Surrounded by as many reporters as there were nearly three years ago when he ordered city officials to marry same-sex couples, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom faced the press Thursday morning and apologized for having an affair with a former secretary who is the wife of his former campaign manager.
At the hastily arranged news conference Thursday morning, Newsom apologized and acknowledged that reports of him having an affair with the wife of Alex Tourk, his deputy chief of staff until he signed on last September to run the mayor's re-election campaign, were true.
"I am deeply sorry, and I am accountable for what has occurred," Newsom said at the packed February 1 news conference. "I hurt someone I care deeply about, Alex Tourk, and his family and friends. That's something I have to live with."
Tourk abruptly resigned Wednesday after confronting the mayor about the affair with his wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk, who previously worked for the mayor as his appointments secretary. A release about Tourk's resignation released late Wednesday afternoon simply cited he had done so due to "personal reasons." By that evening, the San Francisco Chronicle had reported about Tourk's confrontation with the mayor, citing unnamed sources.
The revelation was apparently made as part of a rehabilitation program Rippey-Tourk had been undergoing for substance abuse, according to the Chronicle.
Newsom said that he had held a meeting with his staff before the news conference Thursday and apologized to them. He also apologized to his family members and friends.
"My personal lapse in judgment aside, I am committed to restoring trust," he said.
Newsom said little about the media reports swirling around City Hall, but said he would now begin the process of "reconciling it."
The mayor quickly left the room, as a reporter shouted a question about whether he would resign. The news conference lasted just about 10 minutes.
According to the Chronicle, Rippey-Tourk told her husband that the affair with Newsom was short-lived and happened about a year and a half ago, while the mayor was in the midst of divorcing his wife, Kimberly Guilfoyle.
Rumors of the affair had circulated throughout City Hall for months with both gay and straight Newsom staffers. One gay aide to the mayor said Thursday it was the "worst kept secret in City Hall."
Local reaction
Tim Gaskin, founder and editor-in-chief of Benefit Magazine and producer of the gay local cable show Out Spoken, hired Rippey-Tourk six months ago as executive producer of the magazine's television and radio broadcasts. He said she had taken the week off but was expected back to work next week.
"She is fine and our sympathies are with her, her family, and her child. Our hearts are with her," he said.
Gaskin declined to comment on the personal situation between Rippey-Tourk and the mayor, whom he supported like many in the city's LGBT community. He said she is a valuable member of the magazine staff.
"She is my best friend and I love and support her," he said. "She is an instrumental part of our success with the radio and television programs. She is a highly-valued employee," said Gaskin.
Supervisor Bevan Dufty, whose relationship with Newsom soured last fall over disputes about the leadership of the police department and crime prevention tactics, declined to speak to reporters in City Hall after the mayor's press conference.
But asked by the Bay Area Reporter during a Castro merchants meeting Thursday morning if Newsom resigned or decided not to run for re-election if he would jump into the race, Dufty avoided the question. Instead, he said his thoughts were with Tourk, whom he hired to work in City Hall as part of former Mayor Willie Brown's administration, and his family.
In regards to the revelations about Newsom's affair, he said, "I am sad for the mayor. He has enormous talent. I think it is glaringly sad what happened here."
Dufty, a strong backer of the mayor since he was elected, has already endorsed his re-election bid. He said the scandal "is very difficult" for Newsom's supporters.
"It is very disappointing to many people who worked hard for the mayor," said Dufty.
Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who ran against Newsom in the 2003 campaign, said the public deserves better from its public servants. Between the mayor's sexual affair and his press secretary, Peter Ragone, using aliases on various blogs to defend his b oss and then lying about it when caught, Ammiano said there is only so much the public will forgive.
"For me my concern, ethically, is the bad judgment that has been exercised. We have a right to expect better judgment," he said. "People can stumble and make a mistake in this business. But you are only allowed a few stumbles."
Depending on if there are more revelations revealed about Newsom's affair – there is talk of a lawsuit being filed against him – as of now Ammiano said Newsom should survive this latest setback.
"I don't think this has staying power," he said. "The guy is definitely humbled. The ball is now in the mayor's court."
While he said the mayor's "golden boy image" has been tarnished, Ammiano also pointed to other politicians who have been caught up in sex scandals being forgiven and re-elected by the public.
"In our culture bad boys are idolized. Look at Clinton," he said, referring to President Clinton's liaisons with his intern, Monica Lewinsky.
As for the mayor's political future beyond City Hall, he had already discounted his being able to win in a national race or being tapped to serve in a cabinet post if a Democrat were to win the White House next year due to his ordering city officials to marry same-sex couples three years ago this February 12.
In an interview with Reuters last month he had said, "I've basically written myself off of any prospects of running for any different office, and I certainly won't be appointed by any administration or special councils because I'm a time bomb and too controversial. And I'm not just saying for Republicans."
Locally, since the story broke late Wednesday, Ammiano said he had heard little about it from his constituents, who are more upset about a proposal to increase street sweeping to three days a week in the Mission.
"I don't know how much traction it will have. It is up to how he acts from now on," said Ammiano. "Those running against him will try to make an issue out of this."
A comedian, Ammiano did find some levity to the scandal.
"It would have been more interesting if it had been me," he joked. "That is not to mean we shouldn't trivialize it but we shouldn't get overwrought about it."