Profile on Mayor Gavin Newsom

[Quetzal]

Newsom in Four Acts

A short while ago, the mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, and his sister, Hilary Newsom Callan, had a private talk about a topic that had shaped their lives. Despite their closeness, and how close to the bone the subject cut, they had never articulated their full range of feelings. Like many of the deepest things between them, it went unspoken.

The subject was their father, a man they loved, retired state appellate justice Bill Newsom, a third-generation San Franciscan. They talked about why, after the divorce of their father and mother, Tessa, after only five years of marriage, they had grown up with so little money. Specifically, they were talking about their dad's proclivity to give away whatever he earned.

"We loved and hated my father's extraordinary selflessness," Gavin Newsom says. "We're only now appreciating it. That guy helped more people financially, people in need, to a degree that is unimaginable to me. Always giving money away and never expecting it back. And the burden was tremendous financial stress when we were growing up. Our most terrible family moments were always around money. I hated it. We had a mom who was just barely making it, and a father who couldn't afford to do more than he did -- and the frustration he had from that perspective.

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Newsom in Four Acts

[MADem]

1. I understand he and his wife (of COURT TV fame) are divorcing

...what is up with that?

He seems like a sincere gentleman.

[davidinalameda]

3. they're living 3000 miles away

and both are ambitious--working on their own careers

the marriage just didn't work--it happens

[EFerrari]

2. Right. This is the man who crafted "FYck you not cash

Last time Channel 2 called me to say there was a homeless sweep in the Bayview, I called Gavin's communications guy. He said, we don't know anything about it.

I said, you know it now because I'm reporting it.

And in all the papers, they didn't know until it was over.

You want repug lite? Support Gavin.