Gavin Newsom
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42nd Mayor of San Francisco
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Incumbent | |
Assumed office January 8, 2004 |
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Preceded by | Willie Lewis Brown, Jr. |
Member of the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors from District 2 |
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In office 1997 – 2004 |
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Preceded by | District created in 2000; prior terms were on a city-wide seat |
Succeeded by | Michela Alioto-Pier |
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Born | October 10, 1967 San Francisco, California |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Kimberly Guilfoyle (2001-2006) Jennifer Siebel (2008-) |
Profession | Restaurateur |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is the current mayor of San Francisco. A Democrat, Newsom was elected mayor in 2003, succeeding Willie Brown and becoming San Francisco's youngest mayor in 100 years.[1]
Before his political career, Newsom graduated from Santa Clara University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. He started the PlumpJack Wine Shop in 1992 that grew into a multi-million dollar enterprise. He was first appointed by Willie Brown to serve on San Francisco's Parking and Traffic Commission in 1996, and was appointed the following year as Supervisor. Newsom drew voter attention with his Care Not Cash program, designed to move homeless people into city assisted care. He defeated Matt Gonzalez by 6% in his race for mayor in 2003. Newsom was reelected in the November 7 2007 mayoral election with 72 percent of the vote.[2][3]
As Mayor, Newsom has focused on development projects in Hunters Point and Treasure Island. He signed the Health Choices Plan in 2007 to provide San Francisco residents with universal healthcare. Under Newsom, San Francisco joined the Kyoto Protocol. In 2004, Newsom gained national attention when he directed the San Francisco city-county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.[4] In August 2004, the California Supreme Court annulled the marriages that Newsom had authorized, as they conflicted with state law at that time. Still, Newsom's unexpected move brought national attention to the issues of gay marriage and gay rights, solidifying political support for Newsom in San Francisco and in the gay community, and causing several other states to change their laws concerning marriage and gay rights.[5][2][6]
Newsom is viewed in many political circles as a potential candidate for Governor in the 2010 gubernatorial election.[7][8] In late 2007 and early 2008, Newsom met with Democratic strategists and supporters to discuss a run for governor.[9]
In his personal life, he divorced Kimberly Guilfoyle in 2005 and had an affair with his secretary Ruby Rippey-Tourk - the wife of one of his campaign aides[10] - in 2006. He married Jennifer Siebel in July 2008[11].
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Newsom is a fourth-generation San Franciscan; his paternal great-grandfather emigrated from Ireland in 1865. One of his maternal great-grandfathers, Scotsman Thomas Addis, was a pioneer scientist in the field of nephrology and a professor of medicine at Stanford University. Newsom's parents are retired state appeals court Judge William Newsom and Tessa (Menzies) Newsom, who died in May 2002 after a five-year fight with breast cancer. Newsom's parents separated when he was two and divorced in 1972, and at age ten Newsom moved with his mother and sister to nearby Marin County.[12][13]
Newsom later reflected that he did not have an easy childhood.[13] Newsom attended kindergarten and first grade at the French-American bilingual school in San Francisco but transferred because of severe dyslexia that still affects him. The dyslexia made it difficult for Newsom to write, spell, read, and work with numbers.[13] He attended third through fifth grades at Notre Dame de Victoire, where he was placed in remedial reading classes.[12] Newsom graduated from Redwood High School in 1985. He played basketball and baseball in high school.[12] Newsom was an outfielder in baseball. His basketball skills placed Newsom on the cover of the Marin Independent Journal.[12] Newsom's childhood friend Derek Smith recalled Newsom as "one of the hardest working players on the team who became a great player because of his effort, instead of his natural abilities."[12] Newsom's father attended his games with San Francisco politicians that included John Burton and Quentin Kopp. Newsom's father had ties to several other local politicians.[12] Newsom's aunt was married to the brother-in-law of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.[13] Newsom's father was also a friend of Jerry Brown.[13]
Tessa Newsom worked three jobs to support Gavin and his sister Hilary Newsom Callan. In an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, Newsom's sister recalled Christmas holidays when their mother told them there wouldn't be any gifts.[12] Despite limited finances, Tessa opened their home to foster children, instilling in Newsom the importance of public service.[12][5] His father's finances were strapped in part because of his father's tendency to give away his earnings.[5] Newsom worked several jobs in high school to help support his family.[2]
