Newsom Must Fire Peter RagoneRandy Shawbyline‚ Feb. 08‚ 2007After Mayor Newsom’s admission to having an affair with a city employee, some joked that the media got the story from the mayor’s communication director Peter Ragone. Ragone was under intense media scrutiny for using a false name in sending e-mails to media websites, and for then lying about it to cover up his conduct. The Newsom sex scandal took Ragone’s problems out of the limelight. But if Ragone appreciated the mayor’s getting him off the hook, he has a funny way of showing it. Asked by the media if the mayor lied to him about the affair, Ragone responded: "Yes." If Willie Brown press spokesperson P.J. Johnston had ever been asked that question, I guarantee you that he would have allowed himself to be tortured before calling his boss a liar. |