Gavin is "Powerless?" Since when?

By Benjamin Wachs

So Gavin Newsom's "powerless," huh?

That's what he says, at least when it comes to how the city deals with illegal immigrant juveniles caught dealing drugs.

According to the Chron:

"I don't have the authority here," Newsom said at a City Hall news conference as he stood beside his handpicked juvenile probation director, William Siffermann. "I have a bully pulpit. The courts have the authority here."

Well that's a reasonable excuse. After all, a Mayor can't just go around telling his people to disobey other government decisions he doesn't like ..... WAIIIIIIIIIT A MINUTE!

I called up Newsom’s press flacks. “How is it,” I asked them, “that when it comes to Gay Marriage Newsom is willing to tell the existing law to stuff it, but when it comes to illegal immigrants Newsom is ‘powerless’?”

“What?” they asked.

“Well, it seems like Newsom had no problem claiming that he could order the city to violate an unjust law in case 1… but he’s saying he’s powerless to get them to violate a stupid one in case 2. How does he make that distinction? Where does he draw the line on executive power?”

They said they’d call me back on that. Uh huh.

But it seems – what with Newsom running for an even higher executive office and all – that there is an important question here: Where does the man-who-would-be-governor say executive power starts and stops when it comes to unjust, stupid, or inconvenient laws?

Right now I’m pretty confused.

But don’t worry: He’ll get back to me on that.