Subject: Gavin Newsom

• Newsom's Latest Curious Donor: Sugar Daddy For Anti-Rent Control Proposition

  Will it burn a hole in his pocket? Last month we reported on how gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom took a hefty donation from Rockstar Energy Drinks' CEO Russell Weiner. When the media began reporting extremist positions Weiner touted on immigration and same-sex marriage in the past (and that he's Michael Savage's son) Newsom's campaign soon saw fit to return the money, citing differences between the "values" of the donor and recipient. Well, it'll be interesting to see if that happens again

  June 1, 2009

• Newsom's Cajoling on South Bay's 49ers Stadium Plan Comes Off As Desperate Hail Mary

  Hut, hut, hikeThese days are just packed for Mayor Gavin Newsom. He just introduced a city financial plan that's a dead cert to induce enough fevered statements about "balancing the budget on the backs of the poor" to make outsiders think the city's indigent population is working on a circus novelty act. Within a matter of days, he'll have the names of San Francisco's potential next police chief placed on his desk. And, tonight, Santa Clara's city council votes on greenlighting a $937 million st

  June 2, 2009

• Has Gavin Newsom Found a New Bright Idea (Hatched By Someone Else)?

  Those of you who grew up here in the Bay Area may feel a nostalgic tear run down your cheek when you view the above video: A 1970s-era KTVU "Charlie and Humphrey" Bits & Pieces short culminating with the message "1,002 stupid things to do: borrowing without asking!" Perhaps Gavin Newsom didn't watch KTVU as a kid. Now, if Newsom or any other politician can find policies or practices not necessarily of his own devising and employ them to help the people -- who could object? Franklin Roosevelt

  June 5, 2009

• During budget talks, the mayor is on the job - technically

  May 20, 2009

• SEIU's New Pact With City Looks Remarkably Like Old Pact -- But Won't Save Jobs of 288 Workers Dismissed Today

  For the SEIU Local 1021, it may be time to paraphrase The Who: Meet the new wage concessions package, same as the old wage concessions package. Specific details for the deal weren't immediately available -- the bargain was only cut in the wee hours this morning -- but the major pillars of the agreement appear to be virtually identical to the wage concession package the SEIU rank and file shockingly voted down last week.The big difference is, after today, there will be 288 fewer workers to vote o

  May 22, 2009

• Interesting Names on Gavin Newsom's Major Donors List: Michael Savage's Son, Ousted Yahoo Boss, and -- The Fugitive?

  A fund-raising 'Rock Star'?Heading into today's Gavin Newsom "New Direction for California" fund-raiser at the Palace Hotel -- when plenty of folks will shell out good money to San Francisco's gubernatorial candidate and erstwhile mayor -- it's worth taking a look at who has already ponied up the big bucks in hopes of putting Newsom in the statehouse. Glancing through the list of major donors, the most double-take inducing name is Russell Weiner. That's the fellow who founded the company that pr

  May 21, 2009

• Newsom's Cigarette Fee Shows Bad Side of Government -- and Media That Cover It

  As we wrote on this page earlier discussing Mayor Gavin Newsom's proposed 33-cents a pack "fee" on cigarettes, "it is possible to be on the side of the angels yet still be disingenuous." So we do not shed a tear for the smoker who feels entitled to complain here -- as the pith-helmeted explorer used to say about porters ravaged by lions or drowned in quicksand in old Republic serials, "They knew the risks." What bothers us is the -- yes -- disingenuous rationale and semantic song-and-dance behin

  May 22, 2009

• What the Hell Is Guardian Thinking With Newsom-Police Chief-District 6 Love Triangle?

  Pose with the mayor and he'll support your run for higher office. It's the law. Anyone who ever languished through a Rhetoric 1A course in college knows the joys of syllogisms: We won't delve into the ins and outs, but we do recall a few examples of spectacularly bad logic, along the lines of: A. My father is bald; B. Ben Franklin was bald; C. Therefore, my father was Ben Franklin. This manner of thinking was jarringly brought to mind when I read an article on the San Francisco Bay Guardian's po

  June 10, 2009

• Supes' Proposed $82M Cuts to Cops, Firefighters are 'Symbolic' -- But Portend Bare-Knuckle Budget Battle

  The budget battle is under way...A shot across the bow. A brushback pitch. A dropping of the gauntlet. Call it what you will, but when the Board of Supervisors' Budget and Finance Committee yesterday approved $82 million in cuts from San Francisco's police, fire, and sheriffs' departments it was a statement. In essence, the Supes are putting it this way to Mayor Gavin Newsom: "You wanna cut social programs and health services and give the police, sheriffs, and firefighters more? Not without gett

  June 11, 2009

• Gavin's Dilemma: Dis Firefighters or Darling of LGBT Political Community?

