Newsom (Again) Flouts the Democratic Process

by Paul Hogarth via Beyond Chron

Thu, Oct 22, 2009 6:20AM

Thursday, October 22, 2009 : After a veto-proof majority of the Board of Supervisors voted this week to give due process rights to immigrant youth, Mayor Gavin Newsom said he would just tell the police to ignore the ordinance. To blatantly flout our system of checks and balances undermines the democratic process we are told to respect, and sends an awful message to the hundreds of kids who came to City Hall – many for the first time – to lobby their elected officials on this measure.

Sadly, this is not the first time Newsom has abused his power as Mayor – just because the outcome did not go his way. Newsom refused in 2006 to abide by a voter-approved policy to meet with the Board once a month, and in 2007 said he would not spend affordable housing money that the Supervisors appropriated. What good is our democratic process if we have an executive who acts like the legislative branch does not matter, and what kind of precedent does that set if Newsom becomes Governor?

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