Newsom Berates Supervisors at SPUR AddressPaul Hogarthbyline‚ Feb. 16‚ 2007Under fire for being a disengaged Mayor who governs by press release, Gavin Newsom gave a presentation yesterday at City Hall on what his Administration has accomplished over the past three years. Sponsored by SPUR, a pro-business think tank, the talk was designed to assess how much the Mayor has lived up to his original campaign pledges. Newsom’s 90-minute speech covered a wide range of goals that the City had set, and included an impressive number of issues. If a listener knew nothing about local politics, they would’ve concluded that Newsom is the best Mayor that the City has ever had – and the best Mayor in the whole country. But Newsom did not give the Board of Supervisors credit in his speech, as he listed various policy initiatives that would not have materialized without leadership from the Board. He also took credit for various proposals that were underway well before his tenure, and would have happened regardless of any mayoral administration. On the other hand, he did not hesitate to attack the Supervisors for various policy disagreements they have had – and accused me of taking a cheap shot when I asked about his refusal to comply with Question Time. |