  Who should I snub? Ballard! My magic eight-ball!If you were Gavin Newsom -- and, odds are, you weren't -- these were your choices: Head to last weekend's U.S. Conference of Mayor's in Providence, R.I. and talk about your treasurer's innovative economic plan and a former supervisor's innovative health care plan -- or skip the conference and keep your top adviser happy by giving the cold shoulder to America's only openly gay mayor of a state capital. Wow -- no one said being a politician is easy (

  June 15, 2009

• Points For Variety: Newsom Reels In Big Donations From Plumbers, Maker of Spaceships

  Ky MichaelsonCombine rockets and toilets and you get this ... and Gavin Newsom's big donors. Credit where credit is due: If there's one thing Gavin Newsom can do with elan, it's accept a check. Perhaps sometimes there's a little too much elan -- he recently returned a hefty donation from Russell Weiner, the son of radio lunatic Michael Savage, and took big money from anti-rent control sugar daddy Thomas Coates. You've got to admire Newsom's range now, however. Recent filings indicate he managed

  June 17, 2009

• Pride Rides: The Mayor's Convoy, The Public Defender's Truck, The Assessor's Last-Minute Call -- and a Big Surprise From Eric Mar

  Janine KahnAn artist's rendition of Jeff Adachi's dump truckAnswers are trickling in from our elected officials on how they plan on cruising at this weekend's Pride Parade. Starting at the top, Mayor Gavin Newsom takes the same approach with vehicles as he does with spokesmen -- if one is good, then more is great! A letter from staunch Newsom supporter and District 6 supervisor candidate David Villa-Lobos disseminates info from the mayor's office to the hundreds of folks expected to march in the

  June 24, 2009

• Double Whammy: Not Only Did Supes Pull Money Away From Mayor's Pet Community Justice Center -- They Also Gave Some to Public Defender

  Audrey FukumanThe supes came for Newsom's pet court -- will they defund his whale next?By now, ardent followers of San Francisco politics may know that the Board of Supervisors' Budget and Finance Committee yesterday moved to financially starve -- and thus kill -- Mayor Gavin Newsom's pet Community Justice Center. The left-leaning supes could probably offer 1,001 rationales as to why this was a good idea: This is yet another program the mayor saw in another city and felt he had to graft onto San

  June 25, 2009

• Sf Gov InAction: Special Faux-Guest Edition!

  Do you ever get tired of doing the same thing every week? Me too. So this week I decided to imagine how SF Gov InAction would look if it were written by five of this city's most ... um ... noteworthy ... pundits. You say "parody," I say "homage." Either way: Enjoy. Monday, June 29 11 a.m. - Budget & Finance Committee (as written by TIM REDMOND, San Francisco Bay Guardian Managing Editor) I was driving back from a trip to wine country last week and noticed that there were a lot fewer

  June 29, 2009

• Cure For City's Financial Woes: 'Fee' On Three-Card Monte

  Hey, where's the city's cut of that loot?Cops from the city's central district this week reported busting up a game of three-card monte by Pier 35. Good thing, too -- apparently, the schemer was using a trio of bottle caps to conceal a ball (which he palmed, of course), and that's low-class. It reflects poorly upon our city for purveyors of fraudulent games to use shoddy materials like bottle caps. Are there no cups for this man? While the purveyors of this game were taken into custody, this is

  July 1, 2009

• District 6 Voters Won't Have Rob Black to Kick Around Anymore

  Rob BlackRob Black -- the preferred District 6 candidate of Mayor Gavin Newsom who was pipped at the post by Chris Daly in the 2006 supervisorial race -- told SF Weekly he has no plans to run again. In fact, if things go his way, he won't even be living in the district much longer. "My wife and I are looking for a house and odds are we aren't going to be able to buy one in District 6," says Black, the vice president for public policy at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. "We've been renters

