I tried to see your point of view, but I have to have things my way.

Now you are a short timer. A king without a castle. A lame duck.

So it’s time to say goodbye. Stranger. It’s been nice. I’ll never look behind me.

Please try not to screw up San Francisco too much in the new year.

I love you Gavin Newsom, and I dedicate this song to you:

It was an early morning yesterday
I was up before the dawn
And I really have enjoyed my stay
But I must be moving on

Like a king without a castle
Like a queen without a throne
I’m an early morning lover
And I must be moving on

Now I believe in what you say
Is the undisputed truth
But I have to have things my own way
To keep me in my youth

Like a ship without an anchor
Like a slave without a chain
Just the thought of those sweet ladies
Sends a shiver through my veins

And I will go on shining
Shining like brand new
I’ll never look behind me
My troubles will be few

(Goodbye stranger it’s been nice)
(Hope you find your paradise)
(Tried to see your point of view)
(Hope your dreams will all come true)

(Goodbye Ruby, Goodbye Kim)
(Will we ever meet again)
(Feel no sorrow, feel no shame)
(Come tomorrow, feel no pain)

Sweet devotion, (Goodbye Ruby)
It’s not for me (Goodbye Kim)
Just give me motion, (Will we ever)
and set me free (meet again)

Land in the ocean, (Feel no sorrow)
far away (feel no shame)
It’s the life I’ve chosen (Come tomorrow)
every day (feel no pain)

So Goodbye Ruby, (Goodbye Ruby)
Goodbye Kim (Goodbye Kim)
Will we ever (Will we ever)
meet again (meet again)

Now some they do and some they don’t
And some you just can’t tell
And some they will and some they won’t
With some it’s just as well

You can laugh at my behavior
That’ll never bother me
Say the devil is my savior
But I don’t pay no heed

And I will go on shining
Shining like brand new
I’ll never look behind me
My troubles will be few

(Goodbye stranger it’s been nice)
(Hope you find your paradise)
(Tried to see your point of view)
(Hope your dreams will all come true)

(Goodbye Ruby, Goodbye Kim)
(Will we ever meet again)
(Feel no sorrow, feel no shame)
(Come tomorrow, feel no pain)
Sweet devotion, (Goodbye Ruby)
it’s not for me (Goodbye Kim)

Just give me motion, (Will we ever)
And set me free (meet again)
Land in the ocean, (Feel no sorrow)
Far away (feel no shame)
It’s the life I’ve chosen, (Come tomorrow)
Every day (feel no pain)

Now I’m leaving, (Goodbye Ruby)
Got to go, (Goodbye Kim)
Hit the road (Will we ever)
I’ll say it once again, (meet again)
oh yes I’m leaving (Feel no sorrow)
Got to go, (feel no shame)
Got to go. (come tomorrow)

I’m sorry I must tell you (feel no pain)
But Goodbye Ruby, (Goodbye Ruby)
Goodbye Kim (Goodbye Kim)
Will we ever (Will we ever)
Meet again (meet again)

Oh I’m leavin’
I’ve got to go

Newsom’s press team made this media training reel for their boss over the weekend.

Watch and learn what not to do media-wise.

The walkaway mayor walks away again.

Mayor Gavin Newsom finally sat down with CBS 5 political reporter Hank Plante.

Watch ’til the end when Newsom rips off his microphone and goes “off the record”.

Really?

In public, the Newsom administration puts on a really good game face. But in private, there are all kinds of awkward silences and a lack of basic civility. And now the window is open and the public is seeing what many leading city people have seen for the past couple of years.

Before the life coach came.

SFIST — Rumors are percolating that Gavin Newsom might pull a Sarah Palin.

That is to say, he could very well resign. Or not. No one can say for sure, of course.

As I see it, Gavin really has three choices:  man up, maintain status quo, or resign.

He’ll probably just continue to be the best (paranoid) walkaway mayor there ever was.

Go, Gavin!

