Op-Eds and opinion columns in local, regional and national newspapers and web sites are priceless opportunities to get your message out and help sway public opinion — and public officials — to your side. Your Message Media can help you plan, prepare and place op-eds that can be the first step of an aggressive internet distribution of your published writing.

Here are a few of our Op-Eds:

You don’t negotiate unilaterally

Sunday, July 18, 2010
By Claudia Hudson

Nobody doubts the severity of the fiscal crisis our state and local governments, and entities like AC Transit, face. We’re still in the steepest economic downturn since the Great Depression, brought on by reckless lending of Big Banks, the historic excesses of Wall Street, and tax cuts for the rich which have left working people and their communities high and dry..

In other words, the salaries of AC Transit bus drivers and mechanics aren’t what got us here today. But we’re willing to do our share, just as we have before. Continue reading »

Government’s bad? Try doing without

Tuesday, October 27,2009
By Jeff Gillenkirk

At least since Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign, America’s neoconservative movement has tarred government as the major problem in Americans’ lives and called for it to be defunded. A major strategy of defunding, of course, is cutting taxes. “I think it is the people’s money,” George W. Bush said during his 2000 presidential campaign.

Well, it’s also the people’s government, and to appreciate what that means all you have to do is go outside and stand in front of where you live or work. Chances are it won’t be as busy as where I’m standing – the corner of Stanyan and Waller streets in San Francisco – but the exercise is the same. Look around and note the number of sites and services that depend upon the institution. But neoconservatives dare not speak its name. Continue reading »

BART executives passing the buck

Wednesday, June 10, 2009
By Jesse Hunt

Two things you can count on with BART: The trains usually run on time, and every four years at contract time BART’s executives strive mightily to scapegoat BART workers for management’s mistakes and pass the buck to riders.

The current round of buck passing has been more vigorous than ever. In April, BART announced a “grim budget shortfall” and proclaimed that it could only be addressed with higher fares and substantial cuts for BART’s labor force. Then, last Friday, the BART Board of Directors asked the governor to “deny any request that a BART union may seek from you for a cooling off period” should a contract agreement not be reached by June 30. Continue reading

Hungry — even in San Francisco

Tuesday, June 5, 2007
by Paul Ash, John Hardin, Tom Nolan

Every day, the San Francisco Food Bank distributes enough food for more than 55,000 meals up from 53,000 last year. The St. Anthony Foundation Dining Room serves more than 2,500 plates of food to poor, disabled, elderly and working poor patrons an increase of more than 25 percent in the last five years. And every day, Project Open Hand prepares more than 2,600 meals to people living with HIV/AIDS, homebound with a critical illness and senior citizens, and also distributes around 500 bags of groceries to people living with HIV/AIDS.

Today, June 5, the nation will observe Hunger Awareness Day, a day devoted to ensuring that people pay attention to the existence of the year-round problem of hunger in our communities. After a recent tour of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, “American Idol” co-host Simon Cowell commented, “I actually didn’t know these types of places existed, or there were these types of problems. I believe that the only way you can eradicate this problem [hunger] is through awareness.” Continue reading »

The Death Penalty: A 1% Nonsolution to Crime

January 1, 2004
by Jeff Gillenkirk

We are a people of ritual. We string up Christmas lights against the darkness, trim the wicks on menorahs, break the fasts of Ramadan, gather our clans for sumptuous feasts. In the midst of this season of ritual, another evocative pageantry has been added — the execution of a prisoner. One week before Christmas, San Diego Superior Court Judge William Kennedy set a date for the killing of Kevin Cooper by the state of California, in what would be the 11th execution since 1978 and the first since January 2002.

Now another familiar ritual begins — the ritual of society gearing up to execute a man. First, a menacing mug shot of the convicted murderer appears. Then comes the litany of gory details of the crime: the defendant’s frustrated claims of innocence; the anger of the victim’s family; the hopes of the defense lawyers; the certainty of the prosecutors. Continue reading »

BART Expansion/Use It or Lose It

Wednesday, December 3, 2003
By Mary Anne O’Rorke

This Thursday, rides on BART between 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. will be a Dutch treat — free, actually, courtesy of the Dutch-owned online bank, ING Direct. While the sponsor hopes you’ll be drawn to its banking services, we hope the promotion will inspire a whole new group of riders to discover the service and safety of our modernized BART system — especially new service to SFO.

The future of Bay Area mass transit may depend on it. Public opinion polls show repeatedly that the No. 1 concern of Bay Area residents is transportation. In a recent poll released by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, BART expansion showed up as the top transportation improvement people would like to see — 50 percent higher than the next choice, wider freeways.

Yet news outlets have reported that BART’s expansion to San Francisco International Airport has not drawn the number of riders expected. Lack of patronage on the new $1.5 billion line, especially at the $76 million Millbrae “mega-transit” center, has prompted speculation that service could be cut — including closing two of the four new stops. Continue reading »

My Father’s America

Wednesday, July 31, 2002
by Jeff Gillenkirk

People judging our country today by the likes of Enron’s Ken Lay, Adelphia’s Rigas family, Global Crossing’s Gary Winnick or Halliburton’s Dick Cheney might cast their gaze further down the corporate food chain — to Marvin Gillenkirk, my father.

