Author Archives: Editor

About Editor

I am a long time resident of San Francisco who has long been dismayed by Newsom's neoliberal, anti-homeless, pro-authoritarian, gentrifying, hypocritical policies.

Excellent Article Relevant to Gavin Newsom and the California “Progressives”

John Stauber in CounterPunch paints a perfect portrait of the “progressive” politics of Gavin Newsom!

“The professional Progressive Movement that we see reflected in the pages of The Nation magazine, in the online marketing and campaigning of MoveOn and in the speeches of Van Jones, is primarily a political public relations creation of America’s richest corporate elite, the so-called 1%, who happen to bleed Blue because they have some degree of social and environmental consciousness, and don’t bleed Red.  But they are just as committed as the right to the overall corporate status quo, the maintenance of the American Empire, and the monopoly of the rich over the political process that serves their economic interests.”

How true!

His Eminence Gavin Newsom to have a bust in City Hall!

Newsom Bust Rendering (PDF)

The Examiner tells the story:

“We are delighted to offer this opportunity to commemorate Gavin Newsom, the youngest mayor of San Francisco, and his important legacy,” said Meg Spriggs, ArtCare board president, wrote in a Nov. 10 letter to Tom DeCaigny, director of cultural affairs for the Arts Commission.

Spriggs also oversees the multifamily investments for Shorenstein Properties, which is owned by the well-known Shorenstein real estate family. ArtCare’s advisory board includes Diane “DeDe” Wilsey, president of the Board of Trustees of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and PJ Johnston, a spokesperson for Willie Brown when he was mayor and currently a communications consultant, according to the ArtCare website.

“ArtCare would like to present a gift to The City of a life-size bronze portrait bust depiction of Gavin C. Newsom, the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco,” Spriggs wrote in the letter. “We hope for it to be displayed on the mayor’s balcony at San Francisco City Hall, near the Office of the Mayor, together with the three other portrait bust sculptures currently located there of other prominent mayors in the history of the City.”

Those other mayor’s include Brown, Dianne Feinstein and George Moscone.

Astonishingly, Gavin Newsom calls for “transparency”

Unusual source for this!
 
“You expose it. The only way to do it is that you’ve got to expose it. I mean no one understands procurement, no one even knows what the hell you’re talking about, but education is needed and you have to expose the “cartels.” I know that’s strong, but those are the types of words you’ve got to use in order to make people wake up, because otherwise people are never going to understand this stuff. It’s so complicated. It’s so dull, and it’s so important. I have a lot of friends who are part of the problem, and they’re friends because they do some good work, but they’re also part of a system that’s frankly pretty corrupted by money, lobbying and by standard operating procedures. And we’re all complicit.
 
I am … well, I’m part of the problem, and so all of us have to own up to it. It’s not an indictment of individuals, it’s an indictment of the system at large.”
 
—
 
We are embarrassingly weak when it comes to transparency. In fact, we are one of the least transparent states in this country. It’s inexcusable. It’s unconscionable, and we are wholly inadequate in terms of our legislative thrust and mandates, and it’s just inexcusable. So the answer is an unequivocal yes. We’ve got a lot of work to do as it relates to transparency.
— Gavin Newsom
 
Read the full story here.

Joe Eskenazi in San Francisco Magazine Shows How Gavin Newsom Gained Power Through Ballot Initiatives

Joe Eskenazi writes in San Francisco Magazine:

“The relative ease of getting measures on the ballot enables politicians who have—surprise!—political motivations for going to the voters. The best local example of this was when Supervisor Gavin Newsom introduced the Care Not Cash measure in 2002 and won the mayor’s race a year later. “Gavin wasn’t as prolific a legislator as others,” recalls his campaign manager, Jim Ross. “But every voter knew he was working on stuff, because every election he’d have a measure on the ballot.” If not for Care Not Cash, “Gavin would not have been mayor,” notes one of his political contemporaries. “The big thing is, on ballot measures, there’s no contribution limit. You can be blunt with donors: ‘Hey, if you like me, this helps me elevate myself!’”

You can read more (including how fellow corporate conservative Supervisor Scott Wiener manipulates the process) here.

You can read about the egregious Care Not Cash (called by many “Con Not Cash”) in a Poor Magazine op ed penned by a homeless man  here.

Convenient Timing or Corruption?

The San Diego Reader writes

“San Diego, billionaire Jacobs’s initial 2012 drive for his Balboa Park bulldozing plan was marked by a $12,000 contribution to the reelection bid of Democratic lieutenant governor Gavin Newsom, less than a month after Newsom sent a letter to California state preservation officer Wayne Donaldson, in which Newsom demanded that Donaldson “withdraw your comments” critical of the project.”

Read more here

Peter Thiel Gives $56,400 to Newsom’s Gubernatorial Campaign!

A very controversial donor!

A notable Democratic exception: Thiel gave $56,400 in July last year to Gavin Newsom’s run for governor, the maximum. We’re told Newsom and Thiel have a political relationship dating to Newsom’s days on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article80734812.html#storylink=cpy

Does Willie Brown Hold Gavin Newsom in Contempt?

Former SF Weekly writer Joe Eskenazi is now the chief rabble rouser for the liberal establishment monthly magazine, San Francisco Magazine. His piece on Willie Brown —  the man who made Gavin Newsom — is a must read!

Joe Eskenazi writes in San Francisco Magazine:

In the meantime, Brown can columnize about instituting transit policies that would, nakedly, benefit his rideshare-app client or promote his political creation Gavin Newsom as a potential Hillary Clinton running mate. (Perhaps coincidentally, Lieutenant Governor Newsom has pushed a San Bernardino County plan to allow the use of eminent domain to seize homeowners’ underwater mortgages—a plan that would enrich a company in which Brown is a partner. In private, and when not writing for the newspaper of record, confidants say Brown is far less charitable regarding Newsom’s abilities.)

Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom

Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom