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Denver -- As Bill Clinton and Joe Biden dominated center stage Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was presiding over "Unconventional '08," a street party held in an artsy warehouse corner of the city featuring indie bands and a knot of people young enough to be Biden's grandchildren. There, mingling beneath an art gallery facade full of iconic images of Sen. Barack Obama was the evening's host - the former Sen. Hillary Clinton delegate Newsom. Four years ago, Newsom was a pariah at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Democrats were angry that he had...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is shaping the inner circle of his campaign for governor, naming veteran Democratic strategist Garry South as a top adviser. Newsom, a Democrat who announced he was exploring a run for governor in 2010 last month, is also tapping veterans of the Obama and Clinton presidential campaigns for polling and day-to-day campaign operations. His longtime political adviser, San Francisco-based consultant Eric Jaye, will serve as campaign director. But the key new addition is South, who served as chief strategist for Gov. Gray Davis' two successful campaigns in 1998 and 2002. In 2006, South was the...

A quick reading of the measure that will go before San Francisco voters in November to decriminalize prostitution easily could leave you with the misimpression that the measure is an exercise in fairness that demands that prosecutors go after men who abuse prostitutes and implement policies "to reduce institutional violence and discrimination against prostitutes." A careful reading of the initiative, "Enforcement of Laws Related to Prostitution and Sex Workers," however, shows a measure that shields child prostitution and traffickers of human beings. "If I had just heard from the proponents, I would probably vote for it myself," said the Rev....

Is Democratic San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom already putting together his team for that 2010 gubernatorial run? The newlywed mayor and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, were spotted in Malibu Saturday, honeymooning deep in lengthy conservation over frappucinos -- with Democratic uber-political consultant Garry South. We heard the whole story from blogger Zuma Dogg, who caught the scene on video and on camera, and posted it on his own LA Daily blog link at his website, zumatimes.com. Little problem for the environmentally-hip SF mayor at the usually star-laden Starbucks, the blogger reports. "His Yukon was parked in the fire lane,"...

As San Francisco's juvenile justice system shielded young illegal immigrant felons from possible deportation, Mayor Gavin Newsom's office gave grants totaling more than $650,000 to nonprofit agencies to provide the underage offenders with free services - everything from immigration attorneys to housing assistance to "arts and cultural affirmation activities," city records show. Newsom has said the city began its policy of not referring young immigrant offenders to federal authorities for deportation under previous mayors, and that he reversed the practice after he became aware of it this year. However, in 2006, the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice - a community...

Garbage collectors would inspect San Francisco residents' trash to make sure pizza crusts aren't mixed in with chip bags or wine bottles under a proposal by Mayor Gavin Newsom. And if residents or businesses don't separate the coffee grounds from the newspapers, they would face fines of up to $1,000 and eventually could have their garbage service stopped. The plan to require proper sorting of refuse would be the nation's first mandatory recycling and composting law. It would direct garbage collectors to inspect the trash to make sure it is put into the right blue, black or green bin, according...

Author, spiritual healer and "intuitive consultant" Simone, who presided over the weekend wedding of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and actress Jennifer Siebel, is predicting a very bright future for the city's first couple. Although Simone (who long ago professionally dispensed with her first name, Carol) says her psychic readings days are largely behind her, she has come up with a few predictions: On Newsom becoming governor: "I get a very positive energy about that. It's clear this is something he would like to do and he has a very strong personality, and I feel he'll get it." On Newsom...

When San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris held her press conference Monday to announce the arrest of techie Terry Childs for allegedly plotting to hijack the city's computer system, one key figure was notably absent. That would be Mayor Gavin Newsom - Childs' ultimate boss and the person you'd think would be most concerned about the supposed breach."I have no idea what motivates the mayor," Harris said Tuesday. "I do know that he was invited."It's no secret that the politically ambitious mayor and equally ambitious Harris have never been close. Often, each thinks the other is trying to pull rank.And...

