Page 5 of 6
Many cops and commissioners say Sparks has earned their respect as an independent-minded, pragmatic workhorse who served, as she says, in spite of being transgender, not as someone defined by it. Former commissioner Joe Alioto Veronese says Sparks could look beyond the identity politics that so often determine voting records in this city. He says progressives and the LGBT community had blasted his efforts to register sex offenders' residences because the label could include some gay people charged with sodomy crimes. To Veronese's surprise, Sparks still supported his resolution to get the state attorney general's clarification on whether offenders could register as homeless to avoid restrictions on where they could live. Under Sparks' leadership, the commission also required that police use interpreters for encounters with anyone with limited English.
Sparks had her share of detractors. Many grumbled about her stubborn defense of former Police Chief Heather Fong, and said that both of them were appointed only because of political correctness.
"My sense is [Sparks] tried to do the right thing by the cops," says Sergeant Carl Tennenbaum, who goes by Carl T. "There's the old puritanical Irish Catholic boys who have problems with a person being a transgender person. ... I could put you in contact with a bunch of guys that hate her because of what she is, [and say] she's a freak, but they would hate anyone who wasn't born in the Sunset and went to SI [St. Ignatius College Preparatory]."
Sparks has found the best way to defuse any discomfort about her transgender identity is to take the first, and funniest, jab herself. At a police commission meeting earlier this year, she complimented one sergeant on his knowledge of hazardous waste disposal — her former specialty. The officer responded, "Thank you, Madam President. I've been doing this for 15 years, and I had a full head of hair when I started."
Sparks shot back, "You know, I won't even go there and tell you what I had when I started." The meeting room erupted into laughter. Point Sparks.
On a recent morning, Sparks hopped in her Prius and zoomed over to the Human Rights Commission at 25 Van Ness, where she walked past the "Theresa Sparks, Executive Director" sign in the hallway and into her still-spartan office. As an experienced business executive accustomed to shaking things up, Sparks is planning big changes. She envisions expanding the commission's functions beyond its current role of investigating discrimination complaints and ensuring contractors comply with the city's equal benefits and nondiscrimination policies. She has already made moves to boost the number of certified small businesses eligible for discounts in contract bids.
Some City Hall insiders wonder whether Sparks will lose her established independence now that she is employed at the mayor's whim. Sparks' relationship with Newsom hasn't always been chummy. He was rumored to have been upset when Sparks, appointed by his rivals on the Board of Supervisors, was elected president of the police commission. Since then, however, the two have obviously settled their differences. Still, Sparks says not to count her as a mayoral lackey any time soon. After all, this is a woman who doesn't hesitate to call arguments she doesn't agree with "horseshit," and once returned an award to a nonprofit she thought had turned its back on transgender people. "I won't [lose my independence], because that's just who I am," she says. "If the disagreement is severe enough, I'll be looking for a new job."
Many have heard she already is: attempting to replace termed-out Chris Daly as District 6 supervisor in next year's election. For the past year, Sparks has been following doctor's orders to lay off heavy exercise, which she claims is the primary reason she'd been apartment searching in flatter parts of the city. She has told Democrats like party regional director August Longo that she is interested in running, and asking who would support her. Declared District 6 candidate Jim Meko noticed her at the recent Taste of South Beach event, where Jason Chan, the mayor's appointments secretary, introduced her to local leaders.
"I'm leaning heavily toward" running, she says. "I've been having a lot of meetings with a lot of people and gotten a really positive response. ... They're not too impressed with the current candidates." She says she'll announce her final decision in the next month.
While Meko says Sparks would be a carpetbagger in the district, David Villa-Lobos said he'd withdraw his candidacy and support her. Supervisor David Campos supports fellow Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club member Debra Walker in the race, but acknowledges that Sparks would offer a dose of independence to a politicized City Hall. "I don't think she fits in one camp or the other necessarily," he says. "So that's something that she brings to the table."
Sparks says her history in the district goes back to her early activism with transgender women in the Tenderloin, and speaks fervently every chance she gets about making the neighborhood safe for immigrant and low-income San Franciscans. She thinks she could probably make more of an impact as a supervisor than at her current post, yet still has to get over her remaining hesitancy about joining the "blood sport" of San Francisco politics. "Being a supervisor is a very hard task," she says. "It takes a toll on you personally, and [I] have to decide if that's where I want to go." At her age, Sparks says holding a supervisor's office would be her last job, not a stepping stone to higher office. It would also mean her salary would be cut nearly in half.
