GavinWatch Watching The Detectives

Rather GavinWatch is watching the City Attorneys in a blog that investigates the investigation into the $10,154 payment Ruby Rippey-Tourk received from the City. They dug up a few answers:

Of the 1,297 records of applications for the Catastrophic Illness Program (CIP), Ruby Rippey-Tourk’s is the only application approved for substance abuse.

• Less than a dozen other CIP applications were based on substance abuse problems. They were all denied.


• Rippey-Tourk is also the only employee ever approved for the CIP after submitting her resignation and after securing a new job.

Yet, many questions remain unearthed:

• What was Rippey-Tourk’s life threatening condition? In April she was capable of participating in a Benefit Magazine event and in September she went to work for the magazine. Dr. Katz said he “approves a request (for CIP) only if he concludes that there is a reasonable chance that the employee is at risk of dying.” But he also said that “substance abuse alone was not sufficient to qualify.”
• Why was Rippey-Tourk’s resignation letter unsigned and why did it fail to specify a date of resignation?
• Why did Rippey-Tourk not sign her separation letter until the day after her CIP application was approved?
• What work did Rippey-Tourk do in preparation for the Benefit Radio show launch on September 9, 2006 (nine days after she left City employment)?
• Who are the employees that donated 4.5 weeks of leave time to Rippey-Tourk? We know this is confidential information, but the only way to clear the air is for these people to come forward. Otherwise, how are we to know that it wasn’t the result of pressure or coercion in the Mayor’s office?

Check out: Rippey-Tourk Received Preferential Treatment

GavinWatch delivers an indepth timeline of Rippey-Tourk and the Catastrophic Illness Program and explains why they have lost any sympanthy they had for the Tourks.

The Walkaway Mayor

And the Oscar goes to GavinWatch!!!

I love the soundtrack and imagery of the Gav shaking off a Danny Noyes backdoor slider for strike three and heading to the dugout where he holds his breath until the I-Team replaces their ace reporter with some bush league reliever to lob Mayor McChicken a few softies - What a wimp?

“Ahhh… Come on, mayor. Step up to the plate.”

~ Dan Noyes, I-Team Channel 7

It’s the equivalent of kid walking away with the monopoly board, until everyone let’s him cheat - whaaa!

Gavin Sucks.com In The Chronicle

Dedicated Newsom Bashers: Eclectic mix of bloggers, activists delights in skewering mayor

Under the sign "Photo-op mayor," Dean Barbella threw his arm over the shoulder of a cardboard cutout of Gavin Newsom and posed for the camera.

It was the closest he's ever been to the San Francisco mayor and probably will be the closest he'll ever get.

Barbella, a 37-year-old software salesman who describes himself as "not really political," runs the Internet blog gavinnewsom sucks.com, a domain name he bought one night a few years back for $7. He originally wanted donaldtrumpsucks.com, but that site was already taken. A friend suggested he try Gavin Newsom's name and it worked.

"My message isn't really anti-Gavin. It's that I want a better San Francisco," said Barbella, whose white-collared shirt had the words gavinsucks.com emblazoned on it with stick-on letters. "But Gavin Newsom does suck because San Francisco isn't what she should be."
Barbella, bourbon and Coke in hand, commiserated about life in San Francisco under Newsom at a party in the Mission District on Thursday night thrown by the League of Young Voters and another anti-Newsom blog, Gavinwatch.com.

Under the Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling at El Rio bar and to the sounds of salsa and disco beats, the 85 or so attendees relished being in the majority in their anti-Newsom stance. In San Francisco, where Newsom has enjoyed sky-high approval ratings since taking office in 2004, it's often a rarity for them.

Their frustrations with City Hall unite the eclectic mix that included everyone from software salesmen and nurses to political gadflies and activists -- that, and a growing number of anti-Newsom blogs popping up on the Internet through which information is shared and jabs taken at the 39-year-old mayor and his headline-making personal life.

But, for now, it's a movement without a leader. While Newsom's campaign for re-election in November is in full swing, the anti-Newsom crew is eagerly awaiting the emergence of a candidate to rally behind. Will it be Green Party member and former Supervisor Matt Gonzalez, who ran a tight race for mayor against Newsom in 2003? Or maybe Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi? Actor Danny Glover? For some, it doesn't really matter.

"Everybody should run. ... Whether they can win or not, someone needs to stand up and mount a credible challenge against Gavin," said San Francisco registered nurse Patrick Monk, a former Gonzalez campaign volunteer who stood near the Newsom cardboard cutout that drew a short line of people waiting to take a picture alongside it.

Yet Monk, like many others, was not overly confident about any future opponent's chances.
"You should look at my bike helmet and see the stickers all over it," the 63- or 64-year-old (he couldn't remember his exact age) Noe Valley resident said. "It's a testament to lost causes, and I believe in every single one of them."

The bash, billed as a night of partying and politics where people could learn about the "absent and ineffective mayor," was dubbed "The Real Scandal: Who Gavin is Screwing over," a reference to Newsom's recent admission of his affair with the wife of his former campaign manager and close political aide.

There were lollipops with tags attached that said "Gavin sucks" and a map on the wall showing trips Newsom has taken around the country and overseas since taking office under the sign "Travelin' Gavin." Another sign highlighted the city's homicide rate, and another questioned Newsom's environmental policies.

The list of complaints that attendees have about the mayor is long: Newsom takes credit for ideas that weren't his. He focuses too much on photo-ops and not enough on substance. The Municipal Railway doesn't run on time. He refuses to show up and answer questions at Board of Supervisors meetings, as a nonbinding measure passed last year by voters asked him to do. He vetoed legislation to close Golden Gate Park to cars on Saturdays.

The creators and identities of those paying for the gavinwatch .com Web site, one of the party's sponsors, remains a mystery. Natasha Marsh, the state director of the League of Young Voters, said her group helped throw the party to highlight Newsom's political shortcomings, rather than his personal indiscretions that have garnered so much attention.

Click here to continue reading. By Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writer

A Movement Without a Candidate

With his re-election just months away, Mayor Gavin Newsom has no credible opponent in sight – and his approval ratings remain high. But many are dissatisfied with a Mayor who governs by press release – with the city’s climbing homicide rate, scarce affordable housing, and inadequate Muni service. And if last night’s “Gavin Watch” party at El Rio was any sign, there’s a lot of energy among frustrated activists to meet and talk about the issues. On short notice, a large crowd gathered to celebrate a movement without a candidate – launched and encouraged by a website whose identity remains secret.

by Paul Hogarth‚ Mar. 30‚ 2007

Click Beyond Chron to continue reading

After the Party

The GavinWatch (Re) Launch Party at El Rio was a smashing success. It is invigorating to meet with a diverse mob of talent, passion and optimism with hope for a better mayoral candidate and a better San Francisco. I’m looking forward to posting forthcoming pictures and press, so stay tuned. Also, a well deserved tip of the cap to GavinWatch as fantastic a host. They raised $500 for the League of Pissed Off Voters.

City Closes GavinWatch Launch Party

Regrettably, GavinWatch had to postpone thier Re-Launch party, originally scheduled for this Thursday. It turns out, Balazo gallery has been shutdown by the City. They are busy searching for a new venue and plan to re-schedule the Re-Launch Party sometime in the next two weeks.

I smell a rat in City Hall. Nixonian ‘Dirty Tricks’ wouldn’t be a first for Gavin Newsom’s Chief Spokesman, Peter Ragone, who admitted to posting comments on local news-oriented Web sites using the identity of other people.

The admission came the same day Newsom was confronting a political crisis over revelations he had an affair with an aide who is married to his campaign manager. Suspicion began to center on the blog postings last week after SFist identified the Internet Protocol address for a home computer that Ragone had been using to make comments under his own name.

Editors at the Web site checked to ensure that somebody wasn't impersonating Ragone -- but soon discovered similar comments had been posted from the same home computer but under other names and sometimes early in the morning before 8 a.m.Other pro-Newsom blog posts made from Ragone's computer were signed by his wife and someone using the name Byorn. Peter Ragone said he didn't recall using the name Byorn.

"If it's from my (computer) IP (address), it must be me.

Thanks for breaking it down, Peter. Your dismissal is way overdue. My humble opinion is the closing of the venue by the City will only serve to pour publicity on a the fire to open more eyes to the inept administration. Therefore, an even bigger venue will be needed require more DJ’s, Bartenders and a bigger viewing screen to debut even more GavinWatch material.Sweet Pete!

See you there, Gavin Newsom Sucks.com

Who Gavin Is Scewing?