Cal's Robert Birgeneau talks about Tucson shooting

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau has come out swinging over the shooting spree that wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six people, linking it to Arizona's "discrimination against undocumented persons" and a "climate in which demonization of others goes unchallenged and hateful speech is tolerated."

In a campus-wide e-mail message, Birgeneau said: "It is not a coincidence that this calamity has occurred in a state which has legislated discrimination against undocumented persons."

He added that "this same mean-spirited xenophobia played a major role in the defeat of the Dream Act by our legislators in Washington, leaving many exceptionally talented and deserving young people, including our undocumented students, painfully in limbo."

The Dream Act would have provided a path to legal residency for undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children.

Birgeneau's office said Tuesday that the statement spoke for itself and he would have no further comment.

This isn't the first time Birgeneau has offered up social commentary.

A couple of years back, the chancellor argued that Berkeley's tree-sitter protests against a new sports training center were based on "racism against our underrepresented minority student athletes."

Code blue: Gavin Newsom made big news on his way out of town by naming George Gascón as the new district attorney, but in doing so he also left Ed Lee with one of the toughest political decisions any mayor has to make - selecting a new police chief.

Members of the San Francisco Police Commission want to meet soon with Lee, freshly sworn in as interim mayor, to discuss what they hope will be a prompt pick of a new police chief.

"We want to do deal with this expeditiously and try to keep the progress made over the last 18 months" under Gascón, commissioner Jamie Slaughter said.

But from the looks of things, the tug-of-war is already under way.

At his swearing-in as D.A., Gascón was telling people to keep their eye on Assistant Chief Denise Schmitt, who would be the department's first lesbian chief.

Other names making the rounds include field operations Cmdr. Jim Dudley, Capts. Greg Suhr, Al Casciato and Denis O'Leary, and San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer - along with acting Chief Jeff Godown.

Under the City Charter, the commission gives the mayor three names from which to pick. If none is to the mayor's liking, the commission comes up with three new names.

None of the commissioners we spoke with was inclined to launch a new national search.

"We just went through a near year-and-a-half process" before settling on Gascón, Commissioner Petra DeJesus said. "I think the first thing we should do is go back and look at the people we already vetted before taking any new applications."

Hall passes: Plenty of behind-the-scenes grumbling amid smiling faces at the swearing-in of Ed Lee as San Francisco's new mayor Tuesday.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, back at City Hall after just one day in Sacramento, was grousing about all the credit being given to Chinatown activist and fundraiser Rose Pak for Lee's appointment after Newsom and his team spent two weeks working out the details.

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd was still smarting over the downtown business types going with David Chiu for the board presidency - although Elsbernd managed to swing all his committee picks.

And board President Chiu's team was none too happy about their guy being upstaged at Lee's swearing-in by former mayors Newsom and Willie Brown. Newsom gave the introductory remarks, and Brown was master of ceremonies.

Power surge: Just after Gavin Newsom was elected lieutenant governor, former 49ers president Carmen Policy hosted a charity auction dinner at his Napa estate with some very powerful local players.

Kofi Bonner from Lennar Corp., developer of the Hunters Point Shipyard project, and attorney Steven Kay were the high bidders to host the dinner.

The guest list read like a casting call for the coming weeks of political wheeling and dealing in San Francisco: former Mayor Willie Brown, Supervisors David Chiu and David Campos, soon-to-be District Attorney George Gascón, pension board member Victor Makras, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White, Mayor-to-be Ed Lee and Chinatown power broker Rose Pak.

We don't know what was said that night, but it's interesting how it all worked out.

EXTRA! Catch our blog at www.sfgate.com/matierandross.

Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX-TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle