GavinWatch

GavinWatch.com is Live

2007-03-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

GavinWatch.com is now live! Please update your links and bookmarks and come join us at the bigger, broader, and badder GavinWatch. You will be redirected in 7 seconds.

Party Rescheduled for 3/29

2007-03-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

We are happy to announce that the GavinWatch re-launch party has been re-scheduled for next Thursday, March 29th at El Rio. We are deeply sorry for those of you who showed up at Balazo last night. We appreciate your support, and we hope that you'll give us one more chance. Baring further intervention from City inspectors, we promise that you'll get your chance to get your picture taken with the photo-op Mayor while learning all about his absent and ineffective ways.

THE REAL SCANDAL? Who Gavin is Screwing OVER
Who: GavinWatch & the League of Pissed Off Voters
When: Thursday, March 29, 7-11pm
Where: El Rio 3158 Mission at Cesar Chavez

Gavin Newsom's recent scandals have gotten a lotta media play and raised public concern about his judgment and lack of focus on his job. Meanwhile, his troubling lack of commitment to solving the city's most serious problems is being completely ignored by the media and getting no play at all.

Come join GavinWatch and the League of Pissed Off Voters at our "The Real Scandal: Who Gavin is Screwing OVER" party and learn some of the dirtier and, in our opinion, more interesting secrets about our "playa maya." All in the fun, funny, & booty-shaking atmosphere you expect from the League.

Other fun stuff:

Do Somethin About It: Take action in support of green energy & real violence prevention
"Photo-Op Mayor:" Get your picture taken w/ the Mayor (cardboard cut out)
Launch of the new GavinWatch website and our new street campaign
World Premieres of several new GavinWatch videos
DJs in the front & back rooms
Other fun & surprises!

$5 donation
21 and over
No one turned away for lack of funds

Party Postponed :(

2007-03-20T23:19:00.001-07:00

We regret to announce that we must postpone our Re-Launch party, originally scheduled for this Thursday, March 22nd, and we are deeply sorry about that. We just learned that Balazo gallery has been shutdown by the City. We are busy searching for a new venue. Watch out for the Re-Schedule of our Re-Launch Party sometime in the next two weeks. Meanwhile, we will continue to develop new content for our launch.

Mission "Townhall" Meeting? Really?

2007-03-20T23:04:00.000-07:00

While we figure out a Plan B for the party, we encourage everyone to join us and the League of Pissed Off Voters at Gavin's "townhall" meeting next Monday! What? You didn't hear about it? We're not surprised.

WHEN: Monday, March 26th 6:00pm
WHERE: Cesar Chavez Elementary School, 825 Shotwell at 22nd St
WHAT: Gavin Newsom's latest "townhall" meeting

Gavin Newsom is holding a "townhall" meeting in the Mission, but he forgot to tell the town about it!

We are shocked and disappointed (but not very surprised) that the Mayor has made no effort to publicize his "townhall" meeting at Cesar Chavez Elementary School on Monday, March 26th. The Mayor's office issued a press release about it, but failed to post any information on the SFgov.org website. (UPDATE: Gav just posted the four-day old press release and buried it under three other releases. It wasn't there at 6pm. Sneaky!)

We are also unaware of any outreach to any community groups in the Mission. Has anyone heard anything about this thing??? Whether this is just carelessness or an intentional attempt to exclude the community, this is unacceptable.

In the Mayor's "townhall" meeting in the Richmond, he hand picked all of the questions asked, he failed to allow any member of the public to speak, and he deferred to his cronies to answer virtually all of the questions. Combined with his refusal to meet with the Board of Supervisors like the voters asked him to, this demonstrates that Gavin is afraid to face unscripted questions or engage with those who disagree with him.

Gavin Newsom promised us that he was "committed to restoring (San Francisco's) trust and confidence." Is this any way to build trust?

We urge the Mayor to allow an independent moderator to run his "townhall" meetings, and to listen to the voters and meet with the Board of Supervisors. And we encourage members of the public to attend this "townhall" meeting and demand that their voices be heard.

