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Yesterday's Board of Supervisors meeting was, by all accounts, highly entertaining. Then again, anything involving the bizarre practice of life coaching is always something to behold. You see, Gavin Newsom, while running for governor of California, hired himself a life coach or "corporate facilitator."
What's a life coach? Glad you asked. Life coaches were the focus of the much-missed NBC daytime soap-ish reality show Starting Over. This is a life coach. They help move your life forward, to attain success, to reach the next rung on the ladder of life, and other feel good shit. They also make you cry. A lot. Life coaches are wildly entertaining, albeit sometimes damaged, creatures.
It is rumored that the San Francisco Mayor spent little time with anyone else other than his life coach during the last few days of his gubernatorial bid. Said life coach also might have accompanied Newsom to Hawaii last week, where the mayor escaped after bowing out of the race.
Anyway, at yesterday's BOS meeter, Supervisor\ Chris Daly asked the city controller to look into whether or not city funds were used to pay Newsom's life coach. Newsom’s spokesman Nathan Ballard shot back at Daly, calling it a "pointless" investigation.
Ballad, however, then went a bit too far telling City Insider that ''the city's taxpayers should demand repayment for its cost from Daly's trust fund.'' Which: come on, Nate. Daly's request to know how the dude got paid wasn't out of line
Later in the day, Daly (awesomely) shot back on his Facebook page, saying, "Nate Ballard is pointless." (Chris Daly, we should point out, does not have a trust fund. Alas.)
We'll update you as soon as we find out from where the funds came, and more on this mysterious life coach.
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Gavin Newsom, while running for governor of California, hired himself a life coach or "corporate facilitator."
That is the most excellent rationale for an additional mistress I have ever heard.
I love that Gavin and staff think that any legitimate questioning of use of City funds for political campaigning or personal gain are above questioning. If, say, that Life Coach offered even ONE bit of advice on whether or not to stay in/drop out of the race, it would be a misappropriation of the funds-- and we as SF residents have a right to know. We aren't your stepping stones, Gavin.
Team Gavin's answer to everything is "Chris Daly Sux!!!1!"
Whatever I may think about Daly, I think it's interesting that Ballard didn't say something like: "no, the coach was paid for with his own funds." Ballard could have even tacked-on a "BTW Chris Daly sux !!!1!" at the end.
Why didn't Ballard issue an unambiguous statement? Could it be that the city, in the middle of a huge budget crisis, is actually paying for Gavin's mid-life crisis?
Daly once again shows what a petty person he is, more concerned with giving special rights to criminal illegal aliens and harassing the Mayor than doing anything constructive for San Franciscans (and I'm not apologizing for the Mayor who seems on the verge of job abandonment).
I fail to see how inquiring into whether the mayor's life coach was paid for with taxpayer money is a waste of time. Also I fail to see how giving undocumented immigrants EQUAL treatment under the law is such a terrible thing either.
Quite the contrary, Nathan Ballard is the one who acts so petty. I mean, come on, his asshatery really doesn't get anyone anywhere. What relation does Daly's non-existant trustfund have to do with anything? Ballard takes cheapshots every chance he gets. I mean, the guy logged on to SFist under different account names and posted pro-newsom propaganda several months back.
That was Ragone.
How long do we have to wait until Gavin is determined derelict of his duties as Mayor and replaced by someone with an attention span beyond 5 seconds?
In a perfect world, Daly and Newsome would be married.
Or the very least a sitcom.
He's allowed to hire aids and advisors right? So as soon as you call it a "life coach" it becomes unethical? If an mayoral aid was like "Hey quit your dumb campaign and get back to work" is that unethical life coaching? If it's an argument about what it's called then it's a moot point.
so you're fine if gavin decides to appoint a "secretary of not being a dumbshit" and pay them however much he feels like? or maybe you just prefer the BOS not be able to ask any questions about city finances?
If the "secretary of not being a dumb shit" helps Gavin not be a dumb shit then he's worth his weight in gold. We should be able to know where the finances are going but Gavin is allowed to hire certain aids, advisors, consultants, life coaches, secretaries of not being a dumb shit at his descretion. That's not unscrupulous.
i believe the issue is whether it was gubernatorial dumbshittedness or mayoral dumbshittedness, one of which is OK to use city funds for. remember, gavin is a douchebag, so it's not beyond the pale to suspect him of commingling innapropriately.
the problem i see is that this year's budget cuts were enormous. we shouldn't have to spend tax dollars on post campaign stress disorder for a mayor who checked out months ago. that money could be going to programs that better serve our community.
