CA
Gavin Newsom Declares Candidacy For Lieutenant Governor And Announces Major Endorsements
Author: Gavin Newsom
Published on Mar 12, 2010 - 9:11:22 AM

SAN FRANCISCO Mar. 12, 2010 – Gavin Newsom, the two-term Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco, today officially announced his candidacy for Lieutenant Governor of the State of California.

He proudly accepted the endorsement of State Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez (D-Shafter), who, after running for LG for nearly two years, has decided to withdraw from the race and pledge his full, immediate support to Mayor Newsom.

Newsom is also honored to have earned the endorsement of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Newsom announced that he has already received the official endorsements of two of California's leading and most effective statewide labor organizations – California Nurses Association (CNA), representing 87,000 Registered Nurses across the state, and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Western State Council, representing 180,000 Californians. He also enjoys the recent endorsement of the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council, representing 35,000 working Californians.

In addition, Newsom announced the endorsements of:

* State Senate President Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento)
* Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles)

· U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena)
· State Senator Elaine Alquist (D-Silicon Valley)
· State Senator Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro)
· State Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco)
· Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson
· Dolores C. Huerta, Co-Founder, United Farm Workers of America
· Former Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg (D-Los Angeles)
· Former Lieutenant Governor and Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante (D-Fresno)
· Former State Senator and State Party Chairman Art Torres

He also announced the endorsement of California State Senator Alex Padilla (D-Los Angeles), a former Los Angeles City Councilmember and the youngest ever President of the Los Angeles City Council, who will serve as a Campaign Co-Chair.

"I am truly honored that so many extraordinary leaders I admire and respect and Californians from all walks of life have reached out and offered to endorse my candidacy, even before I had made this decision," said Newsom. "I'm especially humbled by the support and confidence of Senator Dean Florez, who had invested years into running for this office. He is a great leader with a limitless future."

"Gavin Newsom is a bright star in a state desperately needing a new point of reference," said Florez. "He is by far the most qualified candidate running for LG with a long and proven track record of making big, bold, new ideas a reality. That's something Sacramento needs now more than ever."

Statement of Gavin Newsom

"Today, I am announcing my candidacy for Lieutenant Governor of the State of California.

I'm running because, if there's one thing I've learned in my 15 years working in local government, fighting for the City and County I love, it's that local communities throughout California can only achieve their full potential if we fix the dysfunction that is strangling progress in Sacramento.

I believe in California – the dynamism of its past and the promise of its future. I'm also convinced that those of us who love this state have both an obligation and the capacity now to reform it and make it better. To do that, we need to embrace a new way of doing things in Sacramento and we need new leaders who are willing to stand up and change state government.

I know it can be done because we've done it in the City and County of San Francisco.

We've made progress for the people of San Francisco by putting politics aside and solving the toughest problems together. We've created new, modern, living-wage jobs. We've provided access to quality health care for every resident. We've invested in our schools and teachers and raised student test scores. We've protected the environment and put people back to work in the new green economy.

Like many, I've openly questioned whether the office of LG is the right place to lead a reform movement that has the power to shake up Sacramento. But, as I've opened my mind, asked tough questions and met with esteemed experts, I'm more convinced than ever that the broad, informal portfolio of the office allows our Lieutenant Governor the freedom and platform to engage on any issue, from the ground up, without being distracted or deterred by the usual Sacramento power plays or bureaucratic turf battles. Big, bold ideas are the currency of this job and I plan on bringing many to the table.

This decision has been an extraordinarily difficult one for me personally, because it requires me to run for a statewide office while simultaneously serving as Mayor, one of the greatest – and most challenging – elected jobs in America. It's a privilege to hold this office in my home and birthplace. Every day I serve the people of this City and County is counted as a blessing.

I've learned a lot since my short campaign for Governor, I know that the demands of this race will be significantly different than the Governor's race, and I clearly won't be running a traditional, politics-as-usual campaign. I am certain that I can be both a successful candidate in this race and a devoted husband and father without having my focus, attention or passion for the job of Mayor affected or diluted by even one iota."

