You think Gavin Newsom'll shave off all his hair next, just like rehabbing Britney Spears?

Okay, so where were we the last time we checked in with the Ruby Rippey-Tourk sick leave investigations? So the mayor's office and the Tourk family spokesman were taking the position that Rippey-Tourk got the city to cover her salary as paid sick leave during the time she was in rehab through the city's catastrophic-leave program, where people can donate sick leave to co-workers who need to take time off to take care of themselves or their families.

Well, today, Supervisor Tom Ammiano told the Chron that while he doesn't mean to trivialize the impact of alcohol abuse, the catastrophic leave program in question (which he helped create) is only meant to cover people who are dealing with "a life-threatening illness or injury" as determined by the city's public health officials, and not for a rehab program. Uh oh.

Explanations, Dan Noyes, and a possible Board of Supes hearing on the issue after the jump. And also, check out the street art we saw in the window of the Balazo art gallery right by Weird Fish on 18th and Mission this morning!

Both the Chron and ABC 7 have checked with Mitch Katz, the city's equivalent to a Surgeon General and the person in charge of approving Rippey-Tourk's request for catastrophic leave coverage. While Katz couldn't comment specifically on Rippey-Tourk's situation under the city's privacy laws, he did allow that the catastrophic leave program was more typically used to cover diseases like cancer or AIDS, and that it would be unusual to qualify for catastrophic leave just on the basis of rehab.

Katz also said that he's never been contacted by the mayor's office about the program and was never lobbied about granting catastrophic sick leave to anyone, let alone Rippey-Tourk -- and all decisions are made on the medical merits of the case. Katz did say, however, that "if the question is, 'Are there people with substance use issues that do and could result in their death in weeks to months?' -- the answer is, yes." Yikes.

So who kicked in their sick leave for Ms. Rippey-Tourk? She didn't sound like the most popular person in the office. The Tourk family spokesperson said it was two generous co-workers, neither of whom were Gavin Newsom. Alex Tourk didn't remember if he'd donated any time, but the Bay Guardian says Alex was the one who initially asked if his wife could go into the catastrophic leave program in the first place.

Well, the City Attorney's looking into all of this, along with the allegations that Rippey-Tourk routinely took paid sick days to which she was not entitled, and Supervisor Ed Jew has said that he may call for a hearing before the Board of Supes to see whether tax dollars have been misspent.