So earlier today, we heard that Alex Tourk resigned as Gavin's campaign manager. It was a bit curious, a bit odd, but these things happen, although whenever somebody mentions that they are leaving for "personal reasons" the mind does tend to go to certain places. But no matter where your mind wandered, we have a feeling it didn't wander as far as what really happened because the Chron is reporting that Tourk quit mainly because Gavin had an affair with Tourk's wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk. Rippey-Tourk (and woah, what a name) was Gavin's appointments secretary at the time.
Today, Tourk confronted Gavin after his wife told him of the affair. Thus the quitting. She told him because she was in a substance abuse program and had to tell him as part of the program. The affair happened about a year ago while Gavin was in the midst of divorce proceedings with Kimberly. It was supposedly short.
Man, and we thought SFist Gate was the big scandal this week. Guess not. And we think it is an understatement to say that it does not look good at all for the Mayor. Not good at all....
If you want to see what the reaction is like now, check out SFGate's Local News Blog.
Here's an update-- Apparently, there were rumors all over City Hall the past six months about something like this happening. There are also rumors out there from everything from a harassment suit being filed to Gavin resigning to pregnancy rumors. Oy vey.
Tourk was a pretty high up there guy and pretty tight with Gavin, even hanging out socially with him. Among other things, he was the guy who came up with Project Homeless Connect and did some serious fund raising.
As for Ruby, she is a a weekly radio host for a radio show for Benefit Magazine here in the city (check out the magazine covers of the recent editions). Also, she likes hand bags.
And finally, this has hit Drudge so batten your hatches. Ten bucks says Fox News will be in overdrive tomorrow and if you could have a dime for everytime they say the words "San Francisco Values" you'd be a Rich Man. Daidle deedle daidle Daidle daidle deedle daidle dum.
Uhh, sorry, it's late.
Screen cap of Ruby Rippey-Tourk on "View From the Bay" from the ABC 7 news site.
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What a sleaze ball. I wouldn't be surprised if he was humping sexy unpaid interns as well.
When will San Francisco get the a real mayor? Tired of his style of governing the City by press release and flashy press conferences.
i've been refreshing for like, a half hour to see when you'd put this up...
...and this is what commentary we get?!?!
Oh, geez. I can't wait 'til this gets blown out of proportion.
Here's a juicy comment from sfwall.net... no doubt Newsom and Ragone are hitting the bottle tonight!
Yeeeeeeeeee-haaaaaaaawwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The mayoral race just went from a Newsom slamdunk victory to an actual, god-honest race. Bwahahahahahahaha.
Its going to be sooooooo enjoyable watching that do-nothing, smug pretty boy learn a hard lesson about being a big city mayor - at the end of the day, you really do need to have accomplished something more than a series of press events.
Run Matt run!
FCJ is saying she's going for a sexual harassment lawsuit as well. I guess we know what he's been hiding now.
REVELATIONS TODAY ... REHAB TOMORROW
Boring and predictable.
Lean times are ahead for the city's liquor stores and coke dealers.
Where for art thou Matt?
". . . humping sexy unpaid interns as well"
Now that's a fantastic idea! Reminder to self: Implement tomorrow.
So what exactly is the line of succession if Newsome resigns? Does Peskin become Mayor, or is somebody else in line before him?
From an taxi internet list (quoted material):
"When I was driving for City Cab I answered a radio call at Plump Jack on Friday night. The car park guy went inside to check for me and came back out and asked me to wait while the patron finished his after dinner drink. I turned on the meter and waited for about 10 minutes and finally asked the car guy to check again. He came back a couple of minutes later and said that the customer had decided to have another drink and that I could go.
I asked who was going to pay the $7 or 8 dollars on the meter and refused to leave until someone paid since they asked me to wait. The car park guy went inside again and a few more minutes ticked away. Finally Gavin came out and told me to leave before he called the police.
This was before his political career started but, I already knew exactly how he felt about service providers based on the way he treated me."
Have we forgotten the man who was mayor before Gavin? Willie Brown didn't have questionable romantic trysts EVER. Maybe Gavin's problem is he's tried (or folks like Byorn Ragone have tried) too hard to appear ethical. Willie had a history of being perceived as sleazy and corrupt before he became mayor, thus if something like this had happened to Willie, everyone would be shrugging, "What did you expect?"
Re: the cabbie story -- this sounds WAY bogus. A clean-cut guy in his what -- 20s? -- comes out and tells a cabbie that if he doesn't leave, he's gonna call the cops?! For what? By what authority?! Pffff... Any cabbie I know would've told this whippersnapper to fuck off and get the guy who's been on his meter for 10 minutes (which would be more like $15, by SF rates).