Here are some questions we'd like answered:
- Why is MUNI's on-time rate been stuck at 70?
- What are you doing about the violence?
- Why haven't you done anything to reform the SFPD?
- Why won't you meet with the Board of Supervisors?
- Why are your friends at the Golden Gate Restaurant Association suing to block Supervisor Ammiano's universal health care plan?

GavinWatch Launch Party Details

2007-03-08T23:49:00.000-08:00

THE REAL SCANDAL? Who Gavin is Screwing OVER
Who: GavinWatch & the League of Pissed Off Voters
When: Thursday, March 22, 7:00pm
Where: Balazo Gallery 2183 Mission at 18th St

Gavin Newsom's recent scandals have gotten a lotta media play and raised public concern about his judgment and lack of focus on his job. Meanwhile, his troubling lack of commitment to solving the city's most serious problems is being completely ignored by the media and getting no play at all.

Come join GavinWatch and the League of Pissed Off Voters at our "The Real Scandal: Who Gavin is Screwing OVER" party and learn some of the dirtier and, in our opinion, more interesting secrets about our "playa maya." All in the fun, funny, & booty-shaking atmosphere you expect from the League.

Other fun stuff:

Do Somethin About It: Take action in support of green energy & real violence prevention
"Photo-Op Mayor:" Get your picture taken w/ the Mayor (cardboard cut out)
Launch of the new GavinWatch website and our new street campaign
World Premieres of several new GavinWatch videos
DJs in the front & back rooms
Other fun & surprises!

$5 donation
No one turned away for lack of funds

Why Peter Ragone Should Do "the Opposite"

2007-02-09T23:29:00.000-08:00

Lefty Gomez once said, "I'd rather be lucky than good." That quote reminds us of Gavin Newsom's press secretary, Peter Ragone. Before Gavin's recent troubles knocked him out of the spotlight, Peter was self-destructing before our eyes. But we haven't forgotten about him. First he was busted for posting blog comments under phony names and blatantly lied about it on camera. And then he lied again about Gavin's drinking problem. How can we believe anything the guy says? How can Gavin Newsom restore the public trust when his press secretary is a liar--and a bad liar at that? In today's video, we take a humorous look at this serious subject.

Something Silly: The Dynamic Duo

2007-02-08T23:27:00.000-08:00

Over the past week we can't tell you how many discussions we've had about the morality of making GavinWatch videos about the man's recent scandals. Gavin and the gang have given us material for countless humorous and scathing videos, but our conscience won't let us touch most of them. We want to be respectful of the Tourks and of Gavin's attempt to deal with his problems. At the same time, we want to continue to contribute to the substantive policy dialog about this Mayor's shortcomings. It's a tricky balance to find. So while we're working on that, we present you this brief comedic diversion. We hope that Gavin and Peter can put aside their troubles for a moment and share a laugh with us.

Something Wonky: Gavin's Money

2007-02-08T23:25:00.000-08:00

Excuse us if we turn away from the latest scandals for a moment, but did you ever wonder where all of Gavin's campaign contributions come from? Well, we all know that of his money to retire the '03 campaign debt, 50% came from Southern California and almost 25% came from out of state. But how about the chunk that actually comes from the City?

How's that for a broad base of support? For you numbers people, here's the data:

$ per person is the average donation per resident of the zip code. The data is from both Gavin's 2003 and 2007 campaigns as of 12/31/2006.

Who the hell are the 374 people in the 94104, and how can we get us a piece of that action? At the other end of the spectrum, if you add up all the white areas, you find 347,235 San Franciscans who don't give $2.50 about Gavin Newsom--that's 44.7% of the City. Add in the beige, and it covers 541,656 San Franciscans, or 69.7%.

Unfortunately, we couldn't get any more granular on the data than the five-digit zip codes. If anyone wants to double-check our math, please have at it. We did our best, but we might have lost track of a few of Gavin's 22,370 contributions. We apologize for having to plop the data in as an image, but blogspot and tables are not friends, and our HTML gurus are out to lunch.

And if you're wondering if he's broadened his support since he became Mayor, here's how things look for his re-election campaign.

Who's City?

