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Election Fraud

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Origins

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With the move to San Francisco came increasing political involvement by the Temple. After the group's participation proved instrumental in the mayoral election victory of George Moscone in 1975, Moscone appointed Jones as the Chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission.[16] ~ Jones personally met with vice presidential candidate Walter Mondale and First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Guests at a large 1976 testimonial dinner for Jones included Governor Jerry Brown, Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally, and Assemblyman Willie Brown, among others.[17]

[48. wiki: George Moscone]:

George Richard Moscone (/mɒˈskoʊneɪ/; November 24, 1929 – November 27, 1978) was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. Moscone served in the California State Senate from 1967 until becoming Mayor. In the Senate, he served as Majority Leader.

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Career

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Mayor of San Francisco

~In 1977 Moscone, Freitas and Hongisto all easily survived a recall election pushed by defeated Moscone opponent John Barbagelata and business interests. That year also marked the passage of the district election system by San Francisco voters. The city's first district elections for Board of Supervisors took place in November 1977. Among those elected were the city's first openly gay Supervisor, Harvey Milk, single mother and attorney Carol Ruth Silver, Chinese-American Gordon Lau and fireman and former police officer Dan White. Milk, Silver, and Lau along with John Molinari and Robert Gonzales made up Moscone's allies on the Board, while Dan White, Dianne Feinstein, Quentin Kopp, Ella Hill Hutch, Lee Dolson, and Ron Pelosi formed a loosely organized coalition to oppose Moscone and his initiatives. Feinstein was elected President of the Board of Supervisors on a 6–5 vote, with Moscone's supporters backing Lau. It was generally believed that Feinstein, having twice lost election to the office of mayor, would support Kopp against Moscone in the 1979 election and retire rather than run for the Board again.

Peoples Temple investigation

Main article: Peoples Temple in San Francisco

In August 1977, after Housing Commission Chairman Jim Jones fled to Jonestown following media scrutiny alleging criminal wrongdoing, Moscone announced his office would not investigate Jones and the Peoples Temple.[11] The later mass murder-suicide at Jonestown dominated national headlines at the time of Moscone's death.[12]

After the tragedy, Temple members revealed to The New York Times that the Temple arranged for "busloads" of members to be bussed in from Redwood Valley to San Francisco to vote in the election.[13] A former Temple member stated that many of those members were not registered to vote in San Francisco, while another former member said "Jones swayed elections."[13] Prior to leaving San Francisco, Jones claimed to have bribed Moscone with sexual favors from female Temple members, including one who was underage; his son, Jim Jones, Jr., later remembered how Moscone frequented Temple parties "with a cocktail in his hand and doing some ass grabbing".[14]

Assassination

Main article: Moscone–Milk assassinations

Late in 1978, Dan White resigned from the Board of Supervisors. His resignation was an indication that Moscone would choose White's successor, and thus could tip the Board's balance of power in Moscone's favor. Recognizing this matter as such, those who supported a more conservative agenda talked White into changing his mind. White then requested that Moscone appoint him to his former seat.

Moscone originally indicated a willingness to reconsider, but more liberal city leaders, including Harvey Milk, lobbied him against the idea, and Moscone ultimately decided not to appoint White. On November 27, 1978, three days after Moscone's 49th birthday, White went to San Francisco City Hall to meet with Moscone and make a final plea for appointment. When Moscone refused to reconsider his decision, White pulled a gun out of his suit jacket and shot and killed Moscone. White then went to Milk's office and shot Milk, killing him as well.

Dianne Feinstein, President of the Board of Supervisors, was sworn in as the city's new mayor and in the following years would emerge as one of California's most prominent politicians.

White later turned himself in at the police station where he was formerly an officer. The term "Twinkie defense" has its origins in the murder trial that followed, in which Dan White was convicted of the lesser crime of manslaughter. White committed suicide in 1985, shortly after his release from prison.

