Who's filling Gavin Newsom's campaign war chest?

Click here and here to view as pdf.

A DETAILED ANALYSIS of Newsom's campaign-contribution records since 1998 shows he is financed to a significant extent by powerful companies and wealthy individuals who have a direct financial interest in the policies set by the mayor.

The companies listed here represent a key portion of Newsom's base: real estate, development, and hospitality interests, which represent a full 26 percent of Newsom's backing; and the financial industry, which represents another 13 percent.

Candidate donations are capped by law at $500.

Many of the groups profiled here also gave handsomely to Newsom's 2002 Care Not Cash ballot initiative, the unofficial beginning of his run for mayor. There is no limit on how much a person or company can donate to ballot-measure campaigns.

 

The builders
$246,025 to Newsom, $61,850 to Care Not Cash

Whether they're retrofitting the Bay Bridge, laying track for Muni's Third Street Light Rail, or designing San Francisco's police stations, architecture, engineering, and construction firms are supporting Gavin Newsom.

Having a mayor friendly to their interests can be helpful if they're angling for city contracts or seeking permit approvals – the mayor appoints commissioners and department heads. And Newsom's campaign-finance reports for the mayor's race reveal dozens of companies that have, or once had, city contracts. Many have made only one donation, but the widespread participation suggests word is out among contractors and architects to pony up for Newsom. Two of the more prominent companies are:

Nibbi Brothers

The Potrero Hill-based Nibbi Brothers construction firm has its hands in projects all over the Bay Area and has done a ton of work for the city.

This year Nibbi is working on two of the largest construction projects in the state, according to California Construction Link magazine. One of those is San Francisco's $70.5 million North Beach Place public housing project. Prior projects include building the Mission Police Station and upgrading the Richmond District cop shop in the early 1990s. Last year Nibbi was awarded a $10.7 million contract to construct the African Savanna project at the San Francisco Zoo.

Nibbi and its employees have given $1,500 to support Newsom's mayoral bid. Vice president Robert Nibbi gave $500 to Newsom's 2002 reelection bid, and the company donated $5,500 to the Care Not Cash campaign.

President Larry Nibbi told us he's not supporting Newsom for mayor and pointed out that he has also donated to Angela Alioto, Susan Leal, and Tony Ribera. "I donated because they're friends of mine," Nibbi said. "There is no way of getting any kind of preference from a mayor."

Gensler Architecture Design and Planning Worldwide

During the past four years, Gensler has worked on a range of city projects worth at least $9,021,171, including some at the San Francisco International Airport.

For this well-respected architecture firm, which also has offices in Europe and Asia, that may be small change. But Gensler has been generous to Newsom. Seventeen Gensler employees, including board chair Arthur Gensler, contributed a total of $3,550 to Newsom's mayoral campaign. Since 1998 they have given $6,550 to the candidate.

Company president Ed Friedrichs told us it's up to individual employees whether they want to contribute to candidates. He admitted the company hosted a fundraiser for the Newsom for Mayor camp late last year, but said, "Gensler has made our offices available for a variety of meetings [related to causes for which] individuals in the firm advocate," and said that the company is not taking a position in the mayor's race.

 

The financial industry
$370,790 to Newsom, $86,725 to Care Not Cash

Even with the loss of Bank of America to North Carolina, San Francisco is the West Coast's financial hub, and the banking industry has tremendous political and financial interest in the city. For example, big financial companies have in recent years fought Sup. Tom Ammiano's efforts to curb ATM fees and have bullied the city to slash the business tax. Two of the heavyweights:

Wells Fargo and affiliates

As the rest of us flail in the sinking economy, Wells Fargo swims, reporting record quarterly earnings earlier this year. The local banking institution gets a nice chunk of that income from the city of San Francisco, which has paid $30,180,937 to Wells Fargo since 2000 in brokerage fees and for other services, including payroll processing.

The corporation (the 12th-largest in the United States) and its employees are betting heavily on Newsom. Two dozen employees, including president and CEO Richard Kovacevich, have given Newsom at total of $8,250 over the years. Kovacevich gave another $2,500 to the Care Not Cash campaign.

A company spokesperson told us Wells Fargo doesn't officially endorse candidates.

Hellman and Friedman

If ever there was a San Francisco power broker, it's Warren Hellman. The Wells Fargo heir heads financial powerhouse Hellman and Friedman, is a director of the Nasdaq stock market, and chairs the philanthropic San Francisco Foundation. He's also a key backer of the Democratic political machine and has been intimately involved in a number of projects requiring city approval. A recent example: his efforts to build an underground parking garage in Golden Gate Park, which conflicts with voter-mandated design plans for the park.

Hellman is a founder and major funder of SFSOS, the group created two years ago to support pro-business city policies.

Hellman has supported Newsom's candidacies for years, donating in 1998, 2000, and this year. He gave $2,500 to Care Not Cash, and he sits on the board of DN&E Walter and Co., which gave the measure another $1,000. The city retirement system has several investments with Hellman and Friedman valued at $70,000. Hellman didn't respond to a request for comment.

 

Power brokers, socialites, and celebrities

This list shows how much some notable donors have given to Gavin Newsom's campaigns. The first number is the total amount given to his personal campaigns, the second number, in parentheses, is the amount given to the Care Not Cash campaign. Totals for companies include donations by employees and their spouses.

Academy of Art College: $600.
Barnes Mosher Whitehurst Lauter and Partners, high-powered lobbying firm: $2,200 ($250).
Duane Baughman, political consultant now working for Angela Alioto: $550.
Stephen Besser, retired lobbyist: $500.
Michael Bozzini, assistant controller of the Bohemian Club: $100.
Willie Brown, mayor of San Francisco: $500.
Ron Burkle, president of the Yucaipa companies and a major Democratic Party donor: ($5,000).
Building Owners and Managers Association, San Francisco PAC: $600.
John and Frances Bowes, chair of toy manufacturer Kransco, and his wife: $2,950 ($500).
Susie Tompkins Buell, Esprit founder: $2,000 ($1,500).
James Campen, Green Bay Packers player: $500.
Ann Moller Caen, San Francisco public utilities commissioner: $2,000.
Catholic Healthcare West: $2,200.
San Francisco Chamber of Commerce: $1,199 ($100).
Chevron Texaco: $2,500 ($20,000).
Committee on Jobs: $500 ($220,100).
Anne Marie Conroy, Treasure Island administrator: $300.
M. Denise DeBartolo York and John C. York II, owners of the San Francisco 49ers and DeBartolo Corp.: $800.
Erin Moore, Edison Schools' vice president of sales: $500.
Shawn Estes, Chicago Cubs player: $500.
Paul B. Fay, former undersecretary of the Navy: $2,100 ($200).
William Ferguson, CEO of Washington, D.C., lobbying firm the Ferguson Group: $500.
The Fisher family, Gap tycoons: $8,750 ($3,150).
Stanlee Gatti, interior designer: $6,125.
The Getty family: $8,350 ($240).
The Haas family, Levi's tycoons: $1,500 ($1,000).
Kirk Hammett, member of Metallica: $300.
HMS Associates, Marcia Smolens' lobbying firm: $1,000, ($1,000).
Maurice Kanbar, chair of Skyy Spirits: ($10,000).
J. Anthony Kline, California Appeals Court judge: $250.
Los Angeles Police Protective League PAC: $500.
Howard Leach, U.S. ambassador to France: $1,500.
Legally Blonde Productions: $500.
McEvoy family, former owners of the San Francisco Chronicle: $3,500 ($2,250).
Robert J. McCarthy, land-use attorney: $1,00 ($500).
Family of Rep. Nancy Pelosi: ($2,500).
Plan C, San Francisco political action committee: ($7,500).
Pacific Gas and Electric Co.: $1,750 ($10,000).
Project Open Hand: $400.
Platinum Advisors: $2,500 ($5,400).
Bob Ross, Bay Area Reporter publisher: $1,000.
Kevin Ryan, U.S. attorney: $250.
San Francisco 49ers: $1,000.
San Francisco Giants: $1,800 ($1,100).
San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs Association: $1,000 ($1,000).
San Francisco Realtors PAC: $1,500.
San Francisco Apartment Association: $1,000 ($5,000).
Charles and Helen Schwab: $1,500 ($2,500).
Charles and Charlotte Maillard Schultz: $2,000 ($1,000).
The Shorenstein family: $6,615 ($2,500).
John and Lucretia Sias, former Chronicle publisher and wife: $2,550 ($550).
Solem and Associates, lobbying firm: $1,500 ($5,360).
The Swig family: $7,400 ($4,250).
The Thieriot family, former owners of the Chronicle: $6,500. Michael Tilson Thomas, director of the San Francisco Symphony: $500.
Viacom: $500 ($5,000).
Charles E. Williams, founder of Williams-Sonoma: $600.
Western Exhibitors, company that organizes trade shows in S.F.: $1,250 ($25,000).
Law office of Andrew Zacks, landlord attorney: $1,850 ($500).

