Behind Alioto's move to endorse Newsom
A strange political marriage is off to a rocky start.

By Steven T. Jones

CIVIL RIGHTS LAWYER Angela Alioto shocked progressives Nov. 24 with her decision to endorse downtown-backed mayoral candidate Gavin Newsom, but this strange marriage is already off to a rocky start.

Alioto told the Bay Guardian, both by phone and e-mail, that Newsom promised her she would be the "vice mayor" in charge of three key policy areas: homelessness, contract reform, and public power. But while Newsom said she would play a significant role in his administration, his campaign denied that role has been formalized or is anything close to what it's been billed as by Alioto.

The stories could hardly be more contradictory. "He made me 'vice mayor' of homelessness, public power and sole source contracts that are corrupt," Alioto wrote us. "He told everyone here and it is out in the open more than the sun itself. I told him he would regret this, because I am doing [public power] and homelessness on day one."

But that's not what Newsom's spokesperson says. "We have offered Angela nothing, certainly not a job at City Hall," campaign press aide John Shanley told us.

Shanley said Newsom had "talked about having her chair a task force on some of these subjects" and denied Alioto's suggestion that the agreement has been formalized in writing. "She trusts Gavin Newsom because she has to, because there is no written contract."

Alioto, reached by phone later in the day, stuck to her position. "I will have the power to enact my two plans [homelessness and public power] and to scrutinize the contracts," she said.

The press conference language itself could be open to either interpretation. Alioto, with Newsom by her side, said she would "endorse Gavin Newsom in partnership where I would participate in this administration to administer my homeless plan, my public power plan, and scrutinize and investigate the sole-source contracts in this city."

Newsom smiled and nodded and said they had reached an important agreement during 10 hours of meetings over the last two weeks. "We may differ on how to get from point A to point B, but we both share the same goals and the same ends," Newsom said.

Independent authority over these issues was something Alioto demanded of both Newsom and candidate Matt Gonzalez in exchange for her endorsement, and it's what she says she would have under Newsom once the details of this new role get worked out with the City Attorney's Office.

It was an offer she first presented to Gonzalez during a Nov. 12 lunch meeting at her Pacific Heights home that was also attended by peace activist Father Louis Vitale, Bayview political activist Don Paul, and attorney Randy Shaw.

All four men – and Alioto – confirmed to us that Alioto asked that this unprecedented position be created for her and that she was rebuffed by Gonzalez.

"I said, 'I'm sorry, I can't do that,'" Gonzalez told us Nov. 24, echoing a comment he made to us just after their Nov. 12 meeting. "It would have meant that I couldn't be the kind of mayor I want to be."

Yet by all accounts, the dialogue between Gonzalez and Alioto remained cordial as they discussed how she might play a role in his administration. Also part of the discussion was finding a role in city government for Alioto's son, Joe, which she pushed for and Gonzalez also said he resisted.

Another meeting between Gonzalez and Alioto on Nov. 17 went well, and Gonzalez said his assurance that he would value her input was enough to win the promise of her endorsement. "She said that she would support me with no conditions," Gonzalez said.

Alioto said Gonzalez had finally agreed to the autonomous "vice mayor" condition for her endorsement, a charge Gonzalez vehemently denies.

On the afternoon of Nov. 19, Alioto called the Bay Guardian office and said she would be holding a press conference the following morning to announce her endorsement of Gonzalez. But later that evening she left a phone message for Gonzalez saying "I don't need you to hold my hand, but...." Newsom, Democratic Party state chair Art Torres, and Plumbers Union head Larry Mazzola were on their way over to meet with her.

We don't know exactly what those powerful Democrats told Alioto – a longtime party activist who had expressed misgivings about endorsing a Green, although she shares many policy stands with Gonzalez and had fiercely criticized Newsom's disingenuousness during the campaign – but she canceled the next day's press conference.

When we asked Alioto by e-mail whether she had been promised or threatened with anything, she replied, "They aren't promising me anything and no one threatens me. The problem is that I was vice chair of the [state Democratic] party for eight years."

She cited concerns that "Matt is clearly Green Party building. He told the Harvey Milk Club that he would not, on the spot, endorse Tom [Ammiano, who announced his endorsement of Gonzalez Nov. 24] for reelection. That's serious party building to me."

But then she took a swipe at Newsom and other centrist San Francisco Democrats. "The Dems in San Francisco are Republicans, they aren't Democrats. I spoke to a labor leader today who said that he attended something at Difi's [Sen. Dianne Feinstein's] house recently and he felt like he was at a Republican Party convention. He is sick over the choices in this race, as are a lot of people."

During the campaign, Newsom was the focus of Alioto's most aggressive attacks. And in her endorsement interview with the Bay Guardian, we asked if she would ever consider endorsing Newsom, and she said, "Oh, absolutely not. That's out of the question."

So even though it's always been clear she has some problems with Gonzalez, most politicos thought she would either endorse him or remain neutral.

Paul called the Alioto move "a debased endorsement.... It says that [Newsom] will sell out his concerns for perceived political expediency." Father Vitale, a longtime Alioto family friend and advocate for the homeless, told us he was disappointed by the endorsement. "I feel that her feelings about homelessness would have been better served by supporting Gonzalez."

In a telephone interview after the endorsement announcement, Alioto told us that her dim view of Newsom hasn't changed, and that his tenure as mayor "would be a disaster" – except in the areas of homelessness, public power, and public contract reform, "because I'm in charge."

She acknowledged Newsom could still fire her at will. But she said she doesn't think he would, even though she intends to pursue an agenda that differs markedly from Newsom's, for two reasons: "his credibility, and because I've got the money to recall him if he does."

Alioto, an attorney who has won some multimillion-dollar civil rights judgments, poured nearly a million dollars of her own money into this, her third unsuccessful bid to become mayor. She said her endorsement of Newsom was mostly based on pushing her policy issues, not just her personal ambition, although she admits that was some of it.

"Am I ambitious? Of course I am," Alioto said. "I just ran for mayor and spent a lot of money doing it."

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