Holy Crap that was my reaction when I saw it on the news tonight
Anyone remember the heidigate.com site? There has been speculation that Heidi had something over on Gavin in order to force Gavin to take the extreme measure of firing the Taxi Commission when they fired their executive director last summer. After all she was his "aide" when he was supervisor.
Well, apparently the thief (Bettencourt) is back working in the Taxi Commission office doing "contract" work and approximately $100,000 in extra cash has been earmarked in the upcoming budget for Heidi to use as she wishes.
More Ragone:
Google:
Ragone TIC Ellis Act
If Matt Gonzalez runs again I'm starting a pool to pick what he will quit this time after he loses. $25 a pick.
I heard it was anal sex, and they were high on cocaine.
Given that Feinstein took over when Moscone was shot, I'd assume Peskin would take over in the event of a resignation. Unless provisions have been made since that time for a special election instead.
If I were Newsom, I think I'd just decline to run for re-election, rather than "resign in disgrace" (which is the phrase that would forever and ever attach to him). Ten years from now he could try for elected office again, if he wanted, after he was sensibly remarried... if he just waits out the rest of this term, that is. He has NO future if he resigns.
I arrived a Gavin Newsom's campaign headquarters during his first mayoral campaign, to volunteer. While taking a tour of the office with the Volunteer Coordinator, I was introduced to Alex Tourk, who leered at me during the introduction in a way more crass and direct manner than a New York construction worker ever did. Granted, Tourk was only engaged to his fiance at the time, but I don't doubt there was betrayal of various kinds on both sides of that marriage. I suspect he resigned to save face, nothing more.
Comments on this story are so going to be like partying on New Year's Eve, amateur hour all the way.
Look, get a grip! All the grave pronouncements about Newsom being done so miss the point. Newsom has always been about spinning. He's just going to get out in front of the cameras looking all sexy with his bedroom eyes and stand there with Peter Ragone whispering in his ear...
HOLY SHIT! Wait a minute, you could all be right!
God. I really like Gavin, but he makes it pretty hard, lately.
Why is this even news?!?!? What is the fascination in the US with other people's sexual activities?!?! I would expect that in San Francisco, of all places, that this would be greeted with a smile and ignored for more pressing issues.
I think everyone here is letting Gavin's dirty laundry mislead you into believing this will somehow sway his political supporters, and frankly I don't think it will...and why should it? This is, after all, a city that likes to fuck. And there are puh-lenty of people in this city, including some of you, who have cheated at one time or the other on your girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, wives, husbears, lesbiwives, significant others, fuckbuddies, or whathaveyou. This is not the town that goes wagging it's finger at fucking on the side, so all of you hold your horses.
Anyone who's going to beat Newsom still has to contend with the Democratic party machine and wealthy establishment who put him there, and will keep him there until a replacement they like comes along - but don't think for one minute they care about any of this shit.
I hear you, Kevin, and I would normally agree and not care who he was sleeping with. Lord knows he's had questionable taste in the past. But banging your own campaign manager's wife? That's pretty messed up. Let's be real - it's hard to like someone after that, even when you know it's not relevant to their work.
The prudishness irony here is how the mayors office is trying to block the Kink.com SF Armory purchase!
Yeah, it's messed up Chris. No doubt about that. All I'm saying is that it's not the most messed up you can get, especially for this town.
Let's put things in perspective here, shall we?
What would be more politically damaging to Gavin in San Francisco: everyone finding out about him screwing his campaign manager's wife while he was in the midst of a divorce (initiated by his ex-wife - sympathy points from the straight guy vote there)?
Or ditching the next AIPAC meeting in favor of holding a reception/book signing for Jimmy Carter's new book? (And please, don't even go there, okay? You know what I'm talking about.)
If Alex needs arms to run to, mine are open.
Fine, so we now know that Gavin's a pretty ordinary guy and has done something that hundreds of thousands of American guys have done.
Anything illegal? No. Anything immoral, dishonest, or plain ole tacky? Perhaps.
Okay, I think this thing has had its fifteen minutes of fame. Can we move onto more important matters?
So much for the rumors that the mayor is gay.
Wake up people, it's not about Newsom having an affair. He had an affair with an employee who also happened to be married to yet another employee. Alex Tourk was his freaking campaign manager!?!?! This is how loyalty is rewarded by Mayor Newsom?
Hello, can you say gigantic mistake of judgment and betrayal of loyalty? All breaking on the day that Peter Ragone admits that he was lying when he told Dan Noyes, "Absolutely not. Absolutely not." on the subject of attacking critics and reporters?
Sure the public's expectations tend to be low on integrity and ethics in its elected officials. But sorry, Marion Barry wasn't elected in San Francisco.
Who is going to help bail him out? Mr. Newsom could not protect AnneMarie Conroy. Now he's done this to his campaign manager. What moron would be loyal to the Mayor after all of this? (Stop bringing up Byorn, damn it!)
Ruby Tourk is the radio host for Benefit Magazine. Here's the ironic cover.
LOL
Argh, I'm not seeing the stupid image.
http://www.benefitmagazinesf.com/cover.gif
Campers,
Now deal with the fact that she 'lost' a baby conceived around this time. You think the Pope will give him a pass on that one?
It could be worse. A past mayor of New York had an affair with an aide. His wife found out and threw him out of the house. Gracie Mansion! Had a restraining order keeping the mayor out of the mayor's mansion! His name was Giuliani and he did OK. Married the aide. Running for president.
Remember what King David did to his best friend and most loyal general? Screwed his wife, then had the best friend put in the front of a charge to be killed. At least Gavin hasn't had Tourk killed. Yet.
h.
What's the deal with Benefits magazine? Are they the halfway house for Mayor Newsom's exes? I mean, Brittanie Whatsherbucket works there too!
And , for all those fantasizing about a Mayor Gonzalez, please do recall that despite all the wheels coming off the bus with Newsom's team (who really deserve a high five from all us blogging shmos for providing more material to work with), Newsom still has like, over a million bucks in the bank.
Hello! Having an affair is not the issue here.
Committing an ethics violation by having an affair with a subordinate is the issue. Dennis Herrera will likely have to investigate the allegations. If they're true, then Mayor Newsom essentially broke a City Ethics Law - i.e. he committed a crime.
...yes, even though they're consenting adults this is considered a 'crime' according the the charter.
The real lasting damage comes if Ruby files a civil suit against the mayor and the city. Remember, she was an employee, Gavin was her superior, they had sex, then she left her job. Whatever the circumstances are, if a suit is filed every person in the mayor's office will have their deposition taken - under oath and under penalty of perjury. Realistically I do not see any way he can run a campaign while he and everyone in his office are being deposed on a weekly basis - that fact alone will keep it in the papers week after week. Gavin exposed the mayor's office and the City to some serious civil (i.e. financial) liability here. Morality aside there truly are laws involved here. my guess is that they reach a confidential (and substantial) financial settlement asap.
Now I'm no expert on recovery, but from what I understand the whole honesty thing can be handled with a little more subtlety than what appears to have happened here. Assuming she's working the steps, you are given a pardon on making direct amends that might hurt other people.
She could have at least let Gavin know that she was going to come clean to her husband, and involved him in the discussion, for instance. I can't imagine any of this mess is helping her to stay clean and sober.
maddog: Not sure if City Attorney Herrera will seek legal action against Newsom... Brown had sex with a subordinate, got her pregnant and she kept the kid. I don't think Brown faced any legal action.
"...Tourk and Newsom have been friends for years and frequently socialized outside work...."
-sfgate
Callous betrayal of friends and supporters?
gosh where have I seen this before...
"...the only person who thought Rob Black would win was Rob BLack..."
-sfgate
TE Lawrence: Willie Brown's fundraiser was an independent contractor, not a City employee. Thus, Willie Brown was her client. Plus, she never had to leave her job, never had to go to rehab, etc. etc.
This is obviously a contrived scandal invented by Gavin, Ragone and Tourke to quash the rumors that Gavin is gay, which surfaced as his "marriage" of electoral convenience to Kimberly Guilfoyle (sp?) evaporated a month after his election.
I don;t know why this nitwit Gavin thinks you have to be straight to be elected mayor in SF, but his silly antics to prove he is not gay are going over the top.
Will the voters elect a competant uncorrupt person for once?
Gavinwatch.blogspot.com is down, could it be a denial of service attack by a Newsom supporter or are a ton of people trying to get on their site?
stp: then maybe we'll see this play out in the courts.
This is going to blow over, Gavins approvals are going to go from 70% to 60% for a while, and then go back up. No San Francisco politician is going to lose over sex. Now will he decided not to run? that is a fair comment, but if he does he wins....
Everything complaining that "its just sex, this San Francico, blah blah blah" is kind of missing the point.
This isn't about sex - it's about integrity. He didn't just have sex with someone, or have just any affair. He slept with a subordinate (a secretary!) who was someone else's spouse, who just so happened also to be, not only an employee, but his campaign manager. I realize everyone thinks SF is Sin City, but its not 1968 anymore around here and, even if it was, the majority of the public actually kinda take the whole "vows of marriage" stuff kind of seriously.
Now, this COULD all blow over is the Gavster had something to fall back on. But he doesn't. He can't point to any major accomplishment since he's been Mayor. His Care Not Cash scheme pre-dates him being Mayor. The gay marriage thing is pretty far in the past, and since the courts overruled him, it look half like a publicity stunt at this point. Project Homeless Connect? - a once a month volunteer-a-thon is NOT something to hang your hat on, esp. given it doesn't seem to have visibly improved things.
