Once Gavin Newsom reveals his ideas to the media, he drops them…
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom, who is the Mayor of San Francisco, likes to talk about change. It turns out however that he is a total failure as a Mayor.
An expose in today’s San Francisco Chronicle details the extent to which Newsom has failed. Here are a few excerpts:
As he seeks the Democratic nomination for governor next year, Newsom is touting his performance in this lovely, fractious city, telling audiences around the state that he will shake up Sacramento with the same sort of energy, creativity and dynamism he’s demonstrated since taking over as mayor in January 2004.
His record in San Francisco, however, is a decidedly mixed one: a pastiche of bold strokes and extravagant promises, only some of which have reached fruition.
But there is also a long list of proposals — congestion-pricing to ease traffic, a savings bond for every San Francisco newborn, a tax on soda to fight obesity, to name just a few — that were announced with great fanfare only to disappear after attention died away. (All are under review, Newsom says.)
Would-be allies say they rarely hear from the mayor. Department heads complain about a lack of guidance. Newsom perpetually wars with the 11-member Board of Supervisors, raising the question of how he would deal with Sacramento’s querulous 120-member Legislature.
Still, to a striking degree, some of Newsom’s biggest backers — in civic groups and policy circles, among political activists and campaign donors — have in the last few years become some of the mayor’s sharpest critics. In a series of interviews, they expressed disappointment and accused Newsom, in words oft-repeated, of focusing more on self-aggrandizement and personal publicity than solving the city’s problems.
“Once he’s said it and it’s printed in the newspapers, it’s done in his mind,” said Jim Ross, a political consultant who ran Newsom’s 2003 campaign for mayor. “Then it’s on to the next big announcement.”
Click here to read the rest of the bad news about Newsom.
Gavin Newsom an empty suit? No wonder the unemployed planner Phil “Count Chocula” Bacerra supports him.
Jerry Brown in 2010!
His dyslexia makes him unable to focus on policy.
Gavin Newsom is a joke, a scam artist and a liar, he did such a horrible job as mayor for SF, why would anyone on this planet vote for him ever again?