The circus tent taxpayers bought Oracle.

San Francisco Chronicle – A scheduling snafu involving the big annual Oracle party and the TV show “Trauma” has wound up costing San Francisco taxpayers $270,000.

The mega mix-up revolves around the party that Oracle tosses for 22,000 select clients.

For years, Oracle has rented out a big chunk of the eastern side of the island for its party, including an old airplane hangar.

That was the plan for this year’s Oct. 14 bash as well.

However, the city rented out the hangar to NBC’s “Trauma,” which, while filming in the city, has provided a number of people with jobs – including the mayor’s actress wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

Oracle – one of the biggest conventions of the year – found itself out in the cold.

Now, to keep everyone happy, the city is putting up a football-field-size tent on Treasure Island for the Oracle party. Cost: about $270,000.

Newsom didn’t try to explain away the mix-up or defend the ensuing costs.

How’s that?

The city is in an ongoing budget crisis and no explanation from the man-child mayor?

Network World is on the ball with a thoughtful analysis of the Newsom administration’s ineptitude, facilities mismanagement and callous response to the scandal.

Now times are tough in the high-tech industry, but Oracle last year made a profit of $5.6 billion on revenue of $23.2 billion. Not bad. They’re willing to spend $7.4 billion to buy Sun. And, of course, Oracle head honcho Larry Ellison is among the most ostentatiously rich people on the planet; Forbes has him pegged at No. 4, worth a sweet $22.5 billion.

Meanwhile, San Francisco’s municipal finances have been anything but rosy given the destitute state of that state.

Under the circumstances, couldn’t the company — or Ellison himself — have picked up the tab for that tent instead of sticking it to the already traumatized taxpayers of San Francisco?

If not, the least the mayor’s office could have done is apologize for the costly screw-up.

Don’t hold your breath.

"I recommend Roundup for all your gardening needs."

I love a good a policy idea without details and a budget.

It’s called a press release.

During a major fiscal crisis in San Francisco, Gavin thinks now is a good time to legislate “healthy eating.”

The Chronicle writes that many of the details for his eating idea have yet to be worked out including how much it will cost.

Newsom bristled when asked how it would be funded because there’s no money to implement the food policy.

This is classic Gavin. Get a great idea! Write a press release. Issue press release. Tweet about it! But never a plan, never money and never accountability.

Turns out that the man-child mayor’s idea may take some getting used to.

Michael Summers, who operates a hot dog stand in Civic Center Plaza that contracts with the city, said the dogs made of tofu don’t sell nearly as well as the old-fashioned meat kind.  That was evidenced by the line of people ordering hot dogs just after noon – and not a tofu order among them.

Gavin Newsom just loves to govern by press releases.

Mmmm… delicious, tasy government!

The walkaway mayor quickly walks away from helping the truly sick and needy.

Fog City Journal — Protestors lay down in front of the Mayor’s Pride 2009 parade float to symbolize the deaths that will follow from his severe cuts to HIV/AIDS services.

The action was reminiscent of the ACT UP die-in’s of the 1980’s and 90’s which used civil disobedience to urge a co-coordinated response to fight the AIDS epidemic.  The ACT UP moniker back then was Silence = Death.

Today, there’s a new virus in San Francisco, and it’s as deadly as HIV –
Gavin Newsom’s over $120 million in cuts to health services.

These cuts are killing us, specifically cuts to HIV prevention and care, and public health safety net services being decimated in this budget.

Mayor Newsom’s 2009-2010 budget makes severe reductions to HIV/AIDS prevention, health services, counseling, education, advocacy, outreach, housing and testing.

Giving his own staff, cops and firefighters healthy raises in a major fiscal crisis seems more important to the man-child mayor than caring for the sick, and proven disease education and prevention.

When you unveil the curtain behind marriage equality, you will find that Gavin cares more about raising salaries of fire and police than ensuring basic public health needs for the most vulnerable during the worse fiscal crisis in San Francisco history.

If you only care about running for Governor, who do you care more for – raising salaries for members of the police and firefighters unions, or protecting health services for the most vulnerable among us?

Mayor Newsom made his answer known very clearly.

Gavin Newsom's 2009-10 budget is killing the LGBT community.

Fog City Journal — Public health and human service activists staged a die-in protest during Pride 2009 today to draw attention to Mayor Gavin Newsom’s budget that includes over $121 million in cuts to health and human services.

These cuts are killing us, specifically cuts to HIV prevention and care, and public health safety net services being decimated in this budget.

Mayor Newsom’s 2009-2010 budget makes severe reductions to HIV/AIDS prevention, health services, counseling, education, advocacy, outreach, housing and testing.

