Newsom “Discovers” that the Personal is Political

The latest salvo is the report prepared by Harvey Rose, the Board’s longtime budget analyst, which revealed that the mayor has redirected over $1 million annually from such city departments as MUNI and the Human Services Agency to his personal staff. Newsom leaked the report to the media last Friday, and claimed that his practice of funding staff through other agency budgets is a longstanding tradition. He argued that Rose’s report, while “technically accurate,” was driven by “personal” rather than policy concerns. Is the mayor really suggesting that politicians are often driven by personal agendas? Next we’ll learn that campaign donations influence votes. The Rose report is obviously an outgrowth of Newsom’s often very personal criticisms of Board President Aaron Peskin and other Supervisors. But the mayor erred by dragging Harvey Rose into the fray, and has now opened himself up to questions over his own pursuit of personal agendas -- such as his attacks on Peskin, and strong opposition to any measures sponsored by Supervisor Chris Daly.

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