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Award to Gavin Newsom at Convention: Mentor of the Year to the California Young Democrats

By Rocky Fernandez
President
California Young Democrats

The California Young Democrats had a very successful convention in San Jose this past weekend. We declared 2008 the “Year of the Young Voter” and held a well-attended panel on the youth vote. We also held our officer elections and our annual awards show over a Chinese food lunch buffet at San Jose State. The program drew a few hundred Young Democrats from every part of the state, and the event went well, especially for me-I was elected President of the organization.

But I wasn’t the one signing autographs and getting picture requests throughout the lunch. It was clear that the star of the show was our 2008 Mentor of the Year, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Having started in the YD’s as a member of the San Francisco Young Democrats, I got to see first-hand the rise of Mayor Newsom. I remember us hosting a forum on his “Care-Not-Cash” initiative to help solve homeless issues in the city.

In 2003, the Mayor’s race opened up and we met several people running for the job. At the time, we were backing one of his opponents. She didn’t fare as we had hoped and the election went to a runoff.

A good leader can get past previous differences and ask for help when you there is a common goal to achieve. In this case, Newsom’s staff contacted the California Young Democrats and asked for help in making sure that a Democrat was elected mayor in the runoff election featuring Democrat Newsom versus a Green Party member.

We accepted the call and mobilized our membership. We had YDs from Southern California caravan up to the Bay Area to help out local Young Democrats in doing GOTV in the final days of the election. Gavin Newsom won the race, thanks in part to our efforts.

Another measure of a good leader is that they do what’s right, even in the face of popular opinion. Mayor Newsom did just that by opening up marriages in San Francisco to same-sex couples in 2004. In taking on the civil rights struggle of our generation, he showed us that we must not always wait for the “right time” to convey on people the freedoms we enjoy.

That same year, a few of us in San Francisco got the idea of hosting the 2005 Young Democrats of America National Convention in the City (YDA by the Bay). Mayor Newsom was helpful in winning the bid, hosting a happy hour for the convention bid committee as part of their tour.

We got to work on organizing the event. During that time, the workers of UNITE-HERE Local 2 took a stand against the hotel owners in the city. Mayor Newsom stood with them and worked hard to make sure they had a good contract, even walking the picket line.

With our hotel on a boycott list and the event nearing, we knew we had to stand with the workers and move our convention out of the hotel we’d chosen. Mayor Newsom’s office, recognizing we were on a path he had blazed, was helpful in finding an alternate location for the event. The Mayor even hosted a fundraiser to help us offset the costs of moving the convention. He later came to our convention and, as one of our featured speakers, blew the roof off of the place.

Mayor Newsom continues to take tough stands to work for a more sustainable San Francisco and to provide health care for all San Franciscans. A good mentor doesn’t just talk about these things-he shows how to forge the coalitions necessary to make them happen. I’m sure there are times that we won’t agree with him on a decision he’s made-but I trust that he will listen to our concerns in the process.

For all his work with the Young Democrats to show us how leadership matters, we were happy to award him our 2008 Mentor of the Year.

To watch the Youth Vote Panel from the California Democratic Convention, click here. To watch Gavin Newsom’s speech to the Convention, go to the afternoon session from Saturday and begin watching 8 minutes into the tape.

Rocky Fernandez is the President of the California Young Democrats. He is also an elected member of the AC Transit Board of Directors.

Posted on March 31, 2008

Comments

Slices from the above article:

"Another measure of a good leader is that they do what’s right..."

"For all his work with the Young Democrats to show us how leadership matters, we were happy to award him our 2008 Mentor of the Year."

Newson "Mentor of the Year"??? The guy who committed adultery with the wife of a friend/co-worker??? Is that RIGHT???

Just what kind of mentoring is he capable of?

Sorry, just can't grasp the law breaking and bad example setting of a lot of "your side" and even more shocking your ACCEPTANCE of it.

Sure, you beat up republicans for doing similar things (which is OK by me) BUT you don't hold your own leadership to any similar accountability. Hypocricy at its most stark...

Posted by: Jay Gould at March 31, 2008 03:00 PM

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