I can't wait until some news organization or blog like SFist files a FOIA for a detailed breakdown of what Gavin spends public funds on. Would love to see the bill for security on his vacations, trips, life coaches, etc. Low-hanging fruit people, and I'm pretty sure it would make national headlines if what I think is in there is really in there.
Did Daly make his comments from his houses in Fairfield?
If you really want to know, jps3, I made my comments from seat in the Board Chambers. I made some follow up comments on Facebook from my handheld, while I was out last night in the Mission. This comment is being made from my Stevenson Street home.
If I post something this weekend, it will likely be from my wife's Fairfield house.
Cheers!
I hear Fairfield is lovely this time of year.
Agree or disagree with what he does, I think we all have to give Chris Daly credit for at least *being here* and engaging, very much unlike our AWOL mayor. I'd rather he have a weekend home in the burbs and spend most of his time in SF rather than a plush pad in SF only but is gallivanting around the world on my dime. Huzzah to you, sir.
That should read my seat in the Board Chambers.
Hey Chris Daly what's the deal with you decrying Gavin for hiring a consultant-advisor-aid-life coach-secretary of not being a dumb shit when you were all about passing Prop B on this year's ballot that has the potential to let supervisors hire aids all willy nilly? Or did you not support prop B? (I am not being sarcastic, I know that a ton of current and former supes were for it and I'm guessing you were one of them.)
Prop B removed the Charter mandate for members for Board of Supervisors to each have exactly 2 legislative aides. It was the only staffing provision of its kind in the Charter and was good public policy to have it removed. The future number of legislative aides will become part of the budget discussion. I don't envision any changes in the near future. (In other words, the change will not benefit me.)
How about this?
If Daly's right, Gav repays all the money he blew on this bullshit life coach.
If Gav didn't use city funds, Daly repays the city for all the time and money he wasted, and attends an anger management course on his own dime.
personally, and i'm not agreeing with your take on things specifically, but i don't mind angry people in political office any more than any other emotion.
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Daly = Douchebag
Let's get this all into proper context. Chris Daly is a mildly retarded, anger management case who won't even bother living in the mess of a city he helped shove further down into the sewer, let alone his very own decrepit district.
Go sell your houses in Fairfield and get yourself, your wife and your children a nice place in the TENDERLOIN then you can open your mouth with authority. We're all pretty much done with you and your blatant hypocrisy.
Until then, you are a short timer and no more relevant than every other asshole, including LA's newest socialite "Pampers" Newsom, who comes bumbling through this town, screws it for personal and political gain then when they are done sucking the blood from it, move elsewhere.
When you allow your wife push a stroller through that trash heap you represent on their way home at night then you can open your mouth. Because if it's good enough for me and mine then it must be good enough for you and yours.
ntl thn, kndly g fck yrslf. [De-voweled by SFist]
I'd give Chris Daly five bucks toward his mortgage if he replied to this post instead of the safe ones above.
Well put.
How about Chris pushes his own stroller through the TL and/or the Mission? He's doing such a great job making SF a great place to raise one's kids, this should be a piece of (hipster friendly red velvet cup) cake, right?
Also, SF is a feminist kind of place, right? Dads should be happy to take care of their kids.
As much as Daly and Newsom irk me, my apologies to all for the big time eff bomb. My emotions got the best of me and unlike Daly and Newsom, I actually care about this town and don't have political or financial ambitions blinding me.
I would like to add that I dare either one of those two charlatans to sit down on live television - public access would be wonderful - unscripted. No tantrums, no pouting and no walking out. They will answer real questions from real citizens in real time.
We know this will never happen because Newsom only speaks in 18 word sound bites crafted by a marketing firm and Daly flies off the handle at the drop of a hat.
But they're both incapable of original thought or giving a rats behind about our OUR city. And that is a fact.
Hey Daly and Newsom staffers, print that one out and land it on the bosses desk then enjoy filing for unemployment. Newsom is weeks away from pulling a Palin and Daly is going to be laughed out of town. I'll repost this in January for you if you forget.
Daly staffers have had the most longevity of any City Hall staffers. While my current legislative assistants are relatively new, my previous assistants, Rachel Redondiez and John Avalos were with me for 8 and 4 years respectively. They'd still be with me if they both didn't go on to get their own office down the hall.
