Controversial, charismatic and energetic, Newsom, who turned 40 last week, was said to have a Camelot quality when he swept into the mayor's job in early 2004. Four years later, that same quality appears to have helped him rise above stumbles that could have crippled other politicians.
In a far-ranging interview last week, Newsom said he is approaching his second term having learned important life and political lessons. Yet he promises to be an even "more audacious" leader going forward. He said emerging from his recent personal troubles -- which included painful public admissions nine months ago of an affair with a mayoral assistant who was married to a close friend and counseling for alcohol use -- has brought more focus to his life and job.
"There are not many second chances. It has given me clarity, focus," Newsom said. "It has made me feel I am more emboldened to be myself and more audacious and more authentic. And people may not like it."
Politics in San Francisco has never been for the faint-hearted. But Newsom arguably has raised the bar: A run-at-the-mouth politician who thrives on damning the status quo and even criticizing his own Democratic colleagues, he also carefully crafts a persona of convention-buster with a heart.
His first term was punctuated by unorthodox initiatives that sparked national debate on whether to give gays the right to marry and how to solve homeless and health care crises. And it was pockmarked by the sex scandal, by high-profile failures to land the Olympics and free citywide Wi-Fi from Google -- and by plans for the 49ers to decamp to Santa Clara.
But Newsom refuses to lay down his sword. After his plan to roll out free wireless Internet access was derided by his own Board of Supervisors, who maintained it was tilted toward private partners Google and EarthLink, Newsom now says he is working on a new strategy -- but won't confirm if Google is a partner this time. Meanwhile, a proposition on the November ballot asks the public to stake out a plan for a public-private Wi-Fi partnership.
Criticized for ignoring the 49ers last year, and now under pressure from high-powered San Franciscans set on keeping the team, he has brought in respected former team president Carmen Policy to smooth ruffled feathers.
"We're going to do everything we to keep the 49ers, and we have a viable plan for the 49ers. They consider it a back-up plan; we don't," Newsom said.
With the help of Sen. Dianne Feinstein and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the city has rounded up several hundred million in federal money to clean up the planned 49ers site and accompanying development near the Hunters Point neighborhood. But even Newsom admitted new appropriations are needed to finish the cleanup from the former Navy shipyard there.
His backers, notably the business community, say he's an asset to the city, marketing its strengths to a variety of new digital media, biotech and clean-tech businesses.
"He's a great communicator," said Steve Falk, president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, which generally backs Newsom's initiatives.
But on some of the social agendas, Falk added: "We think he needs to find more focus."
It's a criticism many of the city's more liberal-minded residents would echo.
"He's put a human face on a lot of the city's problems," said Theresa Sparks, who was elected president of the San Francisco Police Commission over
Newsom's candidate. For instance, although the gay marriage question is now in the hands of the California Supreme Court, Newsom's move to legalize them arguably helped convince Democratic politicians -- even on the presidential level -- to embrace civil unions.
But Sparks leavens her praise with critiques of Newsom's motives. "I think maybe there is too much emphasis on the political side of his job," she said. "How it affects my power and my career."
Newsom did win praise from the left for his plan, concocted with liberal supervisor Tom Ammiano, to make businesses pay into a pot for universal health care for city residents. Which prompts the question: Is it easier to be bold in a liberal bastion?
He hesitates, then finally agrees he probably does get extra leeway. "But so what? So I did it, as opposed to thought it."
Now, as he is poised to embark on ambitious clean-energy and universal health care crusades, he's added battling poverty to the list. In recent months, he's stepped up city initiatives to deal with panhandlers. With some concrete evidence that the number of homeless in San Francisco is declining, he is enlisting non-profits, business and foundations in many of his plans -- in addition to spending tens of millions to rebuild public housing. And he condemns other politicians for not being as bold as he.
"Of course it's ridiculously audacious to say a mayor is going to solve, after 40 or 50 years of the war on poverty, the problem locally in a few years. I mean, it's ridiculous," Newsom said. "But why not be audacious? And why not try things?"
But on the issue of rising homicides in his city, the mayor says he is somewhat powerless: Some have condemned him for not ordering more police on foot patrols. He says he's calling in as much help as he can get.
"Increasingly, the job that mayors are compelled to do is to put a Band-Aid because of lack of resources in this war on poverty," he said.
By many measures, the city is in better shape than when Newsom took over in January 2004. Tourism and businesses, derailed in the wake of Sept. 11 and the dot-com bust, have come back, bolstering city coffers to record heights -- and silencing many Newsom critics.
Even so, jobs have not returned to boom levels. And one of Newsom's biggest banes, the disappearance of the city's middle-class, continues as housing prices shoot ever higher and parents worry about the public schools.
And even as the city has rebounded over the past year, Newsom has faced his biggest personal crisis. The now-divorced mayor admitted to an affair with a staffer, who was the wife of his good friend and then-campaign manager. Shortly thereafter, Newsom announced he was seeking treatment for alcohol abuse. (He says he no longer drinks.)
Political opponents, however, were unable to capitalize on the mayor's vulnerability. Prominent liberal politicians in San Francisco declined to enter the mayor's race, leaving Newsom to face a handful of longshot candidates.
"I'm so lucky to be where I am today. So I have no regrets," he said. "I've made mistakes, and I've said I've learned from them. I don't look at mistakes as failure."
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(c) 2007, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.). Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via Newscom.