Go.

"If you guys asked nicer questions, I would show up for work."

CBS 5 – Reporter Joe Vazquez tries to pin down the man-child mayor to ask him about his new disappearing act, but the mayor just walks away.

Now where I have I seen this before?

It’s been a week since Newsom quit the governor’s race.

There has been some awesome analysis and Monday morning quarterbacking on his fail.

But who would’ve thought in a million years that the mayor who wasn’t there would act like a spoiled child who didn’t get his way and completely abandon San Francisco?

Take an unplanned trip to Hawaii?

Really?

The trip, which the mayor apparently booked on his own, caught his staffers off guard. Many did not know he was gone until the city attorney’s office sent out a notice informing them that the mayor had left the state…

Aren’t you the chief executive of a $6.5 billion city in continual budget crisis? Shouldn’t you give your staff proper notice when you decide to leave the state?

Maybe the mayor has gone on a permanent “vacation”.

I asked a clinical psychologist what he thought about all this recent random and impulsive behavior — he thinks Gavin Newsom is behaving like a person with Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

I’m no head shrinker, all I know is that Gavin is acting kind of crazy, even for Gavin.

I wonder if Gavin Newsom is even fit to be mayor anymore.

It's a big long shadow to try to out run.

Told you so.

We wrote that the Fresh Prince of San Francisco would quit the Governor’s race by this fall Halloween.

People thought we were sniffing too much L’Oreal hair gel and that we were conspiracy theorists.

But we knew from the start that Gavin Newsom had no statewide political legs.

Plus, our sources were deep and proper. You wouldn’t believe how many of his former friends and supporters were willing to talk to us.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Gavin Newsom pulled out because of family.

Where have I heard that one before?

It’s all kind of bittersweet when you think about it.

Today, in celebration, all of us here at I Love You Gavin Newsom would like to dedicate this song to Gavin Newsom, whose decision to abandon his bid for governor has saved us from having to come up with at least seven more months of loving tributes.

I love you Gavin Newsom!

And the media just loves to report on Newsom’s tweets and his Twitter milestones.

Yes, the Newsom for California campaign has added hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers in the past several months.

Gavin Newsom Twitter stats provided by twittercounter.

This astonishing growth isn’t due to the Gavinator’s good looks and popularity, or the organic evolution of a real Internet audience.

Twitter actually gives these followers to Newsom when new Twitter users sign up.

They do it through their controversial Suggested User List (SUL) feature.

This is Gavin Newsom on Twitter's suggested user list.

You may have recently read some news stories and blog posts about Twitter’s SUL.

Through this feature, Twitter is aggregating and building an online audience that the Newsom for California campaign would otherwise have to pay to create, in the same way Newsom’s campaign today buys eyeballs and clicks from Google, Facebook, etc. to ultimately drive traffic to his campaign website.

But since Twitter is giving this non-monetary service to a registered political campaign without its value being disclosed, Gavin Newsom is violating California’s campaign finance law, you know, as he tweets.

California law states that a contribution can be defined as:

§18215(b)(3) Any goods or services received by or behested by a candidate or committee at no charge or at a discount from the fair market value, unless the discount is given in the regular course of business to members of the public.

Does being on Twitter’s SUL constitute a non-monetary contribution? YES.

Twitter is providing this free service to Gavin Newsom, a declared candidate for governor. Newsom uses Twitter to send his Twitter followers links to his campaign website and to campaign news stories promoting his candidacy.

Is this Twitter service discounted and given to members of the public in the regular course of business? NO.

The SUL is not for sale or accessible to the general public. Twitter is a private company so there is no knowing if they’ve been selling the service. Twitter publicly says they don’t charge for the service.

Recent news stories put Twitter’s SUL cash value around $250,000. And when you analyze Twitter’s SUL, it’s not random, and it doesn’t look like any member of the public can ask to be put on the list, or even pay to be on the list.

Essentially, being featured on the Twitter suggested user list is a corporate black box decision and benefit provided to select customers that is not available to the general public though Twitter’s regular course of business.

In the opinion of a campaign treasurer consultant:

Twitter is giving Gavin Newsom privileged access and promotion on its proprietary online network through the company’s suggested user list feature, an Internet media service that is not accessible or for sale to members of the general public. Therefore, the Newsom for California campaign is receiving a non-monetary contribution from Twitter that must be valued, declared and disclosed to come into compliance with California’s government code and Title 2 regulations as enforced by the FPPC.

When a non-monetary contribution like Twitter’s is received, the fair market value of the goods or service must be reported as required by California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).

Has Newsom reported such a contribution from Twitter? NO.

Now all Newsom has to do is have Gary South send Twitter a missive, ask them how much their SUL contribution is worth, and then go file FPPC Form 460, which is required by all official candidates for public office to disclose monetary and non-monetary campaign contributions of value.

If not, this cozy business relationship will continue to violate campaign finance law.

So, what’s the big deal anyway — I mean besides all this stuff being illegal?

Newsom hasn’t raised enough money to stay competitive and he’s lagging in all polls.

But he claims a formidable “online following” as a testament to his campaign strength.

Newsom has been accumulating Twitter followers primarily due to his campaign accepting a non-monetary contribution from Twitter – a contribution with significant value that legally must be reported.

But if Twitter pulled Gavin Newsom off their SUL, he’d be in for a rude surprise.

That’s right.

No more weekly “earned” media stories about Gavin being tech-savvy.

"This logo didn't poll well..."

By now you’ve read the news that Newsom for California decided to hold a contest to pick a new logo.

Wow, this is soooo exciting — I feel like I’m getting in on the ground floor of the most amazing grassroots campaign — ever!

Um, didn’t they already have a campaign logo?

Yeah, it’s that ugly one on the right with the lame font choice and horrible color combo.

I’m thinking this logo-picking public relations stunt thing might have been a good idea *before* Newsom started campaigning.

Now that implosion in full autumn bloom the timing couldn’t be worse, nor could the logos from which people had to choose.

Here is the “people’s choice” winner:

Here were their six “choices”:

I don’t like how this went down.

Not one bit. It’s not fair.

Maybe I’m just sore as hell because team Newsom didn’t go with my own very awesome and very creative and very original submission:

Newsom for Governor of Twitterfornia!

As Governor of Twitterfornia, Gavin Newsom will be limited to 140 character press releases and unfulfilled policy promises. Just like being mayor of San Francisco.

The answer is 42.

DaniWeb — Remember Terry Childs?

He was the network administrator for the city of San Francisco who — claiming he was protecting the city government’s computer system from incompetent coworkers — changed the system’s passwords and then for more than a week refused to give them to anyone, even after being arrested.

Childs eventually did give the passwords to Gavin Newsom, and was charged with four felony counts.

Well, it’s more than a year later, and Childs is still in jail, without yet having been convicted of anything.

Due process is serving Childs well. But what about San Francisco?

Is the city’s IT system safer than it was one year ago?

The city spends $200 million a year on IT, and still has little to show for it.

Based on Gavin Newsom’s latest PR stunt, he’s more interested in the promise of peripheral user applications like Twitter to run his administration than improving the actual technological infrastructure of the government.

And you know, for once I agree with Gavin.

“Technology Nightmare” just isn’t a sexy headline. Unless it’s Halloween in San Francisco.

Whereas “San Francisco showcases free applications” is a super sexy press release headline. Hey, I want to win that prize money!

The truth is this: the Terry Childs incident should never have happened at an enterprise the size of the City & County of San Francisco.

It happened on Gavin’s watch, hasn’t been addressed, and is a perfect illustration of how the mayor with the gelled hair would rather focus on shiny new things, that actually fixing old and broken infrastructure while improving the lives of taxpayers.

No wonder the man-child mayor is so unpopular at home.