Gavin Newsom
Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco, California. He was elected the city's mayor on December 9, 2003, succeeding Willie Brown. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Early life
Newsom was born to retired state appeals court Judge William Newsom and Tessa Menzies Newsom in San Francisco. His parents divorced in 1972, and at age ten Newsom moved with his mother to Marin County. A fourth-generation San Franciscan, Newsom is the maternal great-grandson of the Scotsman Thomas Addis, a pioneer scientist in the field of nephrology. Newsom's paternal great-grandfather emmigrated to America from Ireland in 1865.
Newsom attended high school in Marin County, and Santa Clara University on a partial baseball scholarship, where he graduated in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science.
After graduation, with a loan from Gordon Getty, he started the PlumpJack Wine Shop in 1992. The business eventually grew to a multi-million dollar empire with over 700 employees, including five restaurants, a Napa winery, a hotel and ski resort, and two retail clothing stores.
Family
In December 2001, Newsom married Kimberly Guilfoyle, a legal analyst and commentator who previously appeared on television networks including Court TV, CNN, and MSNBC, and who now hosts The Lineup on Fox News Channel. On January 7, 2005 the couple jointly filed for divorce, citing "difficulties due to their careers on opposite coasts." The divorce is now final.
Public service
Gavin Newsom's first taste of public office came in 1996 when he was appointed President of San Francisco's Parking and Traffic Commission.
In 1996, Newsom was appointed by Mayor Willie Brown to a vacant seat on the Parking and Traffic Commission and was elected President of the Commission. Also in 1996, Newsom was appointed to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for the Marina District (District 2). Voters re-elected him to the Board of Supervisors in 1998, 2000 and 2002.
As Supervisor, Newsom gained public attention for his role in advocating reform of the city's beleaguered Municipal Railway (Muni). He sponsored a ballot measure from the transit riders group Rescue Muni; a version of the measure was approved by voters in November 1999.
San Francisco Mayor
Following a tight runoff election, Newsom was elected mayor of the City and County of San Francisco in 2003. National figures from the Democratic Party, including Bill Clinton and Al Gore, campaigned on his behalf. He campaigned partly on a pledge to focus on the city's notorious homeless problem, adopting much of the same agenda pursued by Rudolph Giuliani in New York City a decade earlier.
Throughout his tenure, Newsom has been a popular mayor, with approval ratings hovering in the 80-percent range, making him one of the most popular major US elected officials.
Social policy
As Supervisor, the centerpiece of Newsom's reform package was a voter initiative called Care Not Cash, which substituted direct aid in the form of rent vouchers, etc., for cash payments heretofore made to indigents under the state's General Assistance program. Care Not Cash caused significant controversy in the city and its implementation was protested by numerous homeless rights advocates in San Francisco [1] [2]. Implementation of Care Not Cash began on July 1, 2004. As part of his Care Not Cash initiative, 5,000 more homeless people were given permanent shelter in the city, and as of May 4, 2006 1,318 people have been placed into permanent housing with support.
Newsom has focused city resources on impoverished disticts in Bayview-Hunters Point on San Francisco's southeast side, often arriving there without notice to follow through on city programs. He extended the city-funded health insurance program, started under Mayor Brown, to young adults, a program that had been previously offered only to children. Newsom appointed San Francisco's first female police chief, Heather Fong, and fire chief, Joanne Hayes-White.
On October 27, 2004, during a strike by hotel workers on a dozen San Francisco hotels, Newsom joined UNITE HERE union members on a picket line in front of the Westin St. Francis Hotel. He vowed that the city would boycott the hotels by not sponsoring city events in any of them until the hotels agreed to a contract with workers. The contract dispute remains unresolved.
Civil rights
Newsom gained international attention, and attracted controversy, in February 2004, when he issued a directive to the city-county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Newsom claimed the California Constitution's equal protection clause as his authority to do so, and decided to perform the marriages after hearing President Bush's State of the Union address. From February 12 until March 11, 2004 (when the weddings were halted by the California Supreme Court), about 4,000 same-sex couples were issued marriage licenses in San Francisco. On August 12, 2004, the California Supreme Court voided all of these marriages.
External links
- Official website of the Office of San Francisco mayor
- About Gavin Newsom – profile from SFGov
- "Gavin Newsom: The First Year" – from the San Francisco Chronicle, January 2, 2005
- Profile of Gavin Newsom – from the San Francisco Chronicle, December 7, 2003
- CityMayors profile
- From Modest Beginnings, Newsom Finds Connections for Business, Political Success – a portrait of Newsom in the December 7, 2003 San Francisco Chronicle.