http://www.365gay.com/news/san-francisco-mayor-ends-run-for-calif-governor/ The daily news source for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:11:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 http://www.365gay.com/news/san-francisco-mayor-ends-run-for-calif-governor/comment-page-1/#comment-75672 Drewski Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:51:08 +0000 http://www.365gay.com/?p=10524#comment-75672 It's a shame, but I think I'm glad for Newsom that he made this choice. I don't envy whoever becomes the next governor, because California's division into mostly safe electoral districts (which are tilting more and more to Dems) means that no meaningful answers to the perpetual fiscal crisis can come without either higher taxes or major service cuts--or, as on the East Coast and the Great Lakes, consolidation of services. California has consolidated municipal courts with Superior Courts, but that was initiated by the state judiciary, not Sacramento and not the voters. Good move, but possible only because the players chose to get it done. Newsom is young enough that he has time to pursue higher politics in the future. Meantime, he can pursue a left-of-center social agenda in a context of fiscal responsibility and administrative pragmatism, something I would give next to no chance of seeing in Sacramento in the near future. It’s a shame, but I think I’m glad for Newsom that he made this choice. I don’t envy whoever becomes the next governor, because California’s division into mostly safe electoral districts (which are tilting more and more to Dems) means that no meaningful answers to the perpetual fiscal crisis can come without either higher taxes or major service cuts–or, as on the East Coast and the Great Lakes, consolidation of services. California has consolidated municipal courts with Superior Courts, but that was initiated by the state judiciary, not Sacramento and not the voters. Good move, but possible only because the players chose to get it done. Newsom is young enough that he has time to pursue higher politics in the future. Meantime, he can pursue a left-of-center social agenda in a context of fiscal responsibility and administrative pragmatism, something I would give next to no chance of seeing in Sacramento in the near future.

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