This American never cashed in millions of dollars in stock options just days before the collapse of his enterprise.  He never built a $7 million seaside mansion with severance pay from a corporation that couldn’t honor its workers’ pensions.  While America’s Crookedest CEOs were stuffing their lifeboats, my father was quietly going through the last of his savings at a nursing home in Rochester, N.Y. Continue reading  »

Single fathers are finding joy in nurturing their children

Sunday, June 17, 2001 (Father’s Day)
by Jeff Gillenkirk

The first American Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, at the instigation of Mrs. John. B. Dodd to honor her father, who single-handedly raised six children on a farm in eastern  Washington after his wife died in childbirth.  In choosing to celebrate a single dad, Mrs. Dodd proved to be far more prescient than anyone possibly could have thought at the time.

Quietly, a revolution is taking place in the U.S. family.  Census figures for 2000 show that the number of single-father households soared by 62 percent over the past decade — 10 times faster than traditional homes and 2 1/2; times faster than single-mother households. Continue reading »

Generous to a Fault

Tuesday, March 21, 2000
By Amy Domini and Thomas Van Dyck

After a 20-year economic boom during which the assets of American private foundations grew by more than 1,100 percent, a battle is roiling over the amount of money foundations should be paying out. The big winners or losers will be the taxpayers, who subsidize the formation and operation of these organizations.

Bill Gates may be one of the greatest philanthropists of our time, but remember that when he put $17 billion into the Gates Foundation last year, his gift was not entirely free. It cost taxpayers $3.4 billion in lost capital gains taxes, because foundations are virtually tax-exempt. Continue reading »

Medical Neglect, Abuse Lie in Wait for State’s Women Prisoners

Wednesday, October 27, 1999
By Ellen Barry

The spotlight now on widespread sexual abuse of women by guards and staff in California’s women’s prisons is long overdue.  The Department of Corrections has managed to contain exposure of sexual exploitation for years, despite repeated attempts to bring it to light.

Still hidden from the headlines, however, is the life-threatening and widespread medicalneglect and abuse in those same prisons.  More than 11,000 women prisoners are subjected to seriously deficient medical care every day. A few examples illustrate the depth of the problem. Continue reading »

Manufacturing Christmas: Their Labor, Our Gifts, Your Choices

December 20, 1998
By Heather Hiam-White

Shoppers have reason to be confused this holiday season.  Sure, most of us are interested in finding a good deal, but the growing awareness of sweatshops and child labor has heightened concerns about how the good we buy are manufactured.  What we lack now are clear guideposts to help us make informed decisions about our purchases.

It’s because of such concerns that I became involved in investigating manufacturing practices overseas — in the hope of bringing up to standards that are acceptable to concerned shareholders and company employees.  Polls, such as the one conducted in 1996 by Marymount College in Virginia, show that Americans are willing to pay more to be sure that the goods they buy are not produced at the expense of basic human rights. Continue reading »

• Los Angeles Times, Sunday, December 22, 1999, Executions Put State and Nation on the Killing Stage, by Mike Farrell
• Foundation News & Commentary, May/June 1999 Who’s Afraid of Increasing Payout?  We say — make more, give more, by Teresa Odendahl and Diane Feeney
• San Jose Mercury News, February 15, 1988, Media Dissects Nicaragua While Ignoring Her Neighbors, by Jeff Gillenkirk
• San Francisco Chronicle, May 26, 1997, The Worst Execution of Justice: Five reasons why the death penalty isn’t the answer, by Danny Glover
• Sacramento Bee, May 1, 2000, California Needs a Moratorium on the Death Penalty, by Richard J. Garcia, Catholic Bishop; Donald Brown, Episcopalian Dean; David Thompson, Presbyterian Pastor
• Foundation News & Commentary, October/November 2000, Paying Out More in Times of Plenty, by Rob McKay
• San Jose Mercury News, October 3, 2003, Time for a Time Out on Executions, by Robert Sanger
• Los Angeles Times, Sunday, December 6, 1998, Make Them Work and Pay: Most Californians support prison without parole over death penalty, by Jeff Gillenkirk
• San Francisco Chronicle, June 7, 1997, U.S. Aid in Mexico War Follows El Salvador Model, by Jeff Gillenkirk and S. Brian Willson
• San Jose Mercury News, July 15, 1984, Bedlam-by-the-Bay: An Insider’s Guide to San Francisco Politics, by Jeff Gillenkirk
• San Jose Mercury News, October 13, 1991, In ’92, Presidential Candidates Really Will Wrestle with the Issues, by Jeff Gillenkirk
• San Francisco Examiner, March 17, 1994, How to Get Their (Bang!) Attention, by Jeff Gillenkirk
• San Francisco Examiner, June 3, 1992, We Do Need a New Ballpark, Just Not There, By Jeff Gillenkirk
• San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, February 24, 2000, Death Penalty Thrives in Climate of Fear, by Mike Farrell
• San Francisco Chronicle, March 31, 2000, The Speech Governor Davis Should Make, by Jeff Gillenkirk
• Sacramento Bee, February 1, 1999, A Plea for Life to Governor Davis, by Bishops Jerry Lamb, Robert Mattheis and Melvin Talbert
• San Francisco Chronicle, July 11, 1996, Would Polly Klaas Want This Trial? by Jeff Gillenkirk
• San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 1998, The Death Penalty is Insanity, by Lance Lindsey
• San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 9, 1998, How to be Earth’s Top Executioner, by Jeff Gillenkirk
• San Francisco Chronicle, October 20, 1997, Death-Row Defense Bill Would Speed Executions, by Lance Lindsey
• San Francisco Examiner, April 30, 1999, Governor’s ‘Awesome Power’ is Just the Power to Kill, by Lance Lindsey