Newsom attended Santa Clara University on a partial baseball scholarship and student loans, where he graduated in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. Newsom was a left-handed pitcher for Santa Clara but he threw his arm out after two years and hasn't thrown a baseball since.[14] He lived in the Alameda apartments which Newsom later compared to living in a hotel. He later reflected on his education fondly, crediting the Socratic approach of Santa Clara that he said has helped him become an independent thinker that questions orthodoxy. Newsom spent a semester studying abroad in Rome.[15]
Newsom credits Santa Clara University for teaching him how to learn. At the school, he continued to work through his dyslexia which made it difficult for him to read, write, and spell. He credits the disability for having taught him to apply himself with more focus and to develop different skills. Newsom participated in his graduation ceremony despite failing a Statistics class two times. After failing in his third attempt during summer school at a community college, the university granted him a waiver for the requirement. Newsom has spoken at a number of top universities but has not been invited to speak at Santa Clara.[15]
Newsom's first job out of college was selling podiatric orthotics.[12] He later worked for real estate firm Shorenstein & Company, where he worked as an assistant and performed a range of jobs that included cleaning bathrooms and removing asbestos.[12] He earned US$18,000 per year.[13] Newsom also earned a real estate license.[12]
On June 14, 1991, Newsom and his investors created the company PlumpJack Associates L.P. In 1992, the group started the PlumpJack Wine Shop on Fillmore Street in San Francisco with the financial help of his family friend Gordon Getty. PlumpJack was the name of an opera written by Getty. Getty invested in ten of Newsom's eleven businesses.[13] Getty told the San Francisco Chronicle that he treated Newsom like a son and invested in his first business venture because of that relationship. According to Getty, later business investments were because of "the success of the first".[13] At the PlumpJack Cafe, Newsom gave a monthly $50 gift certificate to business ideas that failed because according to Newsom in 1997: "There can be no success without failure."[14]
One of Newsom's early interactions with government occurred when Newsom resisted the San Francisco Health Department requirement to install a sink at his PlumpJack Wines. The Health Department argued that wine was a food. The department required the store to install a $27,000 sink in the carpeted wine shop on the grounds that the shop needed the sink for a mop. When Newsom was later appointed Supervisor, he told the San Francisco Examiner: "That's the kind of bureaucratic malaise I'm going to be working through."[14]
The business grew to a multi-million dollar enterprise with over 700 employees.[12] The PlumpJack Cafe Partners L.P. opened the PlumpJack Cafe, also on Fillmore Street, in 1993. Between 1993 and 2000, Newsom and his investors opened several other businesses that included the PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn with a PlumpJack Cafe (1994), the Napa Valley winery (1995), the Balboa Cafe Bar and Grill (1995), the PlumpJack Development Fund L.P. (1996), the MatrixFillmore Bar (1998), PlumpJack Wines shop Noe Valley branch (1999), PlumpJackSport retail clothing (2000), and a second Balboa Cafe at Squaw Valley (2000).[13] Newsom's investments included five restaurants and two retail clothing stores.[12] Newsom annual income was greater than $429,000 from 1996 to 2001.[13] In 2002, his business holdings were valued at more than $6.9 million.[12]
Newsom sold his share of his San Francisco businesses when he became mayor in 2004. Newsom maintained his stakes in the PlumpJack companies outside San Francisco that included the PlumpJack Winery in Napa and the PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn. He is currently the president in absentia of Airelle Wines Inc., which is connected to the PlumpJack Winery in Napa County. Newsom earned between $141,000 and $251,000 in 2007 from his business interests.[16]
Newsom's first political experience came when he volunteered for Willie Brown's campaign for mayor in 1995. Newsom hosted a private fundraiser at his PlumpJack Cafe.[13] In 1996, Newsom was appointed by San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to a vacant seat on the Parking and Traffic Commission and was later elected president of the commission. In 1997, Brown appointed him to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors seat vacated by Kevin Shelley. At the time, he became the youngest member of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors and also the board's only straight white male.[17][18][19] Newsom was sworn in by his father and pledged to bring his business experience to the Board.[18] Willie Brown called Newsom "part of the future generation of leaders of this great city."[18] Newsom described himself as a "social liberal and a fiscal watchdog."[18][20] Newsom was subsequently reelected to the Board in 1998.