  July 8, 2009

• Because Somebody Had To: Your Gubernatorial Look-Alikes Article

  While perusing the New York Times Magazine's 26.3 billion-word article on the (wo)men who would rule California -- which may well spur the rest of us to consider the merits of Nevada, Oregon, or Arizona -- a thought hit us. Not an important thought, but a thought nevertheless.For reasons unknown, septuagenarian Attorney General Jerry Brown consented to be photographed next to a gnarled, old tree that only emphasized his own gnarliness. That's when it struck us: Brown is a dead ringer for Walter,

  July 14, 2009

• U.C. Employees' Picket Line Blocks Out Gavin Newsom

  Will HarperIf ever you were looking to keep Gavin Newsom away, scare up a picket line Employees of the University of California vociferously protesting proposed fee hikes and furlough days had an unforeseen consequence on the plans of one Mayor Gavin Newsom -- who may or may not have a Santa Clara University bumper sticker on the back of his hybrid SUV. The protesters this morning moved their picket line a few steps down the road to the headquarters of  FibroGen, Inc., where the mayor was s

  July 15, 2009

• Mayor's Truthiness Is Lacking When It Comes to Proposed Daly Charter Amendment

  But who's counting, Mr. Mayor?The other day, the San Francisco Chronicle noted that Mayor Gavin Newsom doesn't seem to be using Earth-years to calculate his government tenure. He's been helping to rule this city since 1996, but has been repeatedly prefacing his statements of late with the qualifier "In my 15 years" at City Hall. That wasn't he biggest Newsom fabrication in that article, however. Regarding Supervisor Chris Daly's proposed charter amendment to keep the mayor from arbitrarily overr

  July 16, 2009

• Before Fining Your Ass For Failing to Compost, City Unveils Educational Computer Game

  With the city now poised to extract green from residents who fail to put rotting greens in the green bin, Mayor Gavin Newsom unveiled a novel new way of cajoling us into following the rules. Earlier this month, to surprisingly little fanfare, Newsom announced the creation of "Recycling Slam," a charming, eight-bit videogame none-too-subtly meant to instruct locals what crap should be hurled in what bin. Reading through Newsom's introduction of  this game, I was struck by two things: First,

  July 27, 2009

• The Mayor's Favorite Milkshake? A Frothy Blend of Voting Blocs Topped with Whipped Cream

  jdlasica/FlickrNewsom's favorite is green -- and no, it isn't a Shamrock Shake.​Far be it from us to knock a politician for playing politics with food, but really? Gavin Newsom's iconic milkshake is a green tea creation? Seriously? Today the Got Milk? launched a list of celebrity-themed milkshake recipes (concocted by Mariah Swan, pastry chef of L.A. restaurant BLD) designed to be expressive of the California luminaries who allegedly guzzle them. Newsom's is a blend of green tea and vani

  July 27, 2009

• Oof! Is Embarrassing Typo On Gavin Newsom's Campaign Web Site an E-Freudian Slip?

  You sure you want to claim credit for that Web site, sir? ​So, we were perusing Gavin Newsom's Gubernatorial Web site the other day, to see what issues he'd be pushing if he were mayor of San Francisco. The part where the copy claims that Newsom used his experience running a burgeoning wine empire to effectively govern this city did catch our eye -- but not as much as claims of just how transparent city government is (a fun thing to hear from a man with five spokesmen -- who never call us back

  July 28, 2009

• Jerry Brown Reveals His Fund-Raising Numbers -- Amassed With a Contribution Limit One Quarter of Gavin Newsom's

  Jerry Brown says he's socking away 95 percent of the money he's fund-raised -- which is a lot​Tomorrow is the day state political junkies have circled on their calendars -- Form 460 Day! Gavin Newsom, Jerry Brown, and other candidates for higher office are mandated to turn in the forms detailing their fund-raising and expenditures. In short, we get to see how much each candidate has in the tank. Brown, however, is filing today. SF Weekly's phone call to his contribution committee was picked up

  July 30, 2009

• Newsom: No Jaye, No Problem. Mayor Says He's Going to Be Just Fine Without Former Svengali.