Gavin's Saga Continues

2007-02-07T23:22:00.000-08:00

News from the Chronicle and the L.A. Times:

Matier & Ross tell a story of how Gavin Newsom came to admit he had a drinking problem: A meeting with John Burton, then an admission to friends and family, and then he dropped the bomb at a staff meeting. The dynamic duo also wax poetic with a description of a lonely, depressed Mayor's circuit of watering holes on the North side of town.

It's really kind of heart breaking. We're glad that Gavin has taken step #1. We just hope he doesn't let political calculations prevent him from fully coming to grips with whatever issues he has to deal with. Really, we don't hate Gavin. We just don't think he's a very good Mayor, and he'd probably be a lot happier as a dashing, philanthropic businessman.

And on a lighter note, those zany Bayview cops are dealing with Gavin's struggles with stoic maturity. See for yourself below. Actually the first 1:30 is a devastating comparison between Gavin's rush-to-judgement of the SFPD videos and his let's-not-rush-into-anything on GleeGate. After that, it's pretty much just a bunch of gloating.

Meanwhile, down south, the chickens made the L.A. Times! The Times also give a thoughtful overview of this whole mess, furthering cementing the tragic arc onto Gavin's story. (Why can't we have a paper like that?) Check out this quote from Bevan Dufty: "He has been profoundly unhappy in personal life and in aspects of his job, and that has shown," Dufty said. "He has taken umbrage at every turn. He's been disdainful of me and my colleagues. It's hard, especially since I viewed myself as an ally."

Somebody give Gav a big hug. And then take him on a long, relaxing vacation. Seriously. We don't know how much more of this we can take.

Gavin's Drinking Problem and Hush Money Problem

2007-02-06T23:20:00.000-08:00

Update 4pm: SFist and the ChronBlog have virtually every link imaginable, including links to Le Blog de San Francisco whose design we're totally biting. Sorry about that. For a laugh, check out SFist's report on Gavin on facebook. We live in strange times.

Drinking Problem: Gavin Newsom announces he has a drinking problem and will seek counseling. Ken Garcia is at his crotchety best as he throws Gavin under the bus. SFist thinks this is another PR damage control smokescreen, but Rita still likes Gavin's blue tie. The SFGate chattering class is chattering and the SFGate 2 cents reminds us of the the onion. Fog City Journal reports that Diane Feinstein will ask Gavin to resign. (Update: Feinstein won't.) The Craigslist local politics forum is rocking.

Due to popular demand, we're reposting the video of Gavin's reaction to being asked about his drinking on January 11th:

KCBS has mp3s from Barbara Taylor and Phil Matier. Here's some excerpts from Barabara Taylor's comments:

"Everyone knows that the Mayor likes to have a lot of wine in the evening."
"We've all seen him on numerous occasions especially late in the evening in what appears to be an intoxicated state."
"The assumption is that he got involved with (Ruby Rippey-Tourk) one night when he was drinking." Ouch.

Previously, Team Newsom tried to sweep his drinking under the rug:

February 1st: KRON reports that Newsom press secretary, Peter Ragone avoided "more than half a dozen questions" before "finally insisted the Mayor doesn't have a problem with alcohol or any other substance."
January 11th: Dan Noyes asks Gavin about his drinking. Gavin storms off and says ABC-7 should send a different reporter to interview him.

Hush Money Problem: Meanwhile, Dan Noyes reports that the City Attorney is investigating if Gavin is violating campaign finance laws by paying off Alex Tourk with campaign funds. The City Attorney needs more details on the arrangement before it can decide.

Watch the ABC-7 news to see Noyes get this classic quote out of Gavin: "I think I've said everything I was going to say and I think you heard I said everything I was going to say, so I respect your desire not to respect my opinions and respect my right to say everything I just said."

What Does It All Mean?

2007-02-03T23:18:00.000-08:00

It's day three of this saga, and already we're sick of it. This whole business is sad and sordid and ugly and depressing, and we're pissed off at Gavin for putting us all through it. We've lost our appetite for scouring the Internet for links to all the angles on this mess. All you folks who got here by googling "Ruby Rippey-Tourk" can look elsewhere for pictures or juicy gossip. We'll leave that to the mainstream media.

