Newsom's China trip is a real retreat
By: Ken Garcia
Examiner Staff Writer
11/11/08 11:54 AM PST
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is traveling in China this week, not that his presence is largely missed, because a lot of people think he was on hiatus during long periods of the election.
Newsom was hardly a major presence during the recent campaign — one reason cited by observers for why it appears the most left-leaning candidates for supervisor carried the day against more moderate hopefuls in key districts. If Newsom thought the current board was difficult to deal with, the next one offers the promise of some real indoor fireworks.
And even some of the mayor's supporters believe he brought it on himself. Newsom was slow to respond to the planned takeover of the local Democratic Party this summer by the more radical members of the DCCC and the lack of effort ultimately handed the leadership to Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Chris Daly — arguably his two biggest political enemies. The takeover meant that the party's slate mailers would include their hand-picked candidates who would also have the backing of organized labor.
Those two factors — along with the ground forces put together by energetic volunteers — appear to have resulted in a sweep for so-called "progressive'' forces in the supervisor races.
Newsom and his allies did manage to defeat the attempt by supervisors to take over public utilities and to pass a resolution to put the JROTC program back in schools, but the public power initiative was aided by millions in campaign funds from PG&E.
"There is a political machine in San Francisco and it's very partisan,'' said Eric Jaye, Newsom's chief political strategist.
The only real remaining question is whether the new members of the board will be more ideologically guided than the last — and based on some of their past actions, the answer might be yes. But there's also hope that they will try to act with some dignity and decorum — traits definitely missing in action at City Hall during the past few years.
Given the passage of Proposition 8 to end the right of same sex couples to marry — a blow to Newsom's shot at the governor's job — his China trip probably couldn't come at a more opportune time. He'll have to hope he doesn't find another great wall in the making upon his return.
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