. . . Palace plots: No sooner did San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announce he was forming an exploratory committee for governor than state Attorney General Jerry Brown made a move of his own - one that's likely to get under Newsom's skin. Reliable sources tell us that Brown has approached San Francisco PR consultant Alex Tourk to help launch his own campaign for governor, and the two were in serious talks this past week. Tourk, who once headed Newsom's Project Homeless Connect program, had a falling-out with his boss when he found out the mayor had slept with Tourk's...

There may be plenty of disagreements about the budget Mayor Gavin Newsom announced on Monday. But there was one statement I totally agree with. "The reality outside our 47 1/2 square miles is very different from the reality within it," Newsom said. He's got that right. The housing market is crumbling across the country - but not in San Francisco. Travel and tourism is down in many places but not here, where visitor spending, fueled by foreign tourists, reached an all-time high last year. And despite a huge city deficit, Newsom still managed to sound upbeat Monday when he announced...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had barely been on the job a month back in 2004 when he ordered the city to issue marriages licenses to gay and lesbian couples. Thousands of same-sex partners flocked to City Hall to exchange vows. For four weeks, a steady stream of ceremonies stretched into the night, and lines of eager couples wrapped around the block. And as quickly as the couples could say, "I do," the scene of women marrying women and men marrying men sparked a nationwide uproar. Proponents called the move bold. Opponents called it defiant and blatantly illegal. People on...

Actress and future San Francisco first lady Jennifer Siebel has moved a step closer to the altar, having taken up full-time residence in fiance Mayor Gavin Newsom's Russian Hill penthouse, where she is now registered to vote. It turns out, however, that the onetime Republican registered as a member of the American Independent Party - the anti-immigrant, anti-abortion, anti-NAFTA and anti-tax party.San Francisco's election rolls show Siebel cast her ballot using the Green Street address both in November, when Newsom was re-elected, and during February's presidential primary. But because she was affiliated with the American Independent Party, she was ineligible...

Unlike many other California cities and counties, San Francisco is taking in boatloads of money - yet it's still sinking in red ink. Thanks in part to a hiring binge and raises handed out last year with the blessing of Mayor Gavin Newsom, the city is staring at a $330 million-plus deficit that could lead to layoffs for hundreds of city workers. Not that there isn't plenty of good news, says Deputy Controller Monique Zmuda: "We certainly have healthy revenues. The recession hasn't hit. Sales taxes continue to be up. The number of passengers flying into SFO is up. Conventions...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a restaurateur turned politician, called on his former colleagues in the restaurant business Thursday to stop selling bottled water to customers and start serving local tap water instead. The mayor made international headlines last year when he banned city government from spending tax dollars on bottled water for its employees, saying the containers clog landfills and pollute the environment. But his new request that restaurants make the switch is just that - a request. "Not every restaurant is going to be able to afford to do this," Newsom said, noting that restaurants make a significant...

Mayor Gavin Newsom revealed the first scant details Thursday about plans for the Beijing Olympic torch's April 9 stop in San Francisco, including the likelihood that it won't pass through Chinatown, and he emphatically stated that no one would be denied the right to protest its presence. Newsom made his comments hours after the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco was attacked by arsonists early in the morning and shortly before a Board of Supervisors committee heard 4 1/2 hours of public testimony mostly critical of China's human-rights record. Despite the emotional pleas for supervisors to condemn China over human rights,...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has ordered all city departments to slash salary expenses by at least 8 percent in order to close a projected $300 million deficit, a move that officials say is likely to result in hundreds of city workers being laid off. The latest round of proposed cuts follows Newsom's November mandate that agencies covered by the city's general fund - the city's primary spending account - make 13 percent across-the-board cuts. But many of those departments - namely, public safety agencies like the police and sheriff's departments - did not comply, and as a result, Newsom's...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is considering a 2010 run for governor - a campaign that would embrace many of the same divisive causes he has championed as mayor, including same-sex marriage, universal health care and protections for illegal immigrants, The Chronicle has learned. Newsom has long been rumored to be a potential contender in what is likely to be a crowded field of Democrats looking to succeed Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a list that includes Attorney General and former Gov. Jerry Brown, former state Controller Steve Westly and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. In recent months, Newsom has quietly...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The attorney for the man accused of arson and vandalism in the Feb. 22 trashing of the historic San Francisco fire chief's home argued unsuccessfully for a lower bail today, saying the incident amounted to a "symbolic gesture" against the man's companion, the city's planning director. Lance Farber, 47, the domestic partner of San Francisco planning chief John Rahaim, remains in custody on $1 million bail stemming from the incident, in which a bed was set on fire and crushed tomatoes smeared on the walls of the residence at 870 Bush St. on Nob Hill. Judge Loretta...