The only time I ever yelled at a staffer was when Bill Barnes purposely misrepresented my position in committee, even though, that wasn't the only time that he probably merited reprimand from his boss.
Cheers!
Chris
For the $5...
Let me start with the proper context. I am nearing the end of my 9th year on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. If "mildly retarded, anger management case" is the best that a detractor can do, I'll live with it. I stand by my record of accomplishments for my district and the City, but since I'm not running for anything, I'll spare you the laundry list.
I'm a proud San Franciscan of 17 years, which is approaching half of my life. I continue to live in my home on Stevenson Street and occasionally have one or both of my kids stay with me. (Both of my kids spent their stroller years living there, but both of them now prefer walking to riding in a stroller.)
The move of my wife and kids to Fairfield is one of the most vetted family moves in San Francisco political history. I believe we did what was best for my kids, not my political career. (This has been discussed elsewhere, but in case you missed it, they moved to be closer to their grandparents, in spite of preferring San Francisco.) And for those who talk about me moving my wife and kids, you must not realize that my beautiful wife is actually a feminist that doesn't get moved by anyone, including yours truly. The decision was a collective decision that wasn't an easy one.
When I was first elected to office, I lived in the Tenderloin. It is one of my favorite neighborhoods. I have worked hard to improve the neighborhood and support the families who live there. I wouldn't mind living there again in the future.
I pride myself on my transparent politics. I beleive that I am one of the least hypocritical politicians that you'll find.
In local politics, it seems as if I'm pretty relevant. I certainly have taken on difficult political battles and won many of them. If I wasn't relevant, it would be silly for you to spend so much time commenting about me.
I actually agree with your take on Newsom, even though I wouldn't put it that way.
I don't need to remove any vowels to wish you a good day and to inquire about my $5.
Cheers!
Chris
On its way.
Oops. Here you go.
I commend the question being asked if the city paid for this 'Life Coach." I don't get it. He's married to a beautiful woman, he just became a father, he OWNS a home in San Francisco, and he's the Mayor. Whats the problem?
I agree, Ballard should have answered yes/no on whether the city paid for it. Considering how many people have been let go in the city and the state of our budget, it would be pure asshat-ness to charge anything personal to the city. I seem to remember a certain member of the SFUSD getting in trouble for using the city's dime for Starbucks, etc.
This sounds like something fucking Eric Mahr would say.
It doesn't matter what you call the guy, Gavin is allowed to hire advisors on the city dime. Anything the guy counseled Gavin on that is even tangentially related to his mayoral duties can be construed as advising for the city. So if he said "Stay in the campaign the mayor shit can wait" or "Get out of the campaign and go back to SF" they can both be considered mayoral advice.
I would take Gavin over pretty much any of the fuck wit supes we have now.
can you elaborate on why you think gavin deserves to use tax dollars for a life coach? (please keep in mind that a life coach focuses on helping one develop as an individual. it is a LIFE coach, not a POLITICAL advisor or CAREER counselor) how he gavin improved the city and can you let us all know what the supervisors have done that is so bad in your eyes? because i follow the news pretty closely and from what i can tell, the supes are way more hands on and involved in this city than gavin is.
What I am saying is that any advice he gets from this guy can be construed as mayoral advice and thus this life coach can be considered an aid, a consultant, an advisor or what ever you want to call it. Advice is advice. A Life Coach's counseling will inevitably affect his decisions as a mayor. So as mayor Gavin is allowed to hire advisors on the city dime. It's a tom-ay-to tom-ah-to situation. To construe it as anything else is just the kind of political bickering that the supes love to dive into.
Please note my earlier question to Daly asking him why he is losing his shit over a Gavin aid when he supported Prop B that allows supes to hire as many aids as they want.
Oh and about what the supes have done to improve the city, here's a taste: First of all Daly has supported aggressive housing reform that has helped squeeze the middle class out of SF. I mean all the evidence you need is that Daly squeezed himself out of SF to Fairfield. Daly's district is in complete and utter turmoil. And the supes are supporting BS agendas like getting JROTC out of schools, JROTC gives kids something to do after school. Not every kid wants to be on the football team or in the math club and JROTC is a positive outlet for some kids who would otherwise find themselves bored and on the streets after school. I agree the supes are hands on but it has done more harm than good recently.
in 2005 59% of sf voters approved the ban of military recruiting in public schools. jrotc is a recruitment tool for the military and the supes are right to want it out of schools. (in case you forgot the idea was to remove jrotc but introduce new school programs)
and which housing reform squeezed out the middle class? because i was under the impression that measures like prop f, which allows developers like lennar to develop low income areas without promise of any affordable housing, were supported by newsom, but not daly. its very clear to me which of these two men have the better interest of working folks in mind. i'm not defending daly's temper, but i am saying that if i was up against a big money interest, daly would have my back and newsom would sell out in less than a heartbeat.
i meant prop g.
i meant prop g.
