[conspire] Numbers racket

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Paul Zander (paulz at ieee.org):

> Working on the timing:
>  March 15 Bars closed on St Paddy's day

As detailed in a news article (mentioned below), this was voluntary
closure on the part of the bars, since S.F. City/County had dragged its
feet and refused to order any mandatory closures.  The only mandated
closures had been of city-owned venues.

>  March 16 official orders signed.
> 
>  On what date was that historic televised series of press conferences?
> Mayor Bree and SF Health Dept, Mayor Liccardo and SCC Health, Mayor Shaft
> and Alameda Health Dept.  I've never seen a series of public figures 
> all with the exact same story.

I first became aware of major developments the afternoon of Monday,
March 16th, when first S.F. Mayor London Breed and then the six county
health officers (plus the one for the City of Berkeley who was
co-signatory) held press conferences -- which I became aware of because
I was doing a shopping errand with Cheryl and they were suddenly
(hello!) on the car radio.

Mayor Breed turns out to have been pulling off a bit of political
theatre:  She was aware of the county health officers' impending
announcement and that there was agreement that they would break the
story, but then deliberately violated that agreement and held a press
conference of her own just ahead of theirs, in order to appear to have
been a leader.

S.F. reporter Joe Eskenazi was aware of these machinations and was
mildly irked by them and by a subsequent fawning and grossly inaccurate
profile of Mayor Breed in _The Atlantic_ entitled 'The City That Has
Flattened the Coronavirus Curve: Mayor London Breed’s early and
aggressive moves to contain the outbreak have made San Francisco a
national model in fighting the pandemic', and therefore wrote this piece
to set the record straight:

https://missionlocal.org/2020/04/covid-atlantic-london-breed/

As Eskenazi relates, the seven health officials hammered out the order
text over the preceding weekend and had its finished text available for
other officials -- under press embargo -- late at night on Sunday, March
15th.  But then:

  But, before the seven doctors spoke at a press conference helmed by
  Santa Clara health officer Dr. Sara Cody, San Francisco Mayor London
  Breed scheduled her own, earlier press conference.

  Officials in multiple Bay Area counties told me they were taken aback by
  this deviation from an agreed-upon plan. 

  "We were told no one would announce anything until the county health
  officers held their presser.  Letting the white coats make the
  announcement on the order was viewed as 'the scientists know best'
  optic," said one county official from over the bridge.  "This was all
  worked out by the county health officers and then told to the electeds."

There's an old joke that one way to appear to be leading a parade is to
walk in front of it.

Here's Mayor Breed and other S.F. politicians marching in front of the
parade:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIrgcApKWZU

Here's the _real_ press conference by the seven health officials, after
Mayor Breed's, um, political fakery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkY48N5llzE

Eskenazi is quick to say that Mayor Breed should get credit for some
things she actually did do.

(I have no idea what role San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and Oakland Mayor
Libby Schaaf may have had, but I suspect nothing much beyond supporting
and further explaining the county health order.  I assume those are the
two you're referring to, and that 'Mayor Bree' refers to Mayor Breed.)