CITY'S BURMA LAW IS DISPUTED

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

City's Burma law is disputed 

Supervisors Amos Brown, Newsom question need for foreign policy

Rachel Gordon
OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

        Supervisor Tom Ammiano's bid to toughen San Francisco's Burma ban has
        run into criticism from two colleagues on the Board of Supervisors who
        questioned whether The City should meddle in foreign affairs. 

        The 14-month-old law forbids The City from doing business with companies
        that do business in Burma. The ordinance was passed in response to
reports
        of widespread human rights abuses in the Southeast Asian country, in
which
        the military government has arrested peaceful demonstrators and cracked
        down on pro-democracy activists. 

        Ammiano wants to amend the law to make sure construction contracts
for city
        projects are included, government entities are exempted and cleanup
language
        is added. 

        On Tuesday, the board's Rules Committee took up the proposal.
Supervisors
        Gavin Newsom and Amos Brown, who serve on the committee with
        Ammiano, voiced concern not only about the proposed amendment, but about
        the law. They were not in office when it was adopted. 

        "Urging, recommending, focusing is good public policy," Newsom said.
"But
        giving teeth is a dangerous path for the Board of Supervisors to
head down. 

        "If we are going to have teeth in this legislation, why stop at
Burma? What
        about East Timor?" asked Newsom, noting that scores of nations have
        reported human rights abuses. 

        Brown echoed Newsom's concerns, saying there are abuses across
Africa and
        closer to home, citing a recent health study showing a high
concentration of
        illnesses among residents living in the predominantly black
Bayview-Hunters
        Point neighborhood. 

        "My concern is that we approach these kinds of issues in a consistent,
        balanced, fair sort of way." 

        In addition, Newsom questioned the wisdom of city officials getting
involved in
        foreign affairs, rather than concentrating on local issues like
homelessness and
        dirty streets. 

        Responded Ammiano: "It doesn't mean we aren't taking care of the
nuts and
        bolts." He said San Francisco has a "moral imperative" to do what it
can to
        force human rights compliance, and using sanctions is one of the
strongest
        tools. 

        Ammiano pointed to The City's past participation in a ban on
businesses with
        ties to South Africa as helping to end apartheid. 

        The board committee passed the proposed amendments on to the full board
        for consideration. 

        Mayor Brown said Tuesday he was unaware of Ammiano's proposal, and
        doesn't have any personal opinion on the Burma law.