  Gavin Newsom says he's got everything covered​This morning., Gavin Newsom's favorite group of notebook, tape-recorder, and camera-wielding inquisitors packed into his tepid chambers for a press conference regarding a proposed United Nations Global Warming Center at the Hunter's Point Shipyard. Great idea, it seemed, but when all the cheer-leading was over, and Newsom made himself available to the media, he received not a single question related

  July 30, 2009

• It's Your Friday Morning News Quiz!

  He's commissioned polls revealing you'll probably get No. 3​Look to your left. Look to your right. One of you will be gone by the end of the day. Oh, you don't work for Mayor Gavin Newsom? Never mind. Breathe deeply -- it's Friday, Mayor Newsom hasn't kicked you out yet, and you deserve to take our news quiz. Good luck! 1. An unknown bastard or bastards caught national headlines this week by burning San Francisco's: A. BillboardsB. Outhouses. C. WalgreensD. Vehicles. 2. San Francisco's Ani

  July 31, 2009

• Would Gay Marriage Not Being on the 2010 Ballot Help or Hurt Gavin Newsom? The Answer: Yes.

  Being emotionally charged up can certainly affect how demonstratively one waves his or her placard in a street protest, but it's of less use in the voting booth. No matter how emphatically you punch your ballot, it still only counts for one vote. This appears to be the crux of Equality California's decision not to push for same-sex marriage on the 2010 ballot -- activists didn't think they had as good a shot of winning now as in 2012, and they're astute enough to realize that moral victories are

  August 12, 2009

• Newsom! Dellums! Fantasy Football Draft! Not So Bad!

  Justin PageGavin Newsom's fantasy team went a little Niners heavy...​The draft for the Yahoo Mayoral Face-off is in the books and local boys Gavin Newsom and Ron Dellums have crafted rosters that resemble the mayors themselves -- flawed, but interesting. The Fantasy Football challenge pits 11 mayors -- and one Yahoo cubicle jockey -- in a contest to determine who will win $30,000 for a charity in his or her home city. Neither hometown mayor likely took the lead role in drafting his team; Newso

  August 20, 2009

• Newsom's Money Disparity Will Get Worse -- Whenever Jerry Brown Wants It To

  Jerry Brown's poll numbers are solid -- and he's got one more big trick up his sleeve​Those are pretty damning poll numbers revealed today for Gavin Newsom -- he'd be governor of the Marina, but nowhere else, even in San Francisco, favors him over Jerry Brown. Also, it seems to take the wind out of the sails of these earlier, not-as-bad poll numbers for Newsom. Huh -- how's your Monday going?  Whatever Newsom's rationale for his position -- and the argument Attorney General Brown has bett

  August 24, 2009

• SF Gov InAction: Your 'Labor Day' Guide to What the F*#@k Happened in the Last Eight Months

  With a federal holiday appears on the calendar, city hall's motto becomes: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but how much time off you can take from your country". In this particular case, The supervisors like to celebrate Labor Day by pretending to have labored, while their staff likes to celebrate Labor Day by pretending to rest. (The one exception to this rule is Michela Alioto-Pier and her staff, who celebrate Labor Day by going into labor). The result for both is a three week "v

  August 24, 2009

• Is Mexico Big Enough for Gavin Newsom and David Campos?

  ¿Dónde estan Gavin Newsom y David Campos?​This was as good a time as any for Gavin Newsom to get out of town (and he's out of town a lot, so he should know). While Newsom is off on a PG&E-funded jaunt down Mexico way, the mayor's paid apologists are left here to explain away recent polls that show him getting thumped by Jerry Brown in the governor's race in every part of the city but the Marina ( the chicks at Jones Roadhouse prefer Gavin!). Newsom's crew is also left to quell the furor

  August 26, 2009

• A Novel Solution: Bastard Politicians of Every Stripe Should Leak Confidential Memos to SF Weekly -- Which Has No Political Axes to Grind