"I heart my $500k public relations hacks."

BeyondChron – It’s been a joke for years that Gavin Newsom governs by press release.

Now that Newsom is running for Governor, his City-funded media operation has become obscene.

The Gavin Newsom PR machine costs San Francisco taxpayers $500,000 a year.

Director of Communications Nathan Ballard makes $141,700 a year, while his deputy Brian Purchia gets $105,742. The Mayor has three additional press people who each get paid $80,626.

San Francisco Budget Analyst Harvey Rose has recommended that the last three PR positions be cut – as well as two unfilled press positions. Newsom has opposed this suggestion.

Five press secretaries? Their only job is to spin Gavin’s record and make him look like a good candidate for Governor. Even the City of San Francisco’s budget analyst recommended that Gavin reduce his press office staff.

San Francisco taxpayers are also paying for Gavin Newsom’s security for campaign events and personal travel.

The Chronicle reports that all of it is under a budget cloud of mystery since Gavin and his police chief refuse to release details on how much taxpayer dollars are used to provide security, even when Gavin attends out of town campaign events.

The cost of guarding the mayor first piqued our curiosity when we reported last summer that a police escort had driven Newsom’s high-security Chevy Tahoe all the way to Montana for his wedding.

If Gavin wasn’t running for Governor, supposedly he’d spend more time in San Francisco acting like a Mayor. And that means his security detail wouldn’t have to travel all over the state and the country on his fundraising trips - all on the taxpayer dime.

Gavin Newsom should reimburse the city for the costs associated with his security detail traveling with him to campaign events, and he should cut his press operation as the budget analyst recommends.  This would save more important front-line jobs that directly serve constituents - instead of serving his own ego.

The man-child's hand taketh away.

Gavin Newsom is putting his “new math” skills to the test in his 2009-10 budget which beats up on the poor while padding his own office with more moohlah for PR shills and the like.

Many at City Hall aren’t buying the mayor’s glass-half-full emphasis, saying any budget that slashes 1,600 jobs, includes a plan to contract out hundreds more, and cuts millions in substance abuse and mental health services is nowhere close to perfect.

In this, the worst budget crisis in the city’s history, the man-child mayor is using newspeak and fuzzy math to sell his budget to a befuddled and struggling public.

There’s only one problem with this Gavin Newsom budget–it doesn’t add up.

And now that San Francisco is in a fiscal crisis, Gavin does what he does best — he abondons the city in its greatest time of need.

"Don't worry pal, voters don't read anymore."

Gavin Newsom ran for mayor saying he’s all for a city government that is competitive, cost-effective, and efficient.

Sounds good in direct mail and on TV ads.

But if you scratch the shiny hair gel-covered surface of Gavin, there you will find many schemes and political hand jobs. This is one of them.

BeyondChron writes that you should forget about his public commitment to competitive bidding, or his claims that his RFQ’s enhanced cost-effectiveness.

Gavin Newsom’s RFP process allowed the city to pay significantly more for equivalent services by choosing his preferred more expensive contractors.

Processes were manipulated to achieve the politically desired result.

This, in an era of fiscal scarcity and crisis?

That’s sound fiscal policy in a nearly bankrupt city!

Since most voters are low information voters, they probably won’t read the whole story and try to understand the policy complexities of the man-child mayor ripping off the community.

You made it this far.  Please read deep and share with your favorite peep.

"There's no crisis, who said that?"

Gavin and his peoples love to spin the truth through newspeak and double think.

Blogger Sweet Melissa does a fine job of analyzing this, his latest public display of delusion:

We’re not in a crisis, but we’re acting as if we are.

I guess when the city lays off a 1,000 more employees, that won’t be a crisis either.

No, that would just be a catastrophe of contracting macro economic forces with a heavy dose of failed leadership in Room 200 at San Francisco City Hall.

Fog City Journal reports that Gavin Newsom fled to Paris and Davos, Switzerland — while San Francisco continues to burn to the ground with an unprecedented $576 million budget crisis.

Advocates for children and families held a rally on the steps of City Hall to protest his $11 million in budget cuts to the Department of Children, Youth and their Families (DCYF) and Newsom’s firing of the agency director for not playing ball his way.

Newsom’s firing of Brodkin has set the stage for a complete raid on the children’s fund, which will result in a catastrophe for our families.

According to sources, Newsom fired Brodkin because of her “independence” and “fierce advocacy for children.”

Call me crazy, but isn’t that the job of DCYF?

In Newsom’s world, loyalty to him is more important than loyalty to clients an agency or department serves.