Yes, we know that sex between two consenting adults is no crime. And no, we're not prudes or sensationalist media whores. But the real story is about trust and integrity. How can we trust our Mayor when he rewards his good friend and most loyal staffer by sleeping with his wife, and then hiding it from the poor bastard for a year and a half--even though half of the political insiders in town knew all about it? What other ugly secrets is he hiding?

How can we trust a Mayor who does that to a friend? How can we trust a Mayor who refuses to answer any questions about the affair? Or any questions from the Board of Supervisors? Or any questions from the public unless he can pre-screen them? How can we trust anything this administration says when their Press Secretary blatantly lies on camera and then refuses to apologize?

We all love this City, and it deserves better. Gavin says that he's "committed to restoring (our) trust and confidence"? Prove it. Are you committed enough to come out of your bunker and face tough, unscripted questions? Are you committed enough to meet with the Board of Supervisors, like the voters asked you to? Are you committed enough to face questions from people who disagree with you?

It would be one thing if he had a strong record in office. But from public safety to police reform to MUNI, the Mayor's record is full of empty promises, leaving him nothing to fall back on except his now-tarnished image and reputation.

Update 2/3: SFist covers the aftermath on the "day after the day after," from national coverage to analysis of how this will affect the rest of Gavin's term to what it means for Gavin's credibility.

What's next?

2007-02-02T23:17:00.000-08:00

Update 5:15pm: Fog City Journal reports that the City Attorney refered questions to a private attorney who said "if both parties are willing, there's nothing illegal about sleeping with a subordinate." SFMike paints a vivid picture in words and photos of the vibe in City Hall today.

Over at BeyondChron, Randy Shaw reports that "neither city department heads nor the mayor can have a sexual relationship with a subordinate under city ethics laws, as well as under state sexual harassment law. That’s what will likely lead City Attorney Dennis Herrera to file charges against Newsom by the end of the week."

Fog City Journal reports that "Sources reveal a sexual harrassment lawsuit is being considered by Ruby Tourk against the Mayor's Office and/or the City of San Francisco."

Ken Garcia contributes this tidbit: "Ruby Tourk took a leave of absence for nearly three months last year before returning briefly and then going off to work for Benefit magazine." If Ruby Rippey-Tourk is considering a retaliation lawsuit, we've been told that the statute of limitations is six months from when she left the job. Reportedly she left for the leave of absence around mid-May. That suggests that she left for good around August or September. That would place the deadline for filing a retaliation suit around February or March. If anyone has any clarification about any of that, please post in the comments. Stay tuned . . . .

What Can We Say?

2007-02-01T23:14:00.000-08:00

TourkGate Blog Roundup 1:30pm: SF Republican intimates some bad things about Ruby. From the right, we hear from Houston Republican, RightWingCafe. From the gossip world, Popsugar.com and Starked SF. Then there's Viewpoint Journal and The Binary Circumstance. The Wall freaks out about finding another "Moderate" candidate. Watching the Wall freak out is such a guilty pleasure. Elsewhere, BoiFromTroy is sad to announce that Gavin is a breeder. Someone called Japadamus. Seth Gitell on Newsom vs. Boston Mayor Menino. Whew, this is exhausting. We might have to give it a rest for awhile. Okay, two more: the Mayor & the Hair offers to go out with Gavin and take him to Legally Blonde: the Musical. And Beth Spotswood takes the news hard but show serious resolve and gumption.

TourkGate Update 12:30pm: Press conference coverage is everywhere: SFist live blogs it, the SFGate news blog has comprehensive coverage. Also SFGate, ABC-7, and KCBS has a podcast, DailyKos has several posts. Steve Jones is somber. KRON piles on about the "underage girlfriend" and the "Scientologist," as well asthe olympics, 49ers, but ignores SFistGate and Question Time. KTVU blatantly appropriates "Gavin Newsom Watch." Hey KTVU, we called dibs. We're putting you on notice.

TourkGate Update 11:00am: Gavin is having a press conference at 11:30. The article includes quotes from Ed Jew and Ross Mirkarimi.

