Chicken John

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"Chicken" John Rinaldi was a mayoral candidate in the Fall 2007 San Francisco mayoral election. In the past, he has been associated with Burning Man and the now-closed Odeon Bar.^[1] As a mechanic, Rinaldi has converted his 1975 GMC pickup truck to run off hydrogen recovered from gasifying pelletized biomass, such as coffee grounds.^[2]

Rinaldi announced his candidacy for mayor of San Francisco on July 9, 2007, challenging incumbent Gavin Newsom. He stated his campaign goal of being voted in for second place, based on San Francisco's new system of instant-runoff voting. He championed San Francisco as "the city of art and innovation." Among other issues, he wishes to publicize those facing San Francisco artists and promote ecologically friendly fuel alternatives for municipal vehicles.^[3]

1 Biography
- 1.1 Musician
- 1.2 Organizer
2 San Francisco Mayoral Race
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Musician

Rinaldi has a background as GG Allin's guitarist in his band Murder Junkies, and with Right Said Fred.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Organizer

He organized Circus Redickuless, a nationally touring punk circus consisting of anarchists.^{[citation needed]}

Chicken established the Odeon Bar, a bar in San Francisco which was home to unusual performances.^{[verification needed]} The Odeon later went out of business when the building was sold.^{[citation needed]}

He has tried to take over the Burning Man festival via his group "BORG2" and affect the San Francisco Burning Man community.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] San Francisco Mayoral Race

Rinaldi announced his intention to run for Mayor on his Web site on July 9, 2007. After submitting the required official declaration of candidacy on August 8, 2007, Rinaldi claimed to have raised $25,000 in campaign donations from San Francisco residents by August 28, qualifying him for public campaign matching funds. However, he was denied public financing.[1]

As incumbent Mayor Gavin Newsom was enjoying high popularity and raised over $1.5 million in private campaign donations, Rinaldi was not expected to win the election.^{[citation needed]} However, Rinaldi repeatedly stated that his intention was not to win, but to focus attention on issues affecting the San Francisco arts community.