  ​It's odd to read a newspaper editorial arguing that there are some things in city government  that the people and the fourth estate ought not to know. And yet, despite many caveats claiming otherwise, that appears to be what this editorial from the Bay Guardian is asserting.In short, the Guardian bemoans that Mayor Gavin Newsom has supposedly greased the skids of evil Republicans' lawsuit machines by leaking a confidential city attorney's memo regarding Supervisor David Campos' proposed

  August 27, 2009

• Mayor's Choice to Replace Wealthy Supporters on Arts Commission -- His Own Employee

  Nan Park ImagesAh, but is it art? ​In San Francisco, the term "Arts Commission" is misleading. This is not merely a roomful of wealthy dowagers deciding where to place a bust of Adolph Sutro. A small percentage of funds expended on development projects in the city, by law, are sent the commission's way -- and that translates into millions of dollars a year. The city owns nearly 3,300 works of art valued at roughly $86 million. The Arts Commission is a big deal. So it was a commensurate big dea

  August 28, 2009

• It's Your Friday Morning News Quiz!

  ¿Dónde está el jefe?​ Normally, a story about Gavin Newsom going to Mexico and "leaking" would be pretty vile. And, depending on your feelings about the mayor, both of these developments could be interpreted as very problematic ... but not in that way.In any event, it's Friday -- you made it. But were you paying attention? We'll see about that. 1. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local No. 1555 finally ratified a BART contract on Tuesday. After the vote was in, ATU President Jesse Hunt placed

  August 28, 2009

• The Wrong Stuff

  September 9, 2009

• Bill Clinton Throws Weight Behind Gavin Newsom. 'This Doesn't Suck,' Quips Political Analyst.

  The big political news of the day is that President Bill Clinton will officially endorse Mayor Gavin Newsom's campaign for governor of this state. You don't have to be a conspiracist to see the politics in these politics: Newsom was an unabashed Hillary Clinton loyalist and Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown didn't exactly tee it off during their 1992 competition in the Democratic Presidential Primary (see above -- and wince). But, still, this is President Clinton here -- it's a big deal. We called a

  September 15, 2009

• Clinton Endorsement Indicates Gavin Newsom Not Dropping Out of Race for Governor

  Gavin Newsom, F.O.B.*​ After recent polls showed Gavin Newsom getting clobbered by Jerry Brown even among San Francisco voters, political insiders began wagering when Newsom would gracefully pull the plug on his gubernatorial bid. One reasonable guess making the rounds: Newsom would call it quits after his new baby was born later this month saying he needed to focus on fatherhood. But the announcement that Bill Clinton is endorsing Newsom for governor changes all that. The Clinton endorsement

  September 15, 2009

• Gavin Goes Hollywood

  September 16, 2009

• Does Gavin Newsom really have a foster brother who's been in and out of prison?

  September 16, 2009

• Newsom Team Slaps Down Tony Hall's Clinton Payback Story -- With Sarcasm

  'Great catch, guys...'​Running on adrenalin apparently left over from this morning's Bill Clinton endorsement, Gavin Newsom's crack campaign staff wasted no time in slapping back at an SF Weekly blog item, which had alleged a vast political conspiracy with San Francisco's mayor at its center. The purported affair, detailed in "Ex-Treasure Island Czar: Clinton's Newsom Endorsement a Favor for Billionaire Ron Burkle" speculated that Bill Clinton's recent endorsement of Newsom was part of in an i

  September 15, 2009

• Gavin Newsom and Bill Clinton: Birds of a feather

  September 23, 2009

• By the Power Vested in Us, We Declare Friday 'Comb Your Hair Like Gavin Newsom Day.' Won't You Send Us Your Photos?

  Props to the master​In honor of our erstwhile mayor's 42nd birthday on Oct. 10, SF Weekly has declared Friday, Oct. 9 to be "Comb Your Hair Like Gavin Newsom Day." Your participation in this experiment will, once and for all, answer the critical question that has plagued local social scientists and armchair political psychiatrists: Does combing your hair like Gavin Newsom make you behave like Gavin Newsom, or does behaving like Gavin Newsom induce you to comb your hair like Gavin Newsom? It's

  October 6, 2009

• Gavin Newsom's Heartfelt Beliefs Sound an Awful Lot Like -- Tony Robbins?