TourkGate Update: Wow. Gavin Newsom had an affair with Ruby Rippey-Tourk (pronounced Turk), wife of his campaign manager, Alex Tourk, who resigned today. We're looking around and seeing that the whole world is watching Gavin, so for now, we're going to sit back and watch with them.

The Chronicle broke the story. Fog City Journal reports that Ruby Rippey-Tourk is considering a sexual-harassment lawsuit. CBS-5 has video coverage, including interviews with Phil Matier, Chris Daly, and Willie Brown. The Wall and the Junto have their say. So do SFist, the SFGate blog and NWZCHIK, with comments galore. The DailyKos community weighs in, and with the exception of a few comments, shows themselves to be predictably tone-deaf about San Francisco politics. The AP has picked this up, so check Google news to watch the story spread across the nation.

Daniela Kirshenbaum alludes to other even more sordid rumors that are out there and pleads with all the parties involved to come clean. We'll echo her sentiment. Please, can we avoid the bunker mentalities and the lawyering-up and the spin doctoring and deal with this mess in as frank and mature a manner as possible?

And to any Fox News readers who happen to stumble onto this corner of cyberspace, we ask you to not believe the hype. This has nothing to do with "San Francisco Values" or gay marriage. This is plain, old-fashioned human weakness. Original Post: Fog City Journal and the SFGate NWZCHIK are reporting that Newsom campaign manager, Alex Tourk is resigning for "personal reasons." First Steve Kawa, now Tourk. Whew, watching Gavin is turning into a full-time job. The brain trust seems to be down to Mike Farrah, Eric Jaye, and some guy name Byorn. Who's next?

Great Lies in U.S. History

2007-01-31T23:13:00.000-08:00

Peter "Byorn" Ragone posted comments on local blogs using assumed names. He knows it, SFist knows, Dan Noyes knows it, we all know it. But he's making the controversy worse by refusing to admit it. Byorn, haven't you learned rule #1 of political damage control? The cover-up is always worse than the crime. Fess up, Peter.

UPDATE: KCBS reports that Byorn fessed up. Gavin is disappointed that he's being asked about "someone blogging" when he's trying to talk about "global climate change and the realities of waste water." Sounds like someone can't walk and chew gum at the same time.

Gavin's Swiss Vacation

2007-01-30T23:11:00.000-08:00

Gavin Newsom has been in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum for ten days. In today's video, we try to imagine what he's been doing. Excuse us for poking a bit of fun at the WEF, but after we saw footage of their meetings, we couldn't help ourselves.

Supervisor Peskin put it best: "Given how important federal funding is to so many aspects of San Francisco, it seems pretty clear-cut that the place to be this week for mayors is Washington, D.C." Gavin brushed that idea off, saying he can just call up Nancy Pelosi and get all the federal money he needs. But come on, navigating the federal budget is more complicated than a couple of phone calls.

Now, we're sure that the WEF does a lot of good for the world in between all that bloviating. We're just not convinced that it's the best use of Gavin's time. Especially considering that he missed the U.S. Conference of Mayors because of it.

So while Antonio Villaraigosa was launching initiatives to fight poverty and crime, and Ron Dellums was rallying the Mayors, Gavin was giving a virtual interview in Second Life, talking about how Davos "rejuvenates and inspires him" and helps him gain a "real global perspective" and "recognize the web of mutuality." That's all fine and good. But he's been to Davos three years in a row, while he's only been to the Mayor's Conference once. San Francisco needs a Mayor that can stay focused on our City.

Gavin News Roundup

2007-01-25T23:07:00.000-08:00

BREAKING NEWS!

SFist totally busts Peter Ragone for posting comments under an assumed name! Going all the way back to last May, Peter has (allegedly) been posting as "John Nelson" or "Jonell." Not surprisingly, his posts have been supporting Gavin and calling SFist biased. Also not surprising is the fact that Peter has ignored SFist's multiple attempts to contact him.
Update: The plot thickens. Ragone claims John Nelson is his best friend and Jonell is his wife. Luke Thomas says Ragone says his privacy was invaded. Bill wonders if SFist violated their privacy policy. Stay tuned . . . .

