Free Republic

. . . Palace plots: No sooner did San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announce he was forming an exploratory committee for governor than state Attorney General Jerry Brown made a move of his own - one that's likely to get under Newsom's skin. Reliable sources tell us that Brown has approached San Francisco PR consultant Alex Tourk to help launch his own campaign for governor, and the two were in serious talks this past week. Tourk, who once headed Newsom's Project Homeless Connect program, had a falling-out with his boss when he found out the mayor had slept with Tourk's...

A new look at the payroll records of Mayor Gavin Newsom's former appointments secretary and lover. Did she get preferential treatment because of her affair? There are many questions -- some city officials believe Ruby Tourk received special treatment during her two-and-a-half years at City Hall. But the main question now is, how 10 weeks of unpaid time off for alcohol rehab, turned into a paid leave. After her affair with the mayor fizzled out, Ruby Rippey-Tourk went on unpaid leave from her job as Newsom's appointments secretary to attend alcohol rehab, according to her spokesman. She resigned with a...

snip:In San Francisco, all politics is local, and the local political establishment is highly incestuous. This diagram from the Fog City Journal portrays some of the family and financial connections between Speaker of the House Pelosi and Newsom. They are related by virtue of marriage. One can only assume that in her role as a grandmother, Speaker Pelosi will decry the concept of adultery. But will she urge Newsom to retire from politics? I doubt it very much.

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...