Jeff Adachi seems like a nice enough fellow. He's the city's public defender and usually takes far left political views. He opposes legislation to ban sitting or lying on streets and the city's Community Justice Center that prosecutes low-level crimes. He's also well liked by his staff.

So why is everyone taking shots at him?

Supervisor Chris Daly is reportedly threatening to introduce a motion to cut $1.2 million from Adachi's budget. Mayor Gavin Newsom says Adachi may "divide this city and create an atmosphere of animus for the next five years."

And San Francisco Labor Council Executive Director Tim Paulson called Adachi the dirtiest name he could think of - a Republican.

Adachi's crime is the tyranny of a good idea. He put his finger in the air and sensed a shift in the political winds. To the surprise and shock of many in City Hall, Adachi gathered 75,000 signatures for a November ballot measure that would revise the pension plans of city workers.

Now he's suddenly the hottest name in politics. Some wonder if Adachi will run for mayor, or even if he's a stalking horse for former Board of Supervisors' president and leftie darling, Matt Gonzalez.

"I'm just too cynical to think he's doing this at face value," said pollster and political analyst David Latterman. "He's up to something."

Long considered the third rail of local politics, pension reform is the budget-crushing issue no one wanted to discuss. According to Adachi, the city's contribution to employee pension and health care costs have gone from $175 million per annum five years ago, to $525 million now, and could grow to $700 million in five years.

Adachi wants to require city workers to contribute to their pensions - 10 percent for fire and police officers and 9 percent for all others - just like most of the rest of us. That may sound reasonable to you, but not to labor.

"This is pure grandstanding on his part," said Paulson. "This is just a play right out of the Meg Whitman playbook - attack workers for their compensation. He might as well join the Republican Party."

Adachi feigns innocence.

"This isn't an attack on labor," he said. "It's a math problem. I think everybody recognizes that the train wreck is already here. But nobody talks about it."

Gonzalez is definitely getting back in the game. It is anyone's guess what his intentions are, but after dropping out of sight since losing the mayor's race to Newsom in 2003 , he's back and spinning out the sound bites that made him a favorite of the left. Both he and Adachi seem like unlikely choices to back budget reform, but he clearly thinks pushing back against labor is a winner.

"For the first time labor is seeing that the way they were teeing this up for the voters (an attack on the working class) isn't going to work," Gonzalez said. "This is going to realign politics in San Francisco."

Craig Weber, a moderate Democrat who acknowledges Adachi's politics are well left of his, was one of the authors of a civil grand jury report to revise pensions. Weber says Adachi was the only local politician who supported the report's ideas.

"There's no one who would challenge the political machine in San Francisco," said Weber, who became Adachi's treasurer. "He's going up against the unions and the Democratic Central Committee. Either Jeff is a brilliant politician or he just stumbled into this. But I think this is going to pass. And when it does maybe he will run for mayor."

A couple of points. First, Adachi was helped mightily by San Francisco venture capitalist Mike Moritz, an old Gonzalez ally, who donated some $250,000 to the petition drive. Second, Newsom insists there may be serious legal problems with Adachi's plan.

Granted. But at this point Adachi has come up with one of the most interesting ideas in years. And he's sent shock waves through City Hall.

Good for him.