In 1999, San Francisco's voters chose to exchange district-based elections to the Board for the previous at-large system, and Newsom was reelected in 2000 and 2002 to represent District 2, which includes the Pacific Heights, Marina, Cow Hollow, Sea Cliff, and Laurel Heights. He faced no opposition in his 2002 reelection. His district had the highest income level and the highest Republican registration in San Francisco. Newsom also had author Danielle Steel and actor Robin Williams as constituents.[21] In 2000, Newsom paid $500 to the San Francisco Republican Party to be on the party's endorsement slate.[22]
As Supervisor, Newsom gained public attention for his role in advocating reform of the city's Municipal Railway (Muni).[23] He was one of two supervisors endorsed by Rescue Muni, a transit riders group, in his 1998 reelection. He sponsored Proposition B to require Muni and other city departments to develop detailed customer service plans.[24][13] The measure passed with 56.6% of the vote.[25] Newsom sponsored a ballot measure from Rescue Muni; a version of the measure was approved by voters in November 1999.[23]
Newsom also supported allowing restaurants to serve alcohol at their outdoor tables, banning tobacco advertisements visible from the streets, stiffer penalties for landlords, and a resolution to commend Colin Powell for raising money for youth programs that was defeated.[23] Newsom's support for business interests at times strained his relationship with labor leaders.[23]
During Newsom's time as Supervisor, he was pro-development and for smart growth along with being "anti-hand out."[26] He supported housing projects through public private partnerships to increase home ownership and affordable housing in San Francisco.[26] Newsom supported HOPE, a failed local ballot measure that would have allowed increased condo-conversion rate if a certain percentage of tenants within a building were buying their units.[26] As a candidate for Mayor, he supported building 10,000 new housing units to create 15,000 new construction jobs.[26]
As Supervisor, the centerpiece of Newsom's efforts was a voter initiative called "Care Not Cash (Measure N)," which offered care, supportive housing, drug treatment, and help from behavior health specialists for the homeless instead of direct cash aid from the state's General Assistance program.[26] Many homeless rights advocates protested against Care Not Cash.[27][28] The successfully passed ballot measure raised the political profile of Gavin Newsom and provided the volunteers, donors, and campaign staff to helped make him a leading contender for the Mayorship in 2003.[26][29][30][13]
Newsom placed first in the November 4, 2003 general election in a 9-person field. Newsom received 41.9 percent of the vote to Green Matt Gonzalez's 19.6 in the first round of balloting, but he faced a closer race in the December 9th runoff when many of the city's liberal groups coalesced around the campaign of Gonzalez.[29] The race was particularly partisan with attacks against Gonzales for his support of Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential election and attacks against Newsom for contributing $500 to a Republican slate mailer in 2000 that endorsed issues Newsom supported.[31][32] Democratic leadership felt that they needed to reinforce San Francisco as a Democratic stronghold after losing the 2000 presidential election and the 2003 recall election to Arnold Schwarzenegger.[32] National figures from the Democratic Party, including Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Jesse Jackson, campaigned on Newsom's behalf.[32][33] Five supervisors endorsed Gonzalez while Newsom received the endorsement of Willie Brown.[29][30] Newsom's campaign spent over $4 million, outspending Gonzales 10 to 1.[29][32]
Newsom won the run-off race, capturing 53 percent to Gonzales's 47 percent, and winning by about 11,000 votes.[29] Newsom ran as a business friendly centrist Democrat and a moderate in San Francisco politics; some of his opponents called him conservative.[29][32] Newsom claimed he was a centrist in the Dianne Feinstein mold.[26][34] He ran on the slogan "great cities, great ideas" and presented over 21 policy papers.[30] Newsom pledged to continue working on San Francisco's homelessness issue.[29] Newsom was sworn in as Mayor on January 3, 2004. He called for unity among the cities political factions and promised to address the issues of potholes, public schools, and affordable housing.[35] Newsom said he was "a different kind of leader who "isn't afraid to solve even the toughest problem."[36]