Bail was set at $1 million today for the San Francisco planning director's companion, who is accused of setting fire to historic Nob Hill residence of the fire chief where the couple were living. Lance Farber, 47, pleaded not guilty to felony arson and vandalism in a brief appearance at the Hall of Justice, shortly before Superior Court Judge John Conway set bail. "I am concerned that this is a public safety issue," the judge said. Farber was ordered to return to court Friday after being evaluated for migraine headaches. His lawyer said the headaches have worsened since Farber was...

Where else but San Francisco City Hall could a 10-foot-long wheelchair ramp wind up costing $1 million? Thanks to a maze of bureaucratic indecision and historic restrictions, taxpayers may shell out $100,000 per foot to make the Board of Supervisors president's perch in the historic chambers accessible to the disabled. What's more, the little remodel job that planners first thought would take three months has stretched into more than four years - and will probably mean the supervisors will have to move out of their hallowed hall for five months while the work is done. "It's crazy," admits Susan Mizer,...

Pretty soon they'll need a scoreboard down at San Francisco City Hall to keep track of the "gotcha" shots flying between Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin and Mayor Gavin Newsom.The game opened with Peskin taking a swipe at Newsom for jetting off to Hawaii with gal pal Jennifer Siebel the day after the big Cosco Busan oil spill.Newsom responded by pulling out of a Chinese Chamber of Commerce trip to China that included Peskin and Rose Pak, the chamber boss with whom Newsom was also feuding.Peskin returned the favor by busting Newsom for using $650,000 in Muni money to...

Seeing Mayor Gavin Newsom on the national stage with former president Bill Clinton on Monday night is a reminder of how political winds can change. On the eve of the biggest night of the presidential primaries, Newsom shared the spotlight during a town hall meeting staged and broadcast on cable TV and satellite radio by the Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign. But just four years ago, current Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is said to have declined to have his picture taken in San Francisco with Newsom, who was then at the center of a national uproar over his decision to...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and his girlfriend, actress Jennifer Siebel, became engaged in Hawaii over the weekend, knowledgeable sources said Monday. One of Newsom's closest friends, high society party planner Stanlee Gatti, confirmed the engagement. The mayor's spokesman, Nathan Ballard, said the mayor popped the question on Saturday. "Jennifer told me (about it). She was on the phone first, and then he got on the phone," said Gatti, reached in Raton, N.M., where he was on vacation. Gatti had no details about the proposal, other than that Newsom spoke with his girlfriend's father first and then proposed marriage. No...

After banning plastic bags from chain grocery stores and bottled water from City Hall, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has set his sights on soda - working up a plan to charge a new city fee to big retailers of sugar drinks. "The bottom line is that there is a direct nexus between high-fructose corn syrup drinks like colas and Big Gulps and obesity among schoolkids," Newsom said Friday. The idea of taxing soda to combat obesity - which is being touted as the first in the nation - has been roiling around in health circles for some time, including...

