AIDE QUITS AS NEWSOM'S AFFAIR WITH HIS WIFE IS REVEALED (San Fransisco Mayor)

The San Fransisco Chronicle ^ | February 1, 2007 | Phil Matier, Andrew Ross, Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writers

[Clintonfatigued]

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's re-election campaign manager resigned Wednesday after confronting the mayor about an affair Newsom had with his wife while she worked in the mayor's office, City Hall sources said.

Alex Tourk, 39, who served as Newsom's deputy chief of staff before becoming his campaign manager in September, confronted the mayor after his wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk, told him of the affair as part of a rehabilitation program she had been undergoing for substance abuse, said the sources, who had direct knowledge of Wednesday's meeting.

Rippey-Tourk, 34, was the mayor's appointments secretary from the start of his administration in 2004 until last spring. She told her husband that the affair with Newsom was short-lived and happened about a year and a half ago, while the mayor was undergoing a divorce from his then-wife, Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, said the sources, who spoke on condition they not be identified.

Alex Tourk "confronted the mayor on the issue this afternoon, expressed his feeling about the situation in an honest and pointed way, and resigned," said one source close to Tourk and his wife.

[rlmorel]

Why is this at all a problem in LiberalLand?

[Clintonfatigued]

Here's a question: should conservatives be appalled by the Mayor's betrayal or relieved that the affair was hetrosexual (this is San Fransisco, after all)?

[Emmett McCarthy]

Actually I hope the offended husband sues the mayor and the city and brings them a little closer to bankruptcy. It would be fitting.

[Dan(9698)]

He should have said that he and the mayor had a deal.

He got his job because the mayor wanted his wife.

Since it became public, he has to call it off.

[Crawdad]

told him of the affair as part of a rehabilitation program she had been undergoing for substance abuse, said the sources, who had direct knowledge of Wednesday's meeting. From AA's 12 Steps: Step 9 Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. She needs a new sponsor.

[Buck W.]

"Ruby Rippey-Tourk"
Funniest name of the day alert!

[Crawdad]

told him of the affair as part of a rehabilitation program she had been undergoing for substance abuse, said the sources, who had direct knowledge of Wednesday's meeting.

From AA's 12 Steps:

Step 9

Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. She needs a new sponsor.

[pabianice]

There are heterosexuals in San Francisco? Who knew?

[Clintonfatigued]

"He got his job because the mayor wanted his wife."

Sounds like something Bill Clinton would do.

[GourmetDan]

"She needs a new sponsor."

Prolly not her sponsor's advice.

Prolly just got mad at ol' Alex and wanted to slip a knife in.

Prolly not the only affair she's had either.

[madprof98]

I thought Newsom was gay - or is the "wife" here perhaps a Transgendered Individual.

[CholeraJoe]

Ruby Rippey-Tourk, told him of the affair as part of a rehabilitation program she had been undergoing for substance abuse,

Step 9's a real b*tch isn't it Ruby?

[msnimje]

You don't know who his wife was? She left him, has since remarried and has a child.

No transsexual she.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I dunno, but Rippey-Porked ought to get an AIDS test.

[zarf]

The funniest part of this entire story is that all parties involved are acting like prudes all of a sudden.

He gave a friends wife a good stickin'. All of SF should be givin' the big thumbs up for the Mayor.

[rod1]

The way the article is written it sounds as if an affair with Newsom is an integral step in the city's rehab program for druggies. Is that written in the city statutes?

[msnimje]

His ex-wife is the one in the middle, Kimberly Guilfoyle

[pissant]

Did someone doctor Laurie Dhue's skirt to make it shorter? If so, thank you.

[msnimje]

Probably.