Peskin, Newsom's Lt. Gov Rival, Meet For Cup of Joe

By Joe Eskenazi Fri., Mar. 12 2010 at 5:35 PM

Categories: Politics

Janice Hahn, coffee not included

Spotting Aaron Peskin at Caffe Trieste is something like seeing Norm Peterson at Cheers. He's a valued customer. But you could be forgiven for pulling a Peskin double-take today. He had an interesting caffeinated meeting this afternoon -- with Janice Hahn, Gavin Newsom's opponent in the race for lieutenant governor.

The former Board of Supervisors president referred to this as a social call. "I've known her for some time, she gave me a call and said she was going to be in town. It's always good to see old friends," he said. "I wanted to hear her spiel about why she'd be a better lieutenant governor than our mayor and I've come to no conclusions based on her response. I look forward to having the same visit with Mayor Newsom."

Yes, Newsom and Peskin used to meet at Trieste every week for many a year. So they can start that habit up once again. It's always nice to see old friends.

Finally, for anyone wondering if Hahn was trying to engineer the local Democratic County Central Committee -- which Peskin heads -- not endorsing its hometown mayor ... well, that's not the case.

Local Democratic County Central Committees can endorse local candidates -- but only the state party can make state endorsements.

"It's not an option. We cannot. We're not allowed to," emphasized Peskin. "Local parties do not do that."

Still -- we're sure it was a stimulating discussion.