The last I head about Gavin's personal life, and trust me, I'm keeping tabs, he had the worst weekend of his life in Hawaii. Was it because a little funky oil killed a fish? Nope. It was probably because his gal pal doesn't know how to party. We haven't seen much of Swiss Miss lately, and one has to wonder: Worst weekend of his life? Really? Did they break up? Wouldn't that make it the best? I'm confused. In the spirit of Britney Spears' apparent former flame JT Turnstall or whatever, who announced in his personal ad that we've all...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will join Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on the presidential campaign trail when she comes to town on Tuesday - and Republicans couldn't be happier about it. The way they see it, the more face time the pro-gay-marriage, pro-sanctuary-city, pro-gun-control mayor of the most leftist, liberal city in America spends with the Democratic front-runner, the better. A recent news release distributed by the Republican National Committee to political reporters around the country lambasted Newsom as "Hillary's San Francisco Treat" and took a direct guilt-by-association swipe at Clinton by highlighting the mayor's signature last month on a...

Nothing is ever simple in San Francisco politics. Last week, an ordinance introduced by Mayor Gavin Newsom to close loopholes inhibiting enforcement of laws against camping in Golden Gate Park came up for a vote before the full Board of Supervisors. Passage seemed a slam dunk. Not so fast, Mr. Mayor. Advocates for homeless people got the ear of certain members of the board and attempted to turn this into a case of "criminalizing the homeless." The next thing you know, the very real possibility has been raised that the ordinance may be changed and wind up doing more harm...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's decision to take a Hawaiian getaway with gal pal Jennifer Siebel in the midst of the big fuel spill on the bay is providing new fodder for Newsom's critics. "The facts are, he left town after he knew he had a 58,000-gallon spill on his hands," said Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin.Peskin, of course, is fighting with the mayor over allegations that the board president has been bullying Newsom's department heads. He says raising questions about the three-day vacation Newsom took starting Thursday is not an attempt to deflect the questions being aimed his...

Even before the first vote was counted in Tuesday's election, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and District Attorney Kamala Harris were laying tracks for their next big moves. For Newsom, who still has more than $300,000 in campaign money in the bank, it will mostly likely be a 2010 run for governor, heading a nonprofit or going back to making money until the Senate seat held by Dianne Feinstein perhaps opens up in 2012. For Harris, it's probably either a run for state attorney general in 2010 or for mayor the following year.Oddly enough, both their futures depend largely on...

Gavin Newsom's political strategist Eric Jaye jokes that he already knows what the analysis of today's mayoral election will be. "However many votes we get," Jaye says, "we know the Bay Guardian will say it wasn't enough." He's got a point. In most elections, pundits try to pick the winner. That's already been handled in this one. Newsom will certainly win a second term as mayor in a cakewalk over a group of offbeat candidates. That's not in doubt. But it does lead to a second question, best expressed by local political consultant Mark Mosher, who asks, "What kind of...

Mayor Gavin Newsom, who earlier this year said he'd change the way his office issues proclamations after he unwittingly honored a gay porn studio, found himself in hot water Wednesday over two more controversial proclamations. This time, a representative from the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice said proclamations would be given to Perry Mann, founder of the Exotic Erotic Ball, and rapper Snoop Dogg, who earlier this year pleaded no contest to felony gun and drug charges and who is accused by critics of glorifying the gangster lifestyle in his music. Snoop Dogg is scheduled to perform a benefit concert...

It was another cold and lonely Friday evening for the candidates looking to be San Francisco's next mayor. With a chilly wind swirling across Civic Center Plaza, seven of the 11 people challenging Mayor Gavin Newsom joined again outside City Hall and tried to give serious answers to serious questions before a group of listeners that barely broke into double-digit numbers. Although the mayor's office was within easy earshot, Newsom was nowhere to be seen. And while election day was barely a month off, there was little sense of excitement for a re-election race that's been viewed for months as...