About Gavin Newsom

In 2004, Gavin Newsom became the youngest Mayor of San Francisco in more than a century. Newsom served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for nearly seven years before becoming mayor and as a City Commissioner prior to his service on the Board. He was overwhelmingly re-elected with nearly 74% of the vote in 2007. As co-founder of the PlumpJack Group of small businesses, Newsom has started 15 businesses that employ almost 1,000 Californians.

With Gavin Newsom as mayor, San Francisco is:

The first – and still the only -- city in America with a universal health care system. Working along with fellow elected officials, business leaders and health experts, Newsom forged a program called Healthy San Francisco. A recent study showed that this pioneering program delivers quality care for one-third the cost of traditional insurance. It has won praise all the way to the White House, where President Barack Obama told Newsom's fellow mayors, "Instead of just talking about health care, mayors like Gavin Newsom in San Francisco have been ensuring that those in need receive it."

A model of how to work in partnership to improve our schools. Instead of trying to gain mayoral control of the school district or allow the state to take it over, Newsom has worked with the district to improve public schools. This collaboration has led to San Francisco schools being recognized as among the highest-achieving urban schools in the nation. Under Newsom, San Francisco has already implemented universal pre-school. And Newsom is now working in partnership with the California State University system to help lower drop-out rates and promote even greater student achievement by guaranteeing a place at San Francisco State University and initial tuition support for every public school student who works to meet the entrance requirements.

Investing in high-wage jobs and job training. A successful entrepreneur himself, one of Gavin Newsom's first accomplishments as mayor was to bring the Center for Regenerative Medicine to San Francisco, which has in turn helped bring thousands of living-wage jobs in the growing stem-cell research field. Newsom has expanded job- training programs, particularly comprehensive training in green-technology skills. And he has implemented a comprehensive local Economic Stimulus Plan that will help create thousands of new jobs during this economic downturn.

A national leader protecting our environment. The Environmental Protection Agency recently rated San Francisco No. 2 in the nation in terms of energy-efficient commercial buildings – nearly equaling Los Angeles, a city four times as large. San Francisco has one of the most aggressive local solar incentives in America. It has the highest recycling rate in the nation. It has lowered carbon emissions well below levels called for in the Kyoto Protocol, and verified these numbers with third-party data. Newsom has helped attract more than $500 million to clean up and convert former industrial and military sites. And through comprehensive job training, he is working to make sure that the growing green economy includes those who were once locked out of the old industrial economy.

Implementing sound fiscal practices. The bond rating of the State of California is now the lowest in the nation. In San Francisco, despite tough economic times, strong bond ratings have held while other cities have been downgraded. Newsom is continuing the process of reform, merging city departments to make government more effective and less costly and making San Francisco one of the only cities in California to tackle its unfunded pension liability.

A leader in civic innovation. Newsom has been called "One of the best mayors in America" by Newsweek because he has not been afraid to make bold reforms. San Francisco has implemented comprehensive government accountability reform and increased public service through innovations like a central 311 line to access government services. Newsom implemented innovative programs like Care Not Cash, which has helped dramatically lower the number of homeless and created nearly 1,700 units of new, permanent, supportive housing. Newsom helped launch Project Homeless Connect, which is a national and international model of how to harness community resources to help the homeless transition to permanent housing and jobs.

A model for civil rights and community cooperation. San Francisco is one of the most diverse cities in the world and Mayor Newsom is working to celebrate this diversity and harness its economic potential. As a percentage of total appointments, he has appointed more women and minorities to public office than nearly any other elected official. He launched a new trading mission with China, opening a San Francisco office in Shanghai that has already helped attract major new industries and jobs to the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco's diverse and skilled workforce has helped bring technology leaders and job creators like SunTech, Second Life, Wikipedia and Google to San Francisco. And Newsom is known for his national leadership in standing up to protect the marriage equality rights of all of his constituents.

Meet Gavin

• Fifth-generation Californian and a Bay Area native
• Primarily raised by a single mother in a household that included foster children
• Attended Santa Clara University, where he earned a BA, on a partial baseball scholarship
• Founded PlumpJack Wines, now a thriving, statewide enterprise of 15 businesses with almost 1,000 employees
• Married to Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Their first child, Montana Tessa Newsom, was born September 18, 2009
• Sworn-in as Mayor of San Francisco in 2004. Re-elected mayor, with 74% of the vote in 2007

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