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Mayor admits affair with staffer, apologizes
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Mayor Gavin Newsom admits to an affair with former secretary Ruby Rippey-Tourk, above, the wife of mayoral adviser Alex Tourk. Tourk resigned as Newsom’s campaign manager Wednesday.
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - It was a quick and somber statement that lasted two minutes but put to rest months of rumors and 24 hours of drama that had seized the corridors of City Hall. Facing a crush of cameras and reporters at a press conference Thursday morning, Mayor Gavin Newsom admitted that he had an affair with a former secretary — the wife of one of his top advisers.
Newsom’s confession confirmed media reports that surfaced Wednesday of his sexual relationship with Ruby Rippey-Tourk, the wife of Alex Tourk, who until resigning Wednesday was Newsom’s re-election campaign manager and is his former deputy chief of staff.
Although the affair reportedly occurred about a year and a half ago, Rippey-Tourk, 34, had recently confessed the affair to her husband as part of a rehabilitation program she’s going through for alcohol and substance use, according to a friend of the family, Sam Singer, who is also acting as her spokesman. Since Newsom was out of town last week in Davos, Switzerland, Alex Tourk waited until this week to confront the mayor and quit the Newsom re-election campaign Wednesday afternoon.
Tourk, 35, was part of Newsom’s inner circle of advisers, having run his election campaign four years ago and then ascending to deputy chief of staff. Often referred to as a dedicated and loyal Newsom aide, Tourk had designed and implemented one of the most successful programs of the mayor’s term, Project Homeless Connect, which allowed one-stop shopping of services for homeless individuals. The program is being copied on a national level.
In addition to working together, Alex Tourk and Newsom were friends, having known each other for 10 years.
“They were friends. They went to dinner together. They went to ballgames,” said political consultant Eric Jaye, who is also working on Newsom’s re-election campaign.
The mayor’s press office released a statement Wednesday afternoon in which Tourk said he was leaving for “personal reasons,” but the affair had not been a secret to some City Hall insiders who leaked the full story to members of the media upon hearing of Tourk’s resignation.
“I’m deeply sorry that I’ve hurt someone I care deeply about, Alex Tourk, his friends and family. That’s something I have to live with and something I am deeply sorry for,” Newsom said on Thursday at the press conference.
After making his statement, Newsom walked out of the room, without taking any questions from reporters.
News of Newsom’s confession, notably, did not fuel a fire under his political critics, who responded to questions about the affair with restraint.
Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin called the situation a “very sad, unfortunate, personal matter.”
Supervisor Chris Daly said the incident has put a spotlight on the issue of Newsom’s integrity.
“No one was more loyal to Gavin Newsom than Alex Tourk. The most important things in politics are trust and respect,” said Daly, who also expressed concern about the legality of Newsom’s actions, since Rippey-Tourk was a subordinate.
Although others within City Hall echoed Daly’s thoughts that Newsom’s former appointments secretary had grounds for a sexual harassment lawsuit, Singer said she had no intention of pursuing any legal action against Newsom or The City.
“She considers this a personal matter,” Singer said.
If the relationship was consensual, there are no legal grounds for a sexual harassment claim, said Art Hartinger, a former deputy city attorney who now works in private practice. According to San Francisco Administrative Code, although consensual romantic relationships between a supervisor and a subordinate “may create a potential for conflict or an appearance of impropriety,” they are not prohibited.
Nonetheless, Newsom’s relationship with Rippey-Tourk, which reportedly occurred during the breakup of his own marriage, was not just personally reckless, it was politically rash, said Corey Cook, a political science professor at San Francisco State University.
“There are affairs, and then there’s cheating on your close friend who’s directing your re-election effort,” said Cook. “Everyone in City Hall knew all three of the people involved. The bigger story on this, is how does he be mayor tomorrow? How does he deal with the Board of Supervisors? How does this affect his ability to do his job and interact with his staff?”
After the press conference, his spokesman, Peter Ragone, said the mayor’s top advisers are united in their support of Newsom. He also said the mayor has no intention of resigning and will move ahead with his re-election campaign.
Each day until voters go to the polls Nov. 6, The Examiner lays odds on local figures beating Mayor Gavin Newsom. Check out our exclusive blog: San Francisco's Next Mayor?
Comments from Examiner Readers
4:08 PM MST on Fri., Aug. 10, 2007 re: "Newsom scandals can’t curb campaign cash"
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P. Fitzgerald said:
Hey..."Myself for Mayor!" You mean to say you have never done anything wrong in your entire life? I get so tired of people pointing fingers at other people. You know, Sir, we all are human and we all make mistakes and I am quite certain that all of you have some skeletons in your closets that you keep hidden. It is usually the ones that point the fingers that do. Quit harping on Newsom's past...and that is PAST with a capital 'P' and get over it. He made amends and has moved on. If God can forgive him then I think you can too! You double-standard finger pointer, do-gooders, make me want to vomit. Go clean up your own side of the street and bless your brothers and sisters instead of being the judge and jury. It really sickens me when people are so quick to jump on the bandwagon and condemn those around them that fall prey to defects of character that we all walk around with. Go work on your own defects and ask yourself what would Gandi do when you feel like pointing finger
242 agree | 217 disagree
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Myself for Mayor said:
I've decided that I am going to run for mayor on a simple platform. 1. I am not a panderer. 2. I am not an alcoholic. 3. I am not an adulterer. Has our society's morals really deteriorated so much that we do not care that our elected officials maintain such disgraceful values?
281 agree | 204 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
'Eyed wide open', SF is a complex city? are you brain dead? just give each supv 1 billion dollars and we could elliminate the mayor and his staff and be better off.
278 agree | 218 disagree
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Eyed wide open said:
I can't think of any large accomplishment other than bringing to the forefront some very real humanitarian issues which took bravery and fortitude and keeping an idealistic but irresponsible board of supervisors in check, all with a certain dignity and decency. The opportunistic prudism of the Gonzales camp fooled nobody but the choir. It is certain Matt Gonzales would have done absolutely zero, other than poetry readings, lip service and running the city in to the ground financially, while stoned on pot 24/7 (all, of course, while closely following the precepts of the Christian right). The Matt Gonzales types would have been way over their head in an extremely important and complex city like S.F.. Thankfully the voters knew it then, and Matt knows it now.
274 agree | 287 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The man is obviously planning to run for something beyond mayor at some point, most likely in '08 or '10. The kind of cash he's raising indicates the capacity to run at the very least a Congressional race; or perhaps one of California's statewide offices.
272 agree | 229 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
newsom looks good he's a poser and SF is a poser town.
280 agree | 257 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
please spare us the history rewrite. Newsom's drinking problem was merely an excuse for acting in a sleazy, despicable manner i.e. scumbag
310 agree | 278 disagree
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nobody said:
it's only because he's still young, people will overlook his mistakes. there's always the flip side, someone might contend with him, but so far, we haven't seen anybody in the fighting ring. he's a young person's game, city hall is not for the old heads anymore. he can have more illicit affairs and drink more vino than ever before, and he still might win. this is probably the strangest political scenery yet to date.
316 agree | 287 disagree
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Robert said:
This is one electiong i'm sitting out this time around. Newsom has disappointed me and i'm sure others. What has he done? I can't think of one accomplishment in almost 4 years in office.
283 agree | 283 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Newsom can't curb campaign cash? Well, why do you think the city's budget is $6.2 Billion this year? The contracts, jobs, Newsom has been doling out is translating easily to campaign cash contribution. Get a clue.
273 agree | 305 disagree
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