we received the american bar t association's top award in 2006. and i want to take this opportunity to thank my staff for their hard work in representing the 25,0y(ñ people in san francisco every year the public defenders. )e to find us. thank you. >> on behalf of myself and the

threeg of women voters and our partner organizes, sfgtv and the san francisco public library, our thanks to the candidate for participating and thanks for all of you for to yourself about your choices on november 2nd. good evening. [applause] >> great 2á great job. >> thank you. thank you. thank you for being here.

>> santa clara graduate. truth be told. i couldn't get into cal and berkeley. it is not all about cal and berkeley. but of course drew is a better baseball player and moved on in his life and i'm stuck in public service which is hardly a place to feel stuck. i'm very enlivened by it, but i'm trying to make public life more entrepreneurial. that's why i'm here. i am here because i admire the work you're doing and i'm frustrated by what we do in government, it it doesn't necessarily match the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit alive in this room and nom the city and state but across the country and the world. i want to say a few things. we're in san francisco, in one of the most diverse cities and the dirs states and the world's most diverse democracy. people are prospering and living together across the most

imaginable difference. why do i say that? birthplace, united nations, why do i bring that up? i do at the end of the day make this strong point, that nothing matters more than our capacity to recruit and retain the best and the brightest minds from around the world. that what makes san francisco, what makes this state, what makes this country special at our best is that quality of imagination. that innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, that ability to retain the best and brightest minds. that's why it is right that we're in a city that doesn't tolerate its diverseity. we celebrate it each and every day. that human capital, that differentiater. that is alive and well today because you wouldn't be here had it not been for that differentiater. you have a million other cities that you could be doing this first conference, but you chose san francisco, the birthplace of life science and biotechnology,

the home of the california stem cell institute, one of the most dynamic cities still in this very difficult economic climate, the -- the home of twitter and companies like wikipedia, sales force.com. four square as he was mentioning. all of these remarkable companies that are now starting to take shape here in san francisco. play fish, the gaming industry really taking off. zinga and the work that mark is doing and their growth and that potential, all taking shape in this small city that we call home. again, because this is where the talent about that ability to recruit and retain the best and the brightest minds. almost 0-plus percent. not almost, over 40% of the people in the city have bachelor's degrees or greater. not many cities have that

concentration of talent. at the end of the gay, the primary function of a mayor is -- to create the conditions so we could create an environment where people like you can come to -- together and do extraordinary things. now, back to my point, i won't take too much of your time, government -- government needs that entrepreneurial spirit now more than ever for -- for obvious reasons. two that are self-evident to all of you. one, we're broke. the soaked, you don't have that much confidence -- the second, you don't have much confidence to solve your problems. we're better off taking inspiration from you and the private sector and trying to inject it into government as we know it. my friend tim o'reilly came to me a couple of years ago and said, he started talking about the notion that -- of government as it -- as a vending machine. and that -- you basically pay

yore taxes then offproscribed list of products and services, you basically pull the lever and that product or service is dispensed. that's it. that's rather one dimensional. the at some point to have you our consumers, the taxpayers, the shareholders to design government in your interest, individually and collective is limitless. that's really what -- what i am looking -- looking forward to in terms of the work that you're doing. not just for your own interests but -- not just for your private interests but for the public good. that's why a year and a half ago, with tim and others, we came together and we put together an open data strategy for city government. we took a bunch of information and put it together and said, it is yours. this is your government, this is

your information, now go at it. now figure out something to do with this information. something we could never have imagined and my gosh, got forbid would take us a year or two to go through a procurement process. you'll have to do an r.f.i. an r.f.q., r.f.p., lowest responsive bidder. then go through a process and where it goes through hearings and the county board makes their way to the mayor's office and by the time you get it out there, we run out of money and nothing happens. you on the other hand have taken information and in realtime put applications now that exist days, in some cases hours after we put the data, you had days weeks and months and the cost to the taxpayers is zero. let me give you specific examples. we have an application showcase. if you go to s.f. data.org,

you'll get the data we put up. we're barely getting started, we only have 150 data, we're getting started and tomorrow coincidentally, i'm going to acquire with the ordinance, diane executive order and codify with an ordinance to make san francisco government responsible for putting up thousands of data from every city department. be it the department of environment, be it the department of public works, be it the police department and the fire department, et cetera to do the following. we put muni information up, company out of nowhere comes together and calls roots and takes information that exists so you could go on your p.d.a. and instead of worrying about whether we're on time with the public transit, you could find ow in realtime exactly when the bus will arrive. you got mothers that came together, because -- they actually -- are working more

collaboratively to celebrate a lot of work that has been done to our play grounds in san francisco and they put together a mom map application, which uses the g.p. snfment your hand and can tell you where a play ground or park is within your area. you have got crime mapping that is being done now so if you you want to make sure you come to san francisco and you're nervous and you read about the tragedy with the tourist and you're not confident, you're going to stay at a hotel, you're not sure if the tenderloin is the right place, you could go on this crime mapping,.com, application, and you could get all of the latest realtime crime mapping data. well ahead of anything that the city itself produces. we -- we're doing this for literally dozens and dozens of applications. how about this? how many of you, i imagine, everyone, some of yo