SFist continues to be the gold standard for Gavin coverage.

ABC-7 seems to be the only local TV covering Round 1 of Question Time, with Carolyn Tyler doing an impeccable job as usual.

The Chron covers Question Time and the announcement of Gavin's 2nd Town Hall in the Bayview. (The chickens are coming! The chickens are coming!)

Dan Noyes details how media-phobic Gavin and Ragone (Gavagone?) have become. Gavin won't do one-on-one interviews, and Ragone won't even answer his phone. (He must be too busy posting on SFist.)

The Chron on Gavin's skipping the Mayor's conference for a Swiss vacation. And the Examiner editorializes with a bit of a snotty tone. The Mayor's conference is a bunch of perfervid, gold-diggers. The WEF may be passé, but at least the glitterati are more creative than those mayoral knuckle-draggers. Whatever.

The Examiner on Question Time. Hey . . . where'd they get that headline? We called dibs!

The Bay Area Reporter scores an interview with Gavin. (Maybe they can give Dan Noyes some tips.) Highlights include blatant lying about the foot patrol legislation, yet another claim that he "never dated" Brittanie Mountz, and hopes that the chickens will "take off their masks and participate."

Fog City Journal has the dirt on a heated exchange between Gavin, Aaron Peskin, and Ross Mirkarimi. Also, Tony Hall says a new poll shows Gavin's approval ratings in the high 30s. Ouch!

Over at The Wall, a couple of Gavin's 2003 precinct captains won't be signing up for Team Gavin again.

Matier and Ross on Gavin and the 49ers. Poppa York says "Hunters Point could be a viable backup site at this point," but Baby York says "Right now, it's not even a backup site." Hmmm.

The Chron's Editorial Board weighs in on the wi-fi boondoggle. According to them, we should be happy to get a measly 300 kbs (even though much of Silicon Valley is now rocking free 1 mbps wi-fi), and Internet connectivity is "an amenity, not a necessity such as water, law enforcement or sewage." That's the kind of forward thinking we've come to expect from the City's paper of record. (Oh, the shame.)

Beyond Chron starts a chorus of "Run, Matt Run." Will anyone else pick it up?

Gavin fiction! It's the first in a three-part posting of a short story imagining a Hillary-Newsom presidency! Stay tuned to A Yank in Kiwi Land for the rest of the story, as well as some good old fashioned bashing of Islam, liberals, and Che Guevara. There's only passing references to Gavin so far, but somehow we don't think this story is going to end well for our dynamic duo.

The GavinWatch-ABC7 Question Time Mashup

2007-01-24T23:05:00.000-08:00

Today's video was inspired by the excellent story on the first Question Time by ABC-7's Carolyn Tyler. So we took parts of her story, mixed in a little GavinWatch fun, and topped it off with some footage from the December 7th, 2006 hearing on Question Time at the Board of Supervisors' Rules Committee. We hear from Supervisors Peskin, Elsbernd, Ammiano, and Mirkarimi, as well as Mayoral Spokesperson, Jennifer Petrucione (who must have been watching the Mayoral Intimidation Drinking Game).

The quick cuts on the Rules Committee footage might blur a little of the nuance and context of the Supervisors' comments, but we did our best to preserve the gist of their messages. It wasn't easy. You try cutting down a Board hearing into a YouTube attention span. Go watch the video yourself if you're curious, and let us know what we missed or got wrong in the comments.

Where's Gavin?

2007-01-22T22:57:00.000-08:00

Today's video was inspired by the disappointing news that Gavin Newsom is chickening out of tomorrow's inaugural "Question Time" with the Board of Supervisors. But give the man credit, when he chickens out, he really chickens out--all the way to Switzerland.

While working on this video, we got to thinking about what it would be like if Gavin was actually going to abide by the will of the voters. Today would be Christmas Eve for San Francisco political junkies! Think about it. It would have been the first time Gavin faced public opposition since his last debate with Matt Gonzalez. The Mayor and Supervisors would be busily studying and preparing, and us working stiffs would be trying to arrange our work schedules so we could catch this historic occasion.