 

Hotels and restaurants
$134,650 to Newsom, $74,113 to Care Not Cash

Gavin Newsom, who is a lead investor in two restaurants and one nightclub in San Francisco, has always enjoyed the backing of the hospitality industry. But that support increased significantly when he drafted and campaigned for Care Not Cash. –Restaurants and hotels, which had donated about $5,000 and $9,000, respectively, to his previous two campaigns, shelled out more than $70,000 for that campaign. The industry, catering to tourists and the city's well-heeled, has a direct interest in "cleaning up" the streets of San Francisco, which is precisely how Care Not Cash was marketed.

Goodwill from the hospitality industry seems to be persisting. Hotels, restaurants, and their owners and managers have donated about $100,000 to Newsom's mayoral treasure chest. And while they may be supporting Newsom because he's one of them, hotel and restaurant owners also have an interest in holding down the hotel tax, maintaining city programs to promote tourism, and ensuring health inspections don't get more burdensome.

Bimbo's 365 Club, seafood stalwart Scoma's, North Beach landmark Tosca, and the Hotel Nikko have been consistent Newsom supports, as have as the following:

The Golden Gate Restaurant Association

The 65-year-old lobbying arm of the city's food-service industry represents many – though not all – of the city's restaurants, bars, and caterers. The Golden Gate Restaurant Association has historically used its political action committee to promote candidates who are receptive to its general political platform, and at no time was its political muscle more apparent that during Mayor Willie Brown's reelection campaign.

The GGRA raised tens of thousands in soft money for Brown. It also gave to each of Newsom's supervisorial campaigns and directed $15,478 to Care Not Cash in monetary and nonmonetary donations. Since the measure's passage, it funded an extensive billboard campaign thanking Newsom and urging the measure's implementation by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

The GGRA, which did not return calls, has some policy objectives it's sure to communicate to Newsom if he wins the election. It has come out against a living-wage requirement that would increase wait-staff wages, generally opposes higher business taxes, and would like the streets of San Francisco to be as clean as possible – even if that means using draconian tactics against the homeless.

The Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group

This San Francisco-based company pioneered a strategy, now adopted by several others, of buying run-down but conveniently located properties and converting them into fashionable boutique hotels. And it tested this approach in San Francisco, frequently with residential hotels where it forced out tenants. The Villa Florence, for example, was once home to some of San Francisco's poorest residents. Now the Powell Street property is instead "a celebration of Italy on Union Square."

One tenant activist told us Kimpton did more to reduce residential hotel space in San Francisco than any other entity – and was a major reason such conversions were eventually banned. Kimpton now owns 16 hotels here, including the Hotel Monaco, the Sir Francisco Drake, and the Hotel Triton. Among its 12 S.F. restaurants are Postrio, Kuleto's, and the Grand Café.

