Alioto announces "partnership" with Newsom - This shows how DESPARATE Newsom is

Alioto announces "partnership" with Newsom
She would oversee homelessness, public power programs.
By J.K. Dineen Of The Examiner Staff
jdineen [at] examiner.com
Published on Monday, November 24, 2003

Mayoral candidate Gavin Newsom said Monday that civil rights attorney Angela Alioto would act as vice mayor if he were elected, an announcement that sent a jolt through The City's political landscape.

The unprecedented partnership comes three weeks after Alioto, a former supervisor and daughter of the late mayor Joe Alioto, finished third in the general election.

Since then Alioto has been agonizing over whether to endorse Matt Gonzalez or Newsom for mayor. In the end, Alioto said, she was swayed was Gonzalez's Green Party registration as well as the offer by Newsom, a Democrat, to make her a "partner" in his administration should he win.

Alioto and Newsom said they had not settled on a title for her position, but are considering "vice mayor."

"It's up to the city attorney to describe the partnership," she said.

Newsom, who said he meet three times for over "10 hours" to hammer out a partnership, said that Alioto, as a successful civil rights attorney who has settled huge discrimination cases, "does not need a city job," but added that the passionate advocate "does need to participate in a full partnership."

For nearly a year on the campaign trail leading to the general election, Alioto constantly attacked Newsom's controversial approach to ending homeless cash payments, calling him "the biggest panhandler in San Francisco." The acrimonious comments bothered the Newsom campaign so much that staffers followed around Alioto during the final months of the campaign so they could track what she said.

Monday morning Alioto called her decision "excruciating." She said she received more than 1,500 e-mails urging her to endorse either Newsom or Gonzalez.

"Dante has a special layer in hell - even before you get to the gates of hell - for people who remain neutral," she said.

She said she agreed to a deal where she would have certain authority to "administer" Proposition J, her plan to reinvent The City's homeless shelters. She said she would use her position to fight "sole source" contracting and to promote public power.

In a rambling speech about party affiliation, Alioto said as former vice chairwoman of the state Democratic Party, who "knocked on doors from San Diego to the Oregon border" to register Democrats, she could not support a Green.

"I believe Matt Gonzalez is party building - it's great for him, but not so great for me as a San Francisco Democrat," she said.

Newsom said that he and Alioto "share the same goals" of "getting away from the shelter system" and "moving toward energy self-sufficiency."

"This city needs Angela Alioto," he said. "I as mayor need Angela Alioto."

Asked if the partnership will resemble "Bill and Hillary in the early days of the Clinton administration" Alioto and Newsom both laughed and Alioto said there would be "probably more fighting" between she and a Mayor Newsom.

"You will see Angela Alioto speaking out a lot," she said. "You will not see Angela Alioto getting censured - that is not something you'll see in this lifetime."

At least one former Alioto aide said he was outraged by her endorsement of Newsom. Ace Washington, who was Alioto's bodyguard and is now working for the Gonzalez camp, called the deal "a slap in our face."

"I'm so disgusted it's ridiculous," he said. "All the black people who worked so hard on her campaign are so disappointed in Angela."

But at least some Newsom supporters were pleased with the Alioto endorsement. U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez, (D-Garden Grove), said Alioto's backing proved his commitment to "advancing and enhancing the role of women in the betterment of the City of San Francisco and our state."

The Gonzalez campaign called a 3 p.m. press conference to address the endorsement.