  By the time Gavin Newsom completed his mind-blowing, seven-and-a-half hour YouTube sermon, he could have started reading names from the phone book or offering family recipes and we'd have been too bleary to notice. This may have been the plan. But in his Monday speech alongside President Bill Clinton at Los Angeles City College, Newsom said something a bit odd -- at around the 25:28 mark, for those scoring at home -- and we did notice. This was probably not the plan. "I've always believed w

  October 6, 2009

• Excitement Builds as 'Comb Your Hair Like Gavin Newsom Day' Draws Near

  It's tougher than it looks to get your hair to lay like this​The other day, we declared Friday to be Comb Your Hair Like Gavin Newsom Day, in honor of our erstwhile mayor's 42nd birthday the next day. As we put it before: Your participation in this experiment will, once and for all, answer the critical question that has plagued local social scientists and armchair political psychiatrists: Does combing your hair like Gavin Newsom make you behave like Gavin Newsom, or does behaving like Gav

  October 7, 2009

• You're Welcome, Gavin: We Improve Erstwhile Mayor's Campaign Logo

  Audrey Fukuman​The other day, Gavin Newsom's gubernatorial campaign gave the little people a chance to select which logo San Francisco's erstwhile mayor ought to use. While we appreciate being pandered to as much as the next constituent, you'd have to be myopic to not observe that all of the choices Newsom has shoveled into our trough are lousy and indistinct. So, we're being proactive. Instead of merely casting our lot for the least terrible of the pre-selected Newsom logos, we've commission

  October 8, 2009

• Why Vote For Gavin Newsom's Boring Logos When You Can Have These Fun Ones?

  The Gavin Newsom campaign logo contest recently pitched on Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter and Digg asked supporters to chose one among variations on a bland, meaningless theme. ​ ​​ ​​ The experts at SF Weekly Political Consulting know that authenticity wins. So we created a series of logo-posters to introduce California to the real Gavin Newsom. Vote for your favorite in the comment section. The winner will be tabled at a Newsom campaign event. Hip tip: Prin

  October 12, 2009

• Newsom quotes the giant within

  October 14, 2009

• Welcome Back, Gavin: Newsom Bows Out of Governor's Race

  Audrey Fukuman, based on original illustration by @yiyingluGavin Newsom and the Bay Bridge came up short this week​If you see a tall, handsome man with slicked-back hair wandering forlornly through the city on Halloween, it may not be a denizen dressed as Gavin Newsom. It may be the real thing. The mayor's traveling political roadshow came to an end today when he fired off a press release acknowledging he is dropping out of the governor's race: "It is with great regret I announce today that I

  October 30, 2009

• Going, Going, Gavin: What's Next For Newsom, City, State?

  ​ It's unlikely anyone has ever publicly announced he's taking a job so he can spend less time with his family. But countless folks turning in their resignation letters have chalked up the decision to jump ship to a desire to spend more time with the fam. Gavin Newsom joined that lengthy list today. And with his dead gubernatorial dreams still warm, the politicos on SF Weekly's speed dial speculated about what comes next for Newsom, San Francisco, and the governor's race. One of the "wild

  October 30, 2009

• It's Your Friday Morning News Quiz!

  Need someone to help you figure out how many grams are in an ounce? Here's your ace.​Gavin! Timmy! Tyson Beckford! Grizzly Bear! Immunity to cereal! What a week. But were you paying attention? 1. Putting the bizarre cherry atop a surreal sundae, an expert witness gave what rationale for 21-year-old homeless man Kenneth Herron entering the San Francisco Zoo's Grizzly Bear Grotto? A. The defendant believed he was a spiritual cousin of the bears, and wished to free them from their metaphysical bo

  November 6, 2009

• What Did Gavin Newsom Bring Everyone From Hawaii?

  ​On the one hand, following Mayor Gavin Newsom's abrupt withdrawal from the governor's race, he spent quality time back in a beautiful city nestled in the bosom of the Pacific. On the other hand -- it was in Hilo, Hawaii. When you take off for an impromptu jaunt several thousand miles away from City Hall and even your top aides don't know where you are -- well, gifts are in order. Here's a gift guide from the Aloha State: Acting Mayor Carmen Chu: T-shirt reading "I was controversial acting may

  November 6, 2009