Alex Padilla named chairman of Gavin Newsom campaign

Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco named state Sen. Alex Padilla of Pacoima as chairman of his campaign for governor this morning -- and minutes later, Padilla let loose on Newsom’s chief rival, state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown.

Padilla’s attack -- he cast Brown as a relic of the 1970s -- came as Newsom was set to launch a seven-stop tour of Southern California tonight with a forum at Taft High School in Woodland Hills. Newsom and Brown are vying for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in the June primary, although the attorney general has not formally joined the race.

Padilla acknowledged in an interview that Brown, a former California governor and Oakland mayor, is better known than Newsom outside the San Francisco Bay Area.

But “with all due respect,” he added, Californians know Brown “for his time in state leadership decades ago.”

“The world has changed, and the challenges before us are certainly more complex,” Padilla said. “The solutions need to be modern solutions, not old solutions.”

Brown, 71, was governor from 1975 to 1983. He could not be reached for comment, but has brushed off Newsom’s previous attempts to define him as a candidate of the past. Padilla said that Newsom, 41, has “the passion and certainly the energy we need to lead the state in a better direction,” and that Brown does not. 

With Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently opting out of the governor’s race, Newsom and Brown are battling for support in Southern California. Polls have found Brown starting out well ahead of Newsom in the area.

Over the next few weeks, Newsom’s campaign stops are to include South Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange County and San Diego.

-- Michael Finnegan

Photo: State Sen. Alex Padilla. Credit: California government

Comments

[Joe]

Both are big fat lying trouble makers! California needs a fresh, new face in office, Not the same old crooked business as usual thugs! No more taxes and no more stupid laws that only penalize the good citizens and do nothing to stop criminals. Both are good at using smoke and mirrors! Don't be fooled!

[NativeCalifornian]

I guess I will have to wait and see how desperate I am, come voting time. I grew up on the SF penninsula and I do not think SF has the reputation for being well governed. The City sits on a very expensive piece of real estate about the size of the Disney property in Florida. The rest of the Bay Area views SF as a bizarre little City with elitist ideas and a solidly liberal population that allows it to experiment. I'm not sure how a Mayor that has declared San Francisco a sanctuary for illegal immigrants is going to go over with the "common sense" folk of the valleys and the inland empires. Also I think the fact that San Francisco has tried to take away handguns from law abiding citizens is not going to go over too well.

I am solidly in support of same-sex marriage, but how does a California mayor think he can invent law when it comes to marriage. The City is permitted to exist by the state. The Mayor's only authority comes from the State of California. Where does he think his power comes from?

Finally choosing a Latino representative from southern California to head up his campaign is a predictable and strategic move, but it will not help much. Alex Padilla is virtually unknown outside his own district. Newsom faces an uphill battle, but who knows? Feinstein went from trying to chase Navy ships out of the SF bay to visiting military bases in So Cal when she got important... maybe he will change all his core values too....

[Sharon]

Gavin Newsom is a fraud. The San Francisco Chronicle, which is his hometown paper that endorsed him twice for mayor, recently did an exposé showing how Newsom now is taking credit for successful policies -- such as Healthy San Francisco -- which he actually opposed. Please read this:

"Newsom on the stump: facts - or exaggeration"
by Carla Marinucci, Joe Garofoli,Heather Knight
San Francisco Chronicle, July 22, 2009
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/22/MNL118S5QA.DTL

As someone who lives in SF, I can tell you that Newsom has shown little leadership for the last eight years. He is one of those "leaders" that says/does things based on what the polls tell him. He and his political consultant, Eric Jaye, have been plotting his every move up the career ladder, either the U.S. Senate or Governor, as their guide. Though a few areas where I give him some credit for showing leadership are on gay marriage and green urban policies (though the latter mostly have been symbolic, he hasn't been willing to push anything that really might impact San Francisco's energy usage).

Sadly, Newsom is yet another "empty suit" politician who seems to have little vision beyond his own career. I can’t imagine him as governor. I realize Jerry Brown does not exactly inspire either -- is this the best that the Democratic Party can do? At any rate, read the Chronicle article so you can learn more about the TRUE Gavin Newsom.