221 a different face ripping us off

We had a nice walk down one of the closed streets, then lunch on the sidewalk outside a restaurant yesterday. The friends we were walking with enjoyed the route, Page Street, but wondered why the city hadn't closed super-popular Haight Street, a block away.

My guess was because Haight has bus lines. But they were totally right. It was nice that this residential street was closed, but it would be huge if Haight became a pedestrian plaza. Maybe the city is afraid of that?

Sorry, no pics.

Yesterday, I got a little curious about Senate Majority Leader Turtle, and his second wife, the long laboring Secretary of Transportation. (No, really, she's served in the cabinet of the last four Republican presidents, including all eight years of W43 as his Secretary of Labor.)

They met back in the late 80s. She's the Harvard MBA daughter of a wealthy "shipping magnate," he's a lawyer. 

Most of their $22 million net worth comes from her, including a gift of several million dollars from her father, but she's also had some pretty good side gigs during her time off from GOP administrations, including a $1-5 million payout for being on the board of Wells Fargo.

As an administrator, she's sought out to be on many boards. 

The main criticism of her government performance seems to be lax oversight, allowing worker conditions to deteriorate, from safety to wages, and hooking up family members.

Oh, and making sure she's got plenty of time for herself.

(But really, what boss doesn't like a little "executive time?")

They own two homes, this one in Kentucky is supposedly 2700 square feet and worth $750k. It doesn't look like much from space, but I'm sure it's ok.

Their DC love nest is a little pricier. Like many cities after the end of leaded gas, our capitol has gentrified a lot since they were married in the early 90s.

There have been a few accusations of insider dealing.

But nothing firing an inspector general or two couldn't get rid of.

Really, it's just standard backroom dealmaking.

What would you do if your hubby was Senator? Not funnel his state money? Come on!

Honestly, this is the squeeky clean side of the swamp.

There's nothing weird or untoward going on at all. It just looks funky, you know, if you think too hard. (There's that "guided apophenia" again.)

Honestly, my take? It's nice to have a different face ripping us off.


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