San Francisco's progressive community attempted to find a candidate to run a strong campaign against Newsom. Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Chris Daly considered running against Newsom but both declined. Matt Gonzalez also decided not to challenge Newsom.[37] When the August 10, 2007 filing deadline passed, the discussion around San Francisco shifted to talk about Newsom's second term. He was challenged in the election by 13 challengers that included George Davis, a nudist activist, and Michael Powers, owner of the Power Exchange sex club.[38] Conservative former Supervisor Tony Hall withdrew by early September due to lack of support.[39] The San Francisco Chronicle declared in August 2007 that Newsom faced no "serious threat to his reelection bid." Newsom raised $1.6 million for his reelection campaign by early August.[40] He won reelection on November 6, 2007 with over 72% of the vote.[3] Upon taking office for a second term, Newsom promised to focus on the environment, homelessness, health care, education, housing and rebuilding S.F. General Hospital.[41][42]
Around the time of his 2007 reelection campaign, speculation arose that Newsom might be planning a campaign to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California.[43] On July 1, 2008, Newsom formed an exploratory committee for the purpose of raising money for a possible run for the governorship in 2010.[44]
Newsom was baptized and raised Roman Catholic. He describes himself as an "Irish-Catholic rebel...in some respects, but one that still has tremendous admiration for the Church and very strong faith." When asked about the current state of the Catholic Church in an interview, he said the church was in crisis. Newsom said he stays with the church because of his "strong connection to a greater purpose, and ... higher being ..." He attends church infrequently, but still identifies himself as Catholic, and has a "strong sense of faith that is perennial: day in and day out."[15]
In December 2001, Newsom married Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former San Francisco prosecutor and legal commentator for Court TV, CNN, and MSNBC, and who now hosts The Lineup on Fox News Channel. The couple married at Saint Ignatius Catholic Church on the campus of the University of San Francisco, where Guilfoyle attended law school. Gordan and Ann Getty paid $116,708 for the reception, half of the reception's estimated value.[13] Newsom and Guilfoyle appeared in the September 2004 issue of Harper's Bazaar, a fashion magazine, in a spread of them at the Getty mansion with the title the "New Kennedys."[2][45] Newsom and Guilfoyle were considered a glamour couple. On January 7, 2005, the couple jointly filed for divorce, citing "difficulties due to their careers on opposite coasts." The couple had no children.[46]
Newsom dated CSI: Miami actress Sofia Milos in 2006.[47] He accompanied Milos to the annual dinner of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a group co-founded by the Church of Scientology.[48] Newsom later declared he was "not a Scientologist" and that Scientology was not discussed at the event.[48] In 2006, Newsom dated Brittanie Mountz, a then 19 year old model and restaurant hostess he met at San Francisco's Aqua restaurant.[47] Photos taken at the opening of the Westfield San Francisco Shopping Center, attended by both Newsom and Mountz, showed Mountz holding a wine glass.[49] Newsom's spokesperson later said, "Newsom has never provided Mountz with any alcohol, and if she ever had a drink in his presence, that's news to the mayor."[49].
Newsom began dating actress Jennifer Siebel in September 2006 after being set up for a blind date by a mutual friend.[50] On December 31, 2007, he announced that the two were engaged to be married.[51][52] They became engaged during a trip to Hawaii late in December 2007.[51] They were married in Stevensville, Montana, on July 26, 2008.[53]
On January 31, 2007, Newsom's campaign manager and former deputy chief of staff, Alex Tourk, resigned after confronting Newsom over a sexual affair the mayor had with Tourk's wife in late 2005.[54] At the time of the affair, Newsom was undergoing a divorce with Guilfoyle and Rippey-Tourk worked in Newsom's office as the Mayor's aide for commission appointments.[55] After leaving her job in Newsom's office in August 2006, Tourk received $10,154 in catastrophic illness pay, which is usually reserved for those who are terminally ill;[56] after an investigation by the San Francisco City attorney, however, Newsom and all those involved were later cleared of legal wrongdoing.[56]
Newsom apologized for the affair at a news conference on February 1, 2007, saying, "I hurt someone I care deeply about, Alex Tourk, his friends and family, and that is something that I have to live with and something that I am deeply sorry for." After being approached by concerned colleagues, he announced that he would seek treatment for alcohol abuse.[57] Newsom later said that the difficult times during the exposing of the affair refocused him and allowed him to better appreciate being mayor.[2]
Political offices | ||
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Preceded by Kevin Shelley |
Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 2 1997–2004 |
Succeeded by Michela Alioto-Pier |
Preceded by Willie Brown, Jr. |
Mayor of San Francisco January 8, 2004 – present |
Incumbent |
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