Kimpton divisions and employees donated $4,500 to Newsom's 1998 supervisorial campaign and $2,900 to Care Not Cash. Only one employee has so far donated to the mayoral campaign.

 

The real estate industry
$348,344 to Newsom, $145,750 to Care Not Cash

Though the boom economy has busted and development projects citywide have been slowed or even abandoned, the real estate industry is still an extremely powerful political force in San Francisco. And industry heavies have made it abundantly clear who they want in the mayor's office when the next boom comes and developers need permits and favors from city hall. A few companies stand out:

AMB Properties

AMB Properties has no obvious reason for being interested in city politics, beyond the fact that it's headquartered here. While it owns 1,005 industrial-use properties, not one is in San Francisco proper.

Yet the company's three partners – Douglas D. Abbey, Hamid R. Moghadam, and T. Robert Burke – donated $5,000 to the Care Not Cash campaign. Moghadam gave Newsom another $2,000.

AMB spokesperson Lauren Barr said the company itself never makes political donations but partners and employees support "candidates who will be supportive of growth, economic competitiveness, and the quality of life that affects our clients and employees. It's nothing more than that."

But AMB, which is a real estate investment trust, also has some other, less visible reasons that it might want to be in good stead with city officials. For one, San Francisco's city employee retirement system has invested with AMB since 1994. The portfolio that AMB manages for the system is currently worth $323 million.

AMB also holds the master lease from the Port of San Francisco for Pier 1, which it has redeveloped. The company then leases back office space there to the port. According the city controller, AMB made at least $7.5 million from this arrangement between 2000 and 2003.

Shorenstein Co.

One of the nation's most established real estate firms, Shorenstein Co. owns some 20 million square feet of office space across the country. Shorenstein is also the largest commercial landlord in San Francisco, owning at least part of nine major downtown buildings.

It's hard to find a local developer with more political sway. In 2001, Mother Jones magazine named former company president Walter Shorenstein as the 18th-biggest Democratic donor in the country.

Shorenstein has been perhaps the most powerful single force in favor of allowing developers maximum freedom, and has benefited from tax assessment reductions from the city for years.

The company and family members have given $4,915 to Newsom's campaigns since 1998. Shorenstein Co. declined to comment.

The Swig family

Members of the Swig family and their employees have given $7,400 to Newsom over the years. They also spent $4,250 on Care Not Cash.

The Swigs have long been a powerful force in the city. Benjamin Swig, who bought the Fairmont and the St. Francis hotels in the 1940s, was the driving force behind the razing of low-income housing South of Market to make room for the hotel industry's dream: a giant convention center.

His descendants have basically checked out of the hotel business and sold their stake in the Fairmont in 1998. But the family's Swig Co. owns 12 notable buildings across the country and several large office properties in San Francisco, including the Mills Building on Montgomery Street. It also owns, according to its Web site, "several development sites in the heart of San Francisco's financial district." The Swig Co. declined to comment.

Zephyr Real Estate

There was a time when Zephyr was notorious around San Francisco for using strong-arm tactics to evict tenants. Back in the mid-to-late '90s, Zephyr even bragged on flyers about how booting tenants increases property values - they termed it "the value of vacancy."

And Zephyr hasn't been shy in trying to change laws to fit its financial interests. The company backed the 1998 effort to partially repeal rent control and helped bankroll the 2000 campaign against a ballot measure that aimed to stem the tide of evictions. Seven different Zephyr brokers, including president Bill Drypolcher, gave a total of $1,350 to Newsom's campaigns and $1,350 to Care Not Cash.

"I think he'd make the best mayor," Drypolcher said. "I don't know if he'll help us."

Research assistance by Savannah Blackwell, Shane Fahy, Anthony Ha, Sharon Luk, Alex Posorske, and George Schultz.