CAMPAIGN ’88 : Parade Funds Denied

The City of San Francisco has notified the organizers of a Cinco de Mayo parade that the city will not reimburse parade expenses because Jackson is the grand marshal. Jackson’s visit about a month before the California primary violates rules prohibiting spending city funds on political causes or candidates, said Chief Administrative Officer Rudy Nothenberg.

Roberto Hernandez, director of the Mission Economic and Cultural Assn., which is sponsoring the parade, said the city ruling would cost the group $14,000.

Hernandez objected to the decision, saying other politicians such as Mayor (then Assemblyman) Art Agnos, and former Mayor Dianne Feinstein, have participated in the parade--some as grand marshal.

But Nothenberg responded that public officials who have joined the Cinco de Mayo festivities were city or state office-holders at the time. “They’re incumbents,” he said. “He (Jackson) is a candidate. The issue is very clear. This is a partisan political event.”