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

Watch and learn what not to do media-wise.

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.

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.

"...maybe they are counting wrong?"

Associated Press – A new Field Poll shows California Attorney General Jerry Brown with a strong lead in next year’s race for governor, even before he’s declared himself a candidate and despite months of campaigning by his Democratic rival and three Republicans vying for their party’s nomination.

The poll underscores the struggles of Newsom’s campaign.

He trailed Brown nearly 7-to-1 in fundraising during the first half of the year, even before Brown announced an exploratory committee last week that will allow him to collect larger campaign donations.

The bromance begins...

Newsweek – As political life goes, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had a good day yesterday.

He jetted south from the city by the bay to meet up with his new buddy President Clinton.

Then, according to the L.A. Times, the pair talked with a group of students about green energy and jobs before heading to a fundraiser that, with Clinton by Newsom’s side, surely made for a pocket-padding evening.

Read between the lines, though, and the picture doesn’t look quite as rosy for him. Newsom’s problem is one of poor timing, which reveals many more weaknesses in his campaign than strengths.

With more than a year to go before California’s 2010 gubernatorial showdown, Newsom had raised just $1.2 million as of this summer when fundraising numbers were last disclosed.

It might be a respectable amount for governors’ races in other states, but it’s chump change next to his leading opponent’s $7.4 million in the bank. Even his would-be GOP rival (in a state that traditionally goes blue) has outraised him more than sixfold.

Several Democratic insiders who once believed Newsom had one of the best shots at the crown now tell him that to maintain his credibility, he’ll need at the very least a few more million in the bank before the end of the year.

If not, he’ll look like a weak candidate who, perhaps suspiciously, can’t build momentum.

Ouch.

"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!

"You asked to look inside my empty suit?"

The New York Times asks: Who Can Possibly Govern California?

I know the answer: Gavin Newsom can’t govern California.

He isn’t even interested in governing San Francisco as Mayor, so what makes people think he can govern the largest state in the union?

Gavin says one of his favorite books is Kevin Starr’s Coast of Dreams: California on the Edge, 1990-2003.

Since he can’t separate reality from fiction as he reinvents his public service record, Newsom might be the perfect main character in the next Kevin Starr book installment called Hair of Dreams: California on Fantasy Island, 2010-beyond.

(Gavin Newsom) is something of a political thrill-seeker — a trait that extended to his personal life a few years ago when he had a potentially career-killing affair with the wife of a campaign manager and close friend (now former campaign manager and former extremely close friend).  Newsom sees the job of governor as a potentially exhilarating high-wire act.

I don’t think we need a political thrill-seeker governing California through a major crisis.

But if being away from the job, exercising little leadership or taking credit from other people is the best way to handle things in a crisis, then Gavin Newsom is certainly the man for the job! ]]> http://iloveyougavinnewsom.com/2009/07/gavin-newsom-cant-govern-california/feed/ 1 http://iloveyougavinnewsom.com/2009/06/gavin-newsom-equals-death/ http://iloveyougavinnewsom.com/2009/06/gavin-newsom-equals-death/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:57:58 +0000 webb http://iloveyougavinnewsom.com/?p=1580

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.