Instead it's just another manic Monday. The disconnect between the Supes and the Mayor remains unbridged, and the voters' thirst for public, meaningful dialog between our elected officials remains unquenched.

Here's some facts to back up our claims in the video:

Google: The Chronicle on Gavin's cosy relationship with Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Oops, we forgot that Gavin only flew home on Air Google. Our apologies. He personally reimbursed Google $1,000 for the trip, although the Chronicle estimated "Newsom's share could have been more than $16,000."
MUNI: On-time performance has hovered around 70% for the last four years. Gavin's response? More of the same. MUNI director Nathaniel Ford's response? Lower the on-time goal.
Crime: We tried getting specifics on violent crime in San Francisco. But have you ever tried to extract meaningful, long-term data from the SFPD? Good luck. There's the decript and limited CrimeMAPS or there's sparse and user-unfriendly PDFs. That's it. So we're stuck with the FBI's report on violent crime in the first half of 2006, which Arthur Bruzzone projects as a 20% increase.
Sidewalks and Streets: The grades are from the 2005 City Survey. Also of interest for you wonks out there is the Controller's 2005 Performance Report.’’

Tune in Monday

2007-01-20T22:56:00.000-08:00

GavinWatch will return Monday with new video content. Here's some more Gavin content to keep you satiated until then:

Left in SF Calls out Gavin for ignoring the recent rash of homicides. Ann Garrison from the SF Bayview weighs in with a comment calling Gavin "absolutely heartless" and calling out the Mayor and the Supervisors for selling out Bayview/Hunter's Point to Redevelopment.

SFGate's Culture Blog serves up a fascinating take on Gavin from Beth Spotswood. At first glance, it looks like the typically gushings of a star-struck young woman with an overview of Gavin's "big dreamer" ideas and hands-on style before moving onto swooning at his dreaminess. But dig a little deeper, and you notice a link to a BeyondChron article exposing Gavin's faux-green record, an ironic link to Gavin's feet washing photo-op, and a gleeful recap of Gav's recent midlife-crisis-like love life. Interesting stuff. It's worth reading just to get to the "Carole "Judge Judy meets Alan Dershowitz" Migden or Ross "17th century Conquistador facial hair" Mirkarimi" climax. I hope Beth keeps up with the Mayor's race throughout the year.

SFWillie (no, not that Willie) looks at Gleegate as a failure of the women's movement because the three people responsible are all women (Chief Fong, D.A. Harris, and Mayor Newsom), before ending with this zinger: "To call Gavin Newsom “a woman” is an insult to women everywhere, and I apologize." Ouch.

Gavin News Roundup

2007-01-19T22:54:00.000-08:00

No new videos today, but stay tuned for continuing chicken and non-chicken coverage. For now, here's a quick rundown on the latest Gavin news. For being eleven months out from the election, there sure are a lot of people unhappy with the Mayor:

The Wall actually has some interesting content with (so far) minimal vitriol:

Reports of an Arthur Bruzzone op-ed in the Business Times "giving Newsom low grades as a "CEO" for San Francisco." Does anyone have the text of this?
And a snippet of the latest SFSOS newsletter bashing Gavin on his bungling of the 49ers and whining about "homeless, the panhandlers, the potholes, the prostitution, the drug trade, and . . . absolutely winning the War on Business."

In the LA Times, Gavin's spokesman, Peter Ragone claims that Ross Mirkarimi "can't walk and chew gum at the same time." You stay classy, Peter.

Bringing glee to SFist, Gavin's favorite tie makes an appearance and Peter Ragone (or an impostor) continues to lead the charge in defending Gavin in the comments.

SFMike has complete coverage of Gavin swearing in a bunch of commissioners. Be sure to check out Gavin's admission that he was unqualified when he was appointed by Willie Brown to the Parking and Traffic Commission back in the day.

In yesterday's Beyond Chron, Randy Shaw puzzles over what's up with Gavin.

Tim Redmond is puzzled also.

