Critics and Criticisms
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Newsom is known to be particularly sensitive to how he is portrayed in the media. At times, Newsom has yelled at reporters, refused to answer questions from certain reporters, abruptly terminated interviews, and has threatened to blacklist news outlets. Newsom has been criticized for having a large number of press releases, made for TV news conferences, and catchy names to new initiatives that might be obscuring what is actually accomplished.
Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin's criticisms of Newsom have frequently been included in San Francisco Chronicle articles that discuss Newsom's policies and actions as Mayor. After his reelection, Newsom was criticized by Supervisor Peskin for taking a vacation in Hawaii during the 2007 San Francisco Bay oil spill. Newsom defended his decision to continue with his three-day vacation plans, claiming that he was in constant contact with his aides and that other agencies were overseeing the crisis. In February 2008, Newsom and Peskin's back and forth actions and comments led the Chronicle to conclude that the two were in a "war of words." Newsom has also been criticized by opponents of gay marriage for legalizing gay marriage in San Francisco. He was criticized by conservative pundits for issuing a proclamation to honor COLT Studio Group, a gay porn studio.
Read more about this topic: Mayoralty Of Gavin Newsom
Famous quotes containing the words critics and/or criticisms:
“You know what the critics are. If you tell the truth they only say you’re cynical and it does an author no good to get a reputation for cynicism.”
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965)
“I have no concern with any economic criticisms of the communist system; I cannot enquire into whether the abolition of private property is expedient or advantageous. But I am able to recognize that the psychological premises on which the system is based are an untenable illusion. In abolishing private property we deprive the human love of aggression of one of its instruments ... but we have in no way altered the differences in power and influence which are misused by aggressiveness.”
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)