The voice was unmistakable: “Louis Black, this is Carole Rylander, I want you to know I love the Chronicle. Usually my [unintelligible] job doesn’t look that good. And I love the padlock earrings, they are priceless. I may have to find where you found them. No really, I got a real kick out of it. I love the Chronicle … ” I was checking my messages, and there was our state comptroller’s voice. If memory serves, I had started one editorial “Damn Carole Rylander,” and a not-that-flattering portrait had graced our most recent Halloween cover. Yet here she was, on the phone, voice booming, larger than life. Telling me how much she loved the Chronicle and the cover. Damn, you do have to be impressed by what a sleek, smart, political animal she is. She invited me to call her back, though she said it wasn’t necessary. I didn’t.
A while later, I found a message from someone who allegedly worked for the comptroller’s office claiming that the comptroller had the Chronicles removed from the building and, perhaps coincidentally, the staff wasn’t allowed to wear Halloween costumes to work for the first time in years. We have not verified either of these statements (and don’t plan to). It was an anonymous phone call, and I’m just passing it along.
A little later, a Rylander representative called and asked how to contact the artist. Rylander, it seems, collects caricatures. Ahhhhh, politics.
Ooooh, politics. On the drive in Friday morning, I caught Mayor Watson on Kevin & Kevin’s morning show on KGSR-FM 107.1 performing spin control on Andy Langer’s A2K piece last week (“Eve of Destruction?”). Here was the mean Chronicle picking on well-meaning civic leaders again — which I thought was a funny way to characterize an article in which affected community leaders and public servants offered their concerns about a massive public event. But I love the mayor. Among other things, he’ll get on the radio with those who like him politically (Kevin & Kevin) and those who don’t (Sammy & Bob). At least you know what he’s thinking, or, at least, what he’s spinning. Ooooh, politics. 
This article appears in November 5 • 1999.