Rudy Giuliani had an affair - yes. But no one cared because there were rumors of it for a while, and more importantly, Rudy was already a perceived by New Yorkers as a major prick anyways. But voters were willing to overlook his faults because he was seen as having completley cleaned up New York. There were massively visible signs of improvement in terms of street crime as well as the general cleanliness, appearance, etc. of the streets of New York. The lights, literally, were back on Broadway.
Same thing with Slick Willy - the public thought he was a slimy, back room operator. But, he also got shit done. Willie got those deals and bundles of fundings like nobody's business. Again, he DID things.
Gavin, despite what his supporters crow, has been pretty much an empty suit his entire mayoralty. Those high approval ratings have no real support - its one reason why he had no coattails in the last election - his guts lost and instead the public elected Fidel Castro and the second coming of Tony Hall. He cuts deals for community benefits from developers and then individual supervisors like Daly turn around and cut better deals behind his back. The union strike at the hotels lasted forever, and Gavin's "help" to the union was pretty much useless. He's all hat and no cattle.
That's why this is such a bigger deal for him that it might otherwise be. He's all image. Without that, he's got nothing.
The public, slow on the uptake, is still smarter than the average snarky pundit.
As someone who worked on the mayor's campaign four years ago and was a big supporter, this news of this affair with his campaign managers wife, is a major disappointment. This guy could have dated any single woman he wanted, why did he find it necessary to betray Alex Tourk and do this? This is a sign of a real character flaw. Many of us felt and still feel the necessity of having a moderate in the mayor's office to temper the so-called "progressives" on the Board of Supervisors. If Gavin goes and we end up with Peskin as mayor or even worse, Matt Gonzalez, you can kiss San Francisco's quality of life and economy goodbye. I suppose the only good thing about this scandal from Newsom's perspective is that it happened in January and not October. Whether he can turn this around and survive will be a real test of his political skills or lack thereof.
The City attorney won't seek legal action against Gavin, but Ruby Tourk can. If she does this situation moves from "sex scandal" to civil lawsuit - the judgment for which will be paid for with taxpayer dollars. Even if they reach some confidential settlement through negotiation in advance of her actually filing a lawsuit, every mayoral candidate will be screaming to find out how much this affair cost the City and taxpayers. His bad judgment could cost the City millions. That is relevant, much more so that a simple sex scandal. If Ruby and Alex had been private citizens this would barely be news. But Gavin made the decision to sleep with a subordinate while in public office. Bad, bad decision. This is all going to be about his judgment.
As someone who worked on the mayor's campaign four years ago and was a big supporter, this news of this affair with his campaign managers wife, is a major disappointment. This guy could have dated any single woman he wanted, why did he find it necessary to betray Alex Tourk and do this? This is a sign of a real character flaw. Many of us felt and still feel the necessity of having a moderate in the mayor's office to temper the so-called "progressives" on the Board of Supervisors. If Gavin goes and we end up with Peskin as mayor or even worse, Matt Gonzalez, you can kiss San Francisco's quality of life and economy goodbye. I suppose the only good thing about this scandal from Newsom's perspective is that it happened in January and not October. Whether he can turn this around and survive will be a real test of his political skills or lack thereof.
That's what we should expect for voting for Gavin in the first place. For as much as San Franciscans like to think of ourselves as sophisticated, but you Gavinists voted for him on looks and charm alone. I guess we're not that much different than middle america? Let me ask you this, what the hell as he done while in office? Any major accomplishments? What happened to the passionate commitment to solving the homless problem? He's just another typical Marina frat boy who's a little more articulate. I hope this scandal bites him in his ass hard.
yeah i know about the 9th step. but hey, the rumors were circulating for months, it would have been a graver injustice if ruby did NOT tell alex. takes a lot of balls to tell when she knew she wouldn't look good in this. who should she protect, alex or gavin?
ABC 7 will stream the mayor's news conference live at 11:30:
Comments can be sent to the Mayor's new site for his re-election campaign, presumably set up by Alex, at the following address:-
info@actlocallysf
My 2 cents.
Dear Alex,
A cruel and despicable betrayal. As on old Texan compadre of mine used to say.
"Buddy-fucking is unacceptable behavior".
I sincerely hope you and your family find a way to work through this and find resolution. It sounds like Ruby is confronting her 'issues', and I know from personal experience how much we need the support, understanding and forgiveness of those we love at such a time. You don't know me but I wish you all well.
To the Chicken. RESIGN OR GET PLUCKED !!
Patrick Monk.RN. Noe Valley.