If voters send Mayor Gavin Newsom back to City Hall for another four years, he'd like them to do it without passing Proposition E, which would require him and future mayors to meet face to face with the Board of Supervisors for a scheduled "question time" each month. Since last November, when a similar advisory measure passed easily, the mayor has ducked every invitation to appear in front of the board for the monthly interrogations the measure called for. Now, with his re-election a virtual given, the mayor is working to raise money to beat Proposition E and bury the...

A veteran San Francisco police officer is under departmental investigation - and could be suspended - for writing a letter to The Chronicle criticizing the way Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Police Department are handling the homeless problem in Golden Gate Park. According to police sources, Sgt. John Lewis of Park Station is being investigated for authoring a letter that "undermines the efficiency of the department." Lewis' letter, published on The Chronicle's editorial page Aug. 15, questioned the Newsom administration's tactic of sending cops and outreach workers into the park before dawn to steer campers into social programs or, if...

San Francisco -- The pack of longshot challengers vying to unseat San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had their first - and likely only - chance in the campaign to go head to head with the incumbent during a candidate's forum Thursday, and they wasted no time getting right to the point. The most important issue facing the city, said H. Brown, a local writer and blogger, is "how to get the mayor to listen to us. Any candidate on this stage except the mayor, I guarantee you, will listen to the opposition more than five minutes every four years." Newsom...

Is San Francisco anti-military? Mayor Gavin Newsom said Saturday, "I am sick and tired of this city being depicted as anti-military. The extreme right exploits the exception, when I believe there is a predominant respect in this city for the military, vets and those serving today." Newsom had a point when he said that critics of The Special City will not "allow the facts get in the way." Stories about Ess Eff turning away a crew filming a Marine recruitment ad apparently were much ado about nothing. The city did issue a permit - if not for the day the...

San Francisco (AP) -- Police officers and social workers are teaming up to steer homeless people found committing infractions such as littering or blocking sidewalks in tourist areas toward social services. Starting this week, the teams will patrol about 15 blocks of the city's downtown looking for people committing so-called "quality of life crimes." They will be taken to places where they can get shelter, housing and rehabilitative services, according to the plan spelled out in a memo from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's office. But if the homeless person doesn't agree, he or she could receive a citation and...

San Francisco - -- (09-25) 16:15 PDT SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom suspended Supervisor Ed Jew today for alleged official misconduct, began proceedings to remove him from office and named a 29-year-old political novice to take his place. Jew was served this morning with a seven-page outline of charges at the Canton Flower Shop he owns on Waverly Place in Chinatown. The document, drawn up by the city attorney's office and signed by Newsom, accuses the rookie supervisor of misconduct for allegedly lying when he said he lived in District 4 in the Sunset and takes note...

San Francisco (AP) -- Mayor Gavin Newsom has temporarily removed from office a San Francisco city supervisor accused of shaking down small business owners having permit problems. City officials say Newsom replaced Ed Jew on the 11-member Board of Supervisors with Carmen Chu of the mayor's budget office. Jew has been charged in federal court with fraud.

With an informal deadline looming, Mayor Gavin Newsom and his staff spent Sunday vetting possible replacements for Supervisor Ed Jew, while Jew's attorneys vowed to fight his suspension every step of the way. "The first step would likely be up the federal courthouse steps to ask for an injunction," said Jew's lawyer Steve Gruel, who is defending the supervisor against a federal mail fraud complaint that accuses him of instigating a $40,000 shakedown of local businessmen.If Newsom suspends Jew, a hearing before the Ethics Commission would follow, probably leading to a trial, in effect, before the Board of Supervisors.Gruel argues...

The standoff between San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and embattled Supervisor Ed Jew shot up another notch this weekend with the mayor asking the city attorney to draw up charges that could lead to Jew's forced removal if he does not resign. According to sources close to the case, the paperwork is being drawn up today and will likely be ready sometime this week."It's not a position I want to be in," Newsom said late Saturday after Jew didn't return repeated phone calls. "But I'm compelled to move because this is just the type of situation that the City Charter...