Yeah by develop low income housing they mean for each multi million dollar suite that's built daly wants a certain number of those cube things set aside for people making 30k or less a year. The middle class average income families get squeezed out, once again I'll point to Daly moving to Fairfield. Neither Newsom nor Daly or any other supe has come up with a fesable solution.
You talk about the military like it's some big bad boogy man. It's a necessary part of our country. It just so happens that it's been misused recently. That doesn't make it any less necessary. There are people who thrive in the military and become productive citizens afterward who would otherwise not do anything with their lives.
The new school programs would not be anything like the environment of the JROTC, which is bad because the kids who are interested in the JROTC will not be interested in the new school programs, which are probably going to be called something stupid like Adventure Cadets Outdoor Appreciation Guild and involve none of the disciplinary oversight that kids in the JROTC crave. It may not be for you but kids are entitled to make the choice that best suits them.
"You talk about the military like it's some big bad boogy man. It's a necessary part of our country. It just so happens that it's been misused recently."
our military has been misused for decades. children are not taught about this country's military invading and destroying other countries until they are out of high school. i certainly wasn't taught an accurate version of our country's militant history until i was in college. the military targets youth with the promise of paying for a college education, when really they are sent to countries that they don't belong in and are given shoddy benefits when they return. if they return. so no, i don't think a program that costs $1 mil a year and is taught by army personnel in public schools should be an option for them to join.
and if i am reading this correctly, you are saying that daly was forced to move to buy a house in fairfield because he is middle income? but you are wrong because he still lives in his d6 apartment, and his family has a house outside of the city. not ideal, but seems to me like cost of living isn't an issue for a family with 2 homes in california.
bababaBALLARD
haha..must have been a Life Coach in a former life.
ha ha, yup. i was just going to post the same thing.
what a chickenshit. maybe he's so thin skinned because gavin didn't pay for a lifecoach for him, too, which he obviously needs. too bad he won't get statewide bragging rights, but sheesh, be an adult already. you hitched your star to a loser, get over it already.
This is a distraction from the real problems in the city, which continue to be ignored. I live near Daly's neighborhood. There are syringes in the tree wells up and down McCoppin. It's not a place to raise kids. If Daly and the other supes had worked on making the city livable people wouldn't have to move to the suburbs to bring up a family.
There are some kids in the TL, but probably not from parents who prefer to keep their kids as sheltered as possible. But by a similar logic you could say that 999 Green or the Golden Gateways are no place to raise kids, since they're mostly full of adults doing adult things.
One of the biggest problems affecting the city is that the electorate - you know - the people, are morons and continually vote morons into office.
Ask any person why they voted for Gavin Newsom and you will get one of the two answers:
A. He's good looking.
or
B. He's got nice hair.
Ask about his record, his stance on crime or anything he actually accomplished during his tenure as a supervisor and you get a blank stare. The average San Francisco voter is a moron.
Chris Daly is merely the crumbs that fell from the Newsom table and to his (singular) credit he's smart enough to know that this place has become a mess under his and Newsom's watch, get on the bus and head as far as he possibly can from here.
Hey Daly - got a reply? No? Surprise. You got really quiet all of a sudden.
I suppose that your "most highly tenured group" of pansy staffers told you that actually addressing an issue in a public forum might not be politically wise.
You are a weak kneed punk evacuee who took a couple of decent ideas and by your own stupidity and playing follow the leader, screwed the pooch.
Get out of SF immediately, take mommy and babies and go to suburbia. We're all done with you and I am going to ride your ass directly out of town until you leave.
Your tenure in SF is over as is your political career. Go rub Pampers Newsom's bottom - you are clearly not qualified to run a PTA meeting, let alone any public office.
You get on public access with 10 of your hand chosen and 10 of mine and then you will regain any last amount of respect you lost a very long time ago.
Until then, you, Chris Daly and your political career are no longer relevant in San Francisco. Now go away to Fairfield and yell at the other soccer daddies.