[49. wiki: Moscone–Milk assassinations]

[50. *wiki: Dianne Feinstein]

[51. wiki: Ron Pelosi]:

Ronald Virgil "Ron" Pelosi (born 1934) is an American businessman and public figure in San Francisco, California.

Biography

Pelosi was born in San Francisco in an Italian-American family on November 2, 1934, and was reared in that city. He has a brother, Paul. He earned a bachelor's degree in American history from Stanford University in 1956, the same year he was married to Barbara Newsom in 1956; they were divorced in 1977. He was remarried in 1979, to Susan Ferguson. His children were Carolyn and Cynthia (died 1970), Brennan, Matt Pelosi, Laurence (born 1971) and Andrew (born 1981).

He is the brother-in-law of Nancy Pelosi, minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives and its former Speaker. He is a former uncle-by-marriage of California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom.

[52. wiki: Nancy Pelosi]

[35]:

After the mass suicide

Judy and Patty Houston, the girls about whom Carolyn Layton threatened Joyce Houston not to move for custody at the Sutter Street commune, were also found poisoned.[145] John Stoen, the son of former Assistant District Attorney Timothy Stoen, was found poisoned in Jim Jones's cabin.[145]

Sharon Amos, who had earlier led political pamphletting campaigns in San Francisco, murdered her children with a knife and committed suicide at the Temple's Georgetown, Guyana headquarters (150 miles from Jonestown) at the behest of Jones.[146]

412 unclaimed victims are buried at Evergreen Cemetery, in Oakland, as many of the local members of the church had come from Oakland.[147] A memorial plaque with the names of all victims was placed at the site in 2011, which controversially included the name of Jim Jones, the architect of the mass killing, who is not buried at the cemetery.[148][149]

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Michael Prokes

Michael Prokes, who directed the Temple's relations with several San Francisco politicians and media, survived when he was ordered to deliver a suitcase containing Temple funds to be transferred to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.[154] He committed suicide in March 1979 at a press conference he called.[154] In the days leading up to his death, Prokes sent notes to several people, together with a thirty-page statement he had written about Peoples Temple. Columnist Herb Caen reprinted one copy in his San Francisco Chronicle column.[154]

Influential allies' reactions

After the tragedy, Moscone initially defended his appointment of Jones, stating that, in 1975, Jones' reputation was that of a man who believed in social justice and racial equality, and that there was evidence that the Peoples Temple had initiated programs for drug and alcohol rehabilitation.[22] When asked by a reporter whether he felt in any way culpable for the events, Moscone became angry at the reporter and stated "I'm not taking any responsibility, it's not mine to shoulder."[155]

Milk stated that "Guyana was a great experiment that didn't work. I don't know, maybe it did." [156]

Because Milk and Moscone were both killed by Dan White nine days after the Jonestown tragedy and rumors persisted of purported Temple hit squads seeking to assassinate political figures, many in San Francisco initially believed that the murders of Moscone and Milk were connected to the Temple.[157] No evidence exists that White acted at the behest of Jones or the Temple.

Unlike most other politicians, Willie Brown continued to praise Jones, feeling that attacks on Jones were effectively attacks on the black community.[150][158] Brown initially stated he had "no regrets" over his past association the Temple and that he would not dissociate himself from it like other politicians.[88] "They all like to say, 'Forgive me, I was wrong', but that's bulls—t. It doesn't mean a thing now, it just isn't relevant."[155][158] Brown stated that his decision to speak at the Temple was "not a faulty decision at the time it was made, based on all the object factors at that time."[64] Brown later said "If we knew then he was mad, clearly we wouldn't have appeared with him."[31]

Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had met with Jones on several occasions,[159] refused to disparage Jones, stating that he still considered Jones to be a man that "worked for the people."[159] Jackson also stated "I would hope that all of the good he did will not be discounted because of this tremendous tragedy." [159] Jackson praised Moscone for "not going on a diatribe against the Peoples Temple" and "blowing the whole thing out of proportion."[159]

What a picture...

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