From the Chron, Gavin told a bunch of corporate fat cats that the City's economy is peachy. My favorite line: "Newsom rattled off a number of statistics that he said reflect San Francisco's economic upswing." Say what you will about Gav, but he can rattle off statistics like nobody's business.

Gavin gets pissy and misleading about foot patrols - Gavin thinks this question is important enough to put on the ballot: "shall the Board of Supervisors of the city and county of San Francisco tell the police captains in every district how to protect the public, or shall the police captains, lieutenants and sergeants make that determination?"

But if Gavin took the time to read the foot patrol ordinances he vetoed, he would know that they give the police broad discretion in how to staff and deploy foot patrols. From the ordinance: "The officer in charge at each station during the swing and night watches would have discretion to selection which beat to staff with an officer on foot patrol." (It kind of sounds like his failure to read all of Prop J.) Stay tuned for in-depth coverage of Gavin's mishandling of the police and crime.

Did we miss anything? Post in the comments any other juicy Gavin news.

Did Gavin Stack the Deck?

2007-01-18T22:52:00.000-08:00

At Mayor Newsom's January 13th "town hall" meeting, questions had to be submitted on index cards. Watch as Gavin pulls a card out of his pocket and puts it on top of the deck of questions. He's then super careful to make sure that his question remains on top. Can you follow his fingers as they dance over the questions he doesn't want to answer?

I'm sure Gavin will say that someone just handed him the question earlier. But the bigger point of this clip is how he's clearly screening the questions and dismissing any that he doesn't want to answer. He said at the beginning, "This is not the only way you can communicate. I'm happy to give you the mic." But he never let anyone from the public speak. To watch the whole meeting, go to SFGTV. The quote above is at 19:10.

Gavin also seems distant and disengaged. Watch how many times he ruffles through the questions, but never actually stops to read one.

My last point is that you can get a sense from this clip of how much Gavin participated in the "Town Hall" meeting. In this 11 minute clip, Angela Alioto and Father Harding do virtually all the talking. Gavin talks for about 20 seconds to ask Father Harding "Is it possible to end chronic homelessness in 10 years?"

Can anyone still argue that this format is a credible alternative to the kind of dialog that the voters asked for in Prop I? If you can, I'd love to hear it in the comments. And in case you don't know about Prop I, here is the entire text of the proposition:
Shall it be City policy to urge the Mayor to appear in person at one regularly scheduled YES meeting of the Board of Supervisors each month to engage in formal policy discussions with members of the Board?

The Mayoral Intimidation Drinking Game

2007-01-15T22:50:00.000-08:00

At Mayor Newsom's January 13th "Town Hall" meeting at the Richmond Community Center, he had his staff try to intimidate six protesters wearing chicken suits from entering. They wore chicken suits because Gavin has refused to meet with the Board of Supervisors like the voters asked him to in November. When the chickens tried to walk in, they were blocked by Daniel Homsey (Director of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services) and Wade Crowfoot (previously Gavin's liaison to the Board of Supervisors, I forget what he does now). Daniel and Wade repeatedly asked the chickens to take their costumes off. But what cracked me up was their reasoning: they didn't want the chickens to disturb the "dialog" that was going to be happening. And the way they kept repeating "dialog," it was almost like they'd rehearsed it. See for yourself:

Like the SpokesChicken said, it reminded me of the Bush Administration. They seemed to think if they called it a "dialog" enough times we would all be as convinced as they were that it was actually a dialog, and not the carefully controlled and scripted event we all witnessed.

Gavin's Latest Meltdown

2007-01-11T22:48:00.000-08:00

After talking to Mayor Gavin Newsom about the Gleegate fiasco, Dan Noyes from ABC-7 asked Gavin about reports of his drinking. Here's what Gavin had to say.

See the full interview here, which includes such gems as Gavin calling Kimberly his "wife . . . ex-wife" and a veiled shout-out to Matt Gonzalez. Now some people are agreeing with Gavin that the question was a "cheap shot." I guess it might be a little sneaky, but like Dan says, several reports of Gavin's drinking are "out there." And considering the way Gavin avoids Dan Noyes, this was probably his only chance to ask. The Mayor should be able to dismiss the reports without losing his temper and storming off.