Went to a Great Fundraiser for Gavin Newsom Yesterday

He was visiting Los Angeles, and had over 100 people turn out for him at a private home in Hancock Park. Governor Davis, Councilmember Antonio Villaraigosa and City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo were the Guests of Honor (aside from the Mayor, of course), and it was a great event.

I have to tell you...Gavin Newsom is just awesome. He is simply fucking awesome. He is young, attractive, charismatic, and so damn eloquent. He is also a Democrat with a sack full of GUTS. He spoke about how every now and then, you have the opportunity to really do the right thing. He took that opportunity, and has zero regrets for it. He said every American should be in favor of non-discrimination, and that he believes in 20 years, people will look upon laws against gay marriage the same way that we now look upon laws against interracial marriage.

He also fielded questions, and received one "tough" question about whether he thought he might have given the conservatives ammunition against our party in the general election this year, and Newsom's answer surprised me in its power. He replied that the issue would have come up no matter what, in light of the MA Supreme Court's decision. He also said that it would have been worse for Kerry if MA was the ONLY place to have done this, since that's where Kerry's from, and that's where the convention is going to be.

I then asked him about the legal cases and whether his office was participating in the briefing, and he said absolutely, and that he was also receiving a ton of help from interested parties in the form of amicus briefs and other support. Finally, someone asked him about SF's economic issues, and he spoke forcefully about bringing new business to SF, and pushing that agenda very hard.

On a personal level, I was able to shake his hand and thank him for everything he's done, and praise his courage. I also said that if there was EVER anything I could do for him (donate, volunteer, etc.), I would be there for him in a heartbeat. It was interesting...as is common at these things, quite a few of the people there were angling for something, a pet project or a job or a connection. My own, obviously biased impression was that he was pleased to hear what I had to say, especially without any ulterior motives (I work in the private sector, and have zero political ambitions or desire to work in politics). Maybe that's just the mark of a skilled pol. :-)

I think this guy is one of our rising stars, and I believe he can win for statewide office.

DTH

I knew that Newsom was doing it to prevent the stigmatization the GOP planned for Massachusetts.

EVERYTHING the Repubs do is politically motivated to put Bush back in the White House. Thankfully, there are some clever Dems countering their manipulations.

Newsom. Sharp.

And this is something so obvious that I hadn't even thought about that Newsom's actions in SF took the heat off any potential republican smear campaign against Kerry's positions and his state. Newsom makes Kerry look conservative. Not normally a good thing, but in THIS election a necessary compromise. Best part is he took at least a portion of this civil rights issue away from the election spin, and put it out there on its own merits.

Newsom could be presidential material, no?

I would love to see this man as President, and believe it could really happen, especially in another generation from now, when we as a nation are more tolerant. (Newsom is only 36, and I certainly hope he will still be around, and a major force in politics, a generation from now.)

DTH

Not just for the RIGHT thing to do in regard to gay rights, but the SMART thing to do in regard to outmaneuvering the Republicans.

Democrats in the know will not forget his effort.

A smart, courageous, tough Democrat. Hallelujah!

DTH

He doesn't care about the personal wealth of residents of San Francisco, except to the extent that it gives real estate developers something worth taking.

I really think that the gay marriage thing is him hoping people won't notice which way their net flow of wealth is going.

and that fat ass wind bag Joe O'Donaghue

go bash Newsom some place else

Meanwhile, Gonzalez should also be playing up two key facts about the agenda Newsom is putting forth in his campaign. As Steven T. Jones reports on page 15, Newsom loves to talk about his detailed platform – but when you actually examine it, the message is alarming. For one thing, Newsom proposes hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of new programs and projects – and never once explains how he's going to pay for it all. On the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, he's always opposed major new revenue sources that would help pay for expanded services: he opposed increasing the city's business tax, opposed the real estate transfer-tax hike, and opposed aggressive measures to bring public power to San Francisco (and $245 million in new cash for the city's coffers). Now, like President George W. Bush, he wants to cut taxes for the rich and spend money he doesn't have, which can only lead to huge and lasting budget problems.

Equally disturbing, Newsom proposes to "streamline" the city's planning and permitting processes. According to one of his policy briefs, he wants to "focus the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission on making decisions about overall planning policy" and "give planning staff broader authority to administer project review and approvals, reducing the total number of cases that must appear before the Planning Commission."

The problem, of course, is that this would cut the public out of the planning process. More decisions would be made behind closed doors, with no input or oversight. Neighborhood residents would have a harder time appealing projects (or even forcing them out into the sunshine). We agree the current process is overly cumbersome and (as Newsom likes to say) "politicized." But pushing decisions back to the planning staff won't solve the problem – as former planning commissioner Dennis Antenore (who was fired by Mayor Willie Brown for refusing to go along with Brown's unlimited-growth agenda) put it, the real politicization takes place in those backroom meetings.

Newsom's plan amounts to the repeal of one of the most significant – and popular – reforms of the district-elected supervisors: the decentralization of land-use planning authority and the increased public oversight of the process. Gonzalez should challenge Newsom directly and repeatedly on this: Was Newsom happy with the way planning decisions were made during the dot-com era? Does he like the idea of big developers and their lobbyists cutting backroom deals while neighborhood residents and small businesses are left entirely in the dark? Would he prefer that a small group of bureaucrats hired by the mayor decide who can build what, and where – without public hearings or public appeals?
...

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:Bh2NWCgjOuEJ:www.mattgonzalez.com/article.php%3Fid%3D177+gavin+newsom+real+estate&hl=en

But there are some names in Newsom's most recent campaign filing that the candidate isn't advertising.

Many of Newsom's top donors are players in the high finance arena: investment bankers, venture capitalists, hedge fund managers, and the like (see "The King of Cash," 9/13/03). But the Nov. 28 campaign finance filing shows that 15 of those donors are executives working for firms linked to the wave of corporate scandal that has washed over Wall Street during the past two years. They include top-level employees at banks that paid $480 million in 2002 to settle charges of defrauding small investors.

And while Newsom's money does indeed come from all over the city, more than $1 million of his local donations are concentrated in the city's toniest neighborhoods, including the Marina, Pacific Heights, and North Beach.

More than a third of his cash comes from outside city borders. Out-of-town donors – from locales as distant as Hawaii and New Jersey – have sunk some $1.25 million into the fund. (For a detailed map showing the origins of Newsom's money, go to ).

Newsom's backers also appear to be skilled at skirting campaign finance limits. Several of his top real estate donors have given to the campaign through a web of different corporate entities, many of which share the same address. Technically, it's legal – but the outcome is that one individual can have a disproportionate impact on the race, effectively circumventing the city's contribution limit regulations.

http://www.sfbg.com/38/10/cover_newsom.html

When he's not taking contributions from Wall Street's wheeler-dealers, Newsom pulls in big donations from real estate and development firms that have learned to push campaign finance laws to their limits.

Not surprisingly, topping the list is Shorenstein and Co., San Francisco's largest commercial landlord. Members of the Shorenstein family, headed by patriarch Walter Shorenstein, are major players in Democratic Party politics nationally and locally. Companies affiliated with the clan have given a total of at least $21,500 to help elect Newsom.

Like Edwards, you do much better when you try to stay positive, IMO, rather than attacking a good Democrat.

Do you even LIVE in California?

For those who care, here's a link to the GD thread on the same topic, so we don't have to rehash the whole stupid thing here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1525207

DTH