Adios, District 5 council member David Medina, we hardly knew ye, though it certainly wasn't for lack of trying on our part (or that of any other media outlet). On Saturday, he lost in a runoff, along with District 8 hopeful Rolando Briones. We like to think the two studmuffins lived in what 30 Rock's Liz Lemon described as "the bubble," which largely allowed them to skate by on good looks while ignoring basic ethics codes and civic responsibility. Not no more, with the wins of Shirley Gonzales in District 5 and Ron Nirenberg in District 8.
While District 8's open seat was anyone's game, it's more unusual for an incumbent like Medina to be unseated, albeit by a razor-thin 118 votes. Here's 10 things that helped sink the evangelical Christian/male model/ former Palm Heights neighborhood association president/self-proclaimed youngest SA city councilman ever's ship.
1) Way back in his first successful campaign in 2009, Medina was accused of dirty, juvenile campaign tricks like pulling opponent signs and replacing them with their own.
2) He voted against domestic partnership benefits.
3) His habit of non-publicity runs back to his first City Council race in 2007.
4) ...Unless it’s to talk about his work out and diet routine.
6) He also held the record for Council no-shows in his last term.
7) The whole family brou-ha-ha at Brothers Tacos, involving Medina's father using his daughter and a baby as a human shield in an altercation with local police (who still endorsed Medina), an incident at which it was later revealed that Medina himself was present.
8) Medina's bizarre staff payment plan
10) And all of this.