The San Francisco union that represents nearly 1,000 city government managers and department heads announced Thursday that it will not endorse Mayor Gavin Newsom in his bid for re-election this fall, a move that signals deep-seated discontent among the city's highest ranks. Though Newsom is running against a field of political unknowns and appears to be cruising toward re-election in November, the San Francisco Municipal Executives' Association voted not to endorse Newsom - or anyone else running in the race. The move follows a request by Newsom last week that nearly all department heads and members of his senior staff,...

From short and sweet, to long-winded overtures, the letters have been pouring in following Mayor Gavin Newsom's edict this week that hundreds of city officials hand in their resignations by the end of the day today. Many letters consist of a single, get-right-to-the-point sentence: "I hereby tender my resignation." Others read more like resumes than resignation letters, with officials attempting to make their case to stay on the job. And some are just plain comical. "As my work here in San Francisco began with your call, it will continue with your call, until such time as you find my vision...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's push to have hundreds of city department heads, mayoral-appointed commissioners and senior staffers in his office submit their resignation letters by the end of the week was met with pockets of resistance Tuesday, with some city officials vowing to defy the order. The day after Newsom surprised most department leaders and told them to hand in their letters of resignation by Friday because he wants to start his second term with "a clean slate," some city officials bristled at the request and many were downright puzzled. Port Commissioner Mike Hardeman, a longtime Newsom supporter whom...

It is the week after Labor Day, the traditional start of the election season. Except in San Francisco. We're not having an election. Instead we're awarding the mayor's office to incumbent Gavin Newsom by default. The filing date to run for mayor came and went in virtual silence. The one credible candidate that stepped up, conservative Tony Hall, stepped back just as quickly, calling off his run Friday, citing a lack of support. "I decided," Hall said this week, "the best thing I can do is back off and give people another dose of this guy." Another dose? What more...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom says he is leading some of the city's wealthiest residents on tours of the city's decrepit public housing developments in the hope they will donate to help rebuild them. Newsom said Tuesday he already has taken one "very generous San Franciscan" on a tour - though he wouldn't name the person - and plans more tours to raise money to fix living conditions that shouldn't be allowed to exist in a city as affluent as San Francisco. "I'm starting to bring tours out there of wealthy San Franciscans," he said after attending a press conference...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom may not face a serious threat to his bid for re-election this fall, but he has been fundraising as though he does. Newsom raised nearly $1 million in the first half of the year, bringing his re-election campaign total to nearly $1.6 million. The money poured in from San Francisco society families, national political heavy-hitters and Hollywood actors, as well as from the core group of downtown businesses who helped elect him nearly four years ago. Everyone from his family members and inner circle of City Hall senior advisers to his girlfriend and ex-wife's brother...

The law also makes it illegal to possess or sell firearms on city and county property and ... The measure's co-sponsors concede that it will have little effect on the proliferation of illegal firearms. The prohibition of guns on county property does not apply to Housing Authority sites, and the ban on selling guns on county property does not apply to the annual gun show at the Cow Palace.

Matt Gonzalez, the former San Francisco supervisor who was city progressives' last hope for a big-name candidate to challenge Mayor Gavin Newsom in his re-election quest, said Monday he will not run for mayor this fall. The decision follows weeks of serious consideration by Gonzalez, who narrowly lost to Newsom in 2003, and paves the way for the mayor to run for re-election in November without facing serious opposition. In an interview with The Chronicle Monday, Gonzalez said polling showed voters seem to be complacent about the problems the city faces and do not hold Newsom accountable for those ills...

One man's trash, in San Francisco at least, is another man's political cause. Mayor Gavin Newsom announced last week that hundreds of city-owned garbage cans are being taken off city streets because, he says, there are just too many out there. So many that people are tossing out their personal trash in receptacles that are meant strictly for litter. He admits that the logic -- getting rid of trash cans because they attract too much trash -- is counterintuitive. "I'm still pro-garbage can," said Newsom, who is campaigning for re-election in November and, . . .