and then thank ann merrill for her willingness to serve in seat number three, and has been recommended by the league of women voters. with that, why don't we take those applicants in the order that they appear on the agenda, starting with mr. patterson, ms. packard, and then ms. merrill. before we do that, we will go to supervisor chan. >> thank you, chair peskin. to save everyone's time, i have the general question for all candidates, and i would like them to add it to their comments individually. so the general question is: what will be your approach to understand the intent of the ballot measures, whether to work with the legislature that put forward -- the policy-maker that put forward the ballot measures, as well as the petition for the ballot measures? if you could add a little bit of a comment on your approach, i would really appreciate it. thank you so much. >> chair: thank you for that great suggestion. all right. mr. patterson? >> hi, folks. can you hear me okay? i'm not sure you can hear me. you can? >> chair: we can hear you. >> thank you. thank you very much, supervisor pe