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by\u00a0Joe Eskenazi<\/a><\/strong> May 4, 2026 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/JB-and-Prop-B-780x585.png\")
Jerry Brown was the youngest man to ever serve as governor of California in the modern era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After leaving office, he embarked on a peripatetic career that included studying with Mother Teresa, hosting a radio show and lecturing a University of California, Berkeley class (Regarding the title of Hillary Clinton\u2019s book, \u201cIt Takes a Village,\u201d he deadpanned to the students: \u201cDoesn\u2019t it give you a warm fuzzy?\u201d). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brown then jumped back on the political hamster wheel, running successfully for mayor of Oakland and state attorney general and, finally, becoming the oldest man ever to serve as governor of California. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter<\/strong> below.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019d think the notion of strict term limits would be an anathema to a four-time governor. You\u2019d be right, but not for the reasons you\u2019re expecting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In June, San Franciscans will weigh in on Proposition B<\/a>; voters began receiving their mail ballots last week. While city supervisors and mayors must, presently, sit out for four years before running for potential third and fourth terms, Prop. B would install a lifetime cap of two terms, full stop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since term limits were imposed on San Francisco supervisors nearly 36 years ago, only one has ever served more than two terms. And, if you can\u2019t guess who it is, Gov. Brown will tell you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is not complex,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is all directed at one person in San Francisco: Aaron Peskin<\/a>. People are giving hundreds of thousands of dollars because they\u2019re worried he will support policies they don\u2019t like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou have a Trumpian move, almost something you might expect from Putin,\u201d Brown continues. \u201cOne person is identified and barred from democratic participation. It\u2019s a major abuse of the democratic process.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople say this is a solution looking for a problem. But it\u2019s a solution looking for a problem that already happened: You\u2019re a decade late, dude. I had my fun.\u201d Aaron Peskin on Prop. B<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The present term-limit system was passed<\/a> in June 1990, and was in effect for the election of November 1990. Political consultant Jim Stearns undertook an analysis of all the mayoral and supervisorial contests since that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Factoring out runoffs, which were in place until the adoption of ranked-choice voting in 2002, 109 candidates ran for mayor and 587 ran for the Board of Supervisors (120 citywide, 467 in the districts). So, that\u2019s nearly 700 candidates in the course of not quite 36 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of those, only two had served two or more terms in office before seeking an additional term: Peskin (he won) and John Avalos (he didn\u2019t). Doing the math, Prop. B would\u2019ve affected not quite three-tenths of one percent of the candidates running for office since November 1990. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Absent its function as the Aaron Peskin Privatization Act, it\u2019s difficult to parse just what problem Prop. B is purporting to solve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prop. B is Supervisor Bilal Mahmood\u2019s legislation. He insists that it has nothing to do with Aaron Peskin. He insists that it\u2019s simply a \u201cgood government measure\u201d to clarify \u201cvoter intent\u201d and close a \u201cloophole.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mahmood\u2019s persistent repetition of the term \u201cloophole\u201d does not pass the Inigo Montoya test: You keep using <\/em>that word<\/em><\/a>. I do not think it means what you think it means. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He insists that, because in 1990 this was pitched as the \u201ceight years is enough\u201d measure and because some ballot arguments and media coverage simply stated it would impose a two-term limit, that voters made assumptions. This <\/em>is the so-called loophole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But any voter who actually looked at the brief description<\/a> atop the June 1990 ballot would see that it clearly stated \u201cShall persons be prohibited from serving more than two consecutive four-year terms on the Board of Supervisors, and be prohibited from serving as a Supervisor again until four years have elapsed \u2026 ?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Within the official argument<\/a> for the 1990 measure was the following line: \u201cFormer supervisors may run for office again after 4 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So there was no ambiguity here. And no loopholes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mahmood insists that Prop. B will create new opportunities for new leadership. That\u2019s a hell of a claim for a measure that would\u2019ve been irrelevant for 99.7 percent of the candidates who ran for the board or mayor over the past three-and-a-half decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s also an amazing thing to say when the mayor and four of the six supervisors elected<\/a> in the latest cycle had never before held office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a thought: If Mahmood and fellow Prop. B supporter Supervisor Matt Dorsey were truly committed to opening up the limited number of San Francisco elected positions to up-and-comers, perhaps they should resign the seats they simultaneously hold on the Democratic County Central Committee. You know, get some \u201cnew blood\u201d in there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cleaner Streets, Stronger Community<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After 5 years of working to fix SF’s litter problem, Clean Streets – a Mission-based, community-funded, litter pickup workforce has funded 1,236 hours <\/strong>of living-wage work and cleaned 617 miles <\/strong>of neighborhood streets. As little as $5 makes a difference. Click here to help us clean the Mission. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 141<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mahmood noted that in pushing Prop. B, he and his fellow supes were \u201cholding ourselves accountable. \u2026 It limits my ability to serve a third term.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hold on there, champ; Mahmood hasn\u2019t yet been elected to a second <\/em>term. And his legislation would not keep, say, Dean Preston from giving him another run in 2028. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When told that only two politicians have attempted to run for additional terms out of nearly 700 candidates, Mahmood noted that former District 2 supe Michela Alioto-Pier is exploring her possibilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Stop the presses: Add her in, and the relevancy ratio grows from 0.29 percent to 0.43 percent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prop. B has, thus far<\/a>, raised nearly $347,000. That includes $200,000 from cryptocurrency billionaire Chris Larsen and $50,000 from billionaire retired VC and San Francisco Standard <\/em>founder Michael Moritz, who have become two of Mayor Daniel Lurie\u2019s most ardent backers<\/a>.\u276e\u276f Enjoy craft martinis, live DJ nights, and dance in a unique retro-salon setting. Open daily from 2pm to 2am. Swing by during the day or join us at night for music, drinks, and unforgettable memories!Club \u2022 Trending \u2022 5K viewsDiscover the Vibe<\/p>\n\n\n\n SF Believes, a PAC with Lurie ties<\/a>, has also kicked in $20,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n San Francisco\u2019s tech barons and the political organizations they foster have no fondness for Peskin. Moritz in 2024 penned a New York Times <\/em>op-ed laying the blame for decades of city mismanagement<\/a> on him, labeling Peskin the chief zealot in a \u201ccoterie of longstanding political zealots.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The billionaire wrote in his op-ed that \u201cDemocrats like me\u201d were \u201cfighting to take the city back.\u201d That <\/em>part of his jeremiad, at least, seems to be indisputable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our messages to both Larsen and Moritz querying why they donated to Prop. B were not answered. Surely it\u2019s just a \u201cgood government measure\u201d to clarify \u201cvoter intent\u201d and close a \u201cloophole.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike the Chronicle<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>which inveighed against Prop. B in a particularly sharply worded editorial, Mission Local<\/em> does not do endorsements. You can vote however you wish for whatever reason you wish; you can, like my high school chemistry teacher used to say, make a pretty pattern with the bubbles you fill in on the sheet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We would be surprised if fewer than 60 percent of voters went for Prop. B; voters like<\/em> term limits. Regardless, Mission Local <\/em>isn\u2019t telling you what to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But we\u2019re under no obligation to keep mum when city officials piss on your leg and tell you it\u2019s raining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry Brown is 88, and he doesn\u2019t have time for any of the arguments from Bilal Mahmood or other Prop. B supporters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLook, that\u2019s just a cover story,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is only one operative motive here: Keep Peskin out to please some very well-heeled contributors. I\u2019m not even sure the supervisors are the leaders. They may be the pawns, too.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Peskin, meanwhile, says he has no plans to run for office against Supervisor Danny Sauter in 2028. But, to be fair, Peskin had no plans to re-enter public life in 2015 either, and only did so after a concatenation of strange and terrible events<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople say this is a solution looking for a problem,\u201d he says of Prop. B. \u201cBut it\u2019s a solution looking for a problem that already happened: You\u2019re a decade late, dude. I had my fun.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n With 17 years, Peskin is the longest-serving district supervisor and, if Prop. B passes, that title likely becomes permanent. In the pre-term limits days a little-remembered at-large supervisor named Dewey Mead<\/a> served from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s. In the present day Mead doesn\u2019t even merit a Wikipedia page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI spent 17 pretty intense years working 17 or 18 hours a day,\u201d Peskin says. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty nice living. I don\u2019t want to say stress-free, but a vastly stress-reduced life.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s nice being able to walk down the street and not be barraged by 20 different people asking for 20 different things, 10 of which are intractable problems.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Actually, that\u2019s not entirely true. Even out of office, gobs of North Beach Frank Capra characters stop Peskin on his walks to and from Caffe Trieste; some even hand him sheaves of paper from the planning department or building department notices of violation and ask him how to extricate themselves from trouble. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, Peskin admits, that\u2019s still happening. \u201cBut now,\u201d he says, \u201cI just give them Danny Sauter\u2019s number.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n This story has been altered to acknowledge that Jerry Brown was the state\u2019s second-youngest governor. J. Neely Johnson was elected at 30<\/a> in 1856.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are no paywalls at Mission Local. We believe San Francisco deserves critical, high-impact reporting that belongs to all<\/em> its residents, not just those who can afford it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But free to read doesn\u2019t mean free to produce. We\u2019re a small, independent newsroom rooted in San Francisco\u2019s communities that only exists because people like you invest in the reporting that our city relies on all year round. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep Mission Local free for all by becoming a donor today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Donate<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n getbackjoejoe@gmail.com<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe is a columnist and the managing editor of Mission Local. He was born in San Francisco, raised in the Bay Area, and attended U.C. Berkeley. He never left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYour humble narrator\u201d was a writer and columnist for SF Weekly from 2007 to 2015, and a senior editor at San Francisco Magazine from 2015 to 2017. You may also have read his work in the Guardian (U.S. and U.K.); San Francisco Public Press; San Francisco Chronicle; San Francisco Examiner; Dallas Morning News; and elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He resides in the Excelsior with his wife and three (!) kids, 4.3 miles from his birthplace and 5,474 from hers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Northern California branch of the Society of Professional Journalists named Eskenazi the 2019 Journalist of the Year.More by Joe Eskenazi<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" California\u2019s four-time gov says term-limits measure is just a thinly veiled attempt to kneecap Aaron Peskin. It\u2019s hard to argue with him. by\u00a0Joe Eskenazi May 4, 2026 (MissionLocal.org) Jerry Brown was the youngest man to ever serve as governor of California in the modern era. After leaving office, he embarked… Continue reading ![\"Mission](\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/mission-local-logo-300x300.jpg\"){kind=logo}
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nBeauty Bar is Back! Revitalized!<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n3,300 readers keep Mission Local free. Will you join them? <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Latest News<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAt debate, District 2 candidates part ways on housing<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSaikat Chakrabarti went after Democrats as AOC\u2019s chief of staff. Now, he wants another round.<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s what\u2019s on the ballot for San Francisco\u2019s June 2 election<\/a><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Joe EskenaziManaging Editor\/Columnist<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n