23
2005
Finally. The San Francisco Chronicle got around to sending someone to write a decent and insightful profile of Mayor Gavin Newsom.
Writer Mike Weiss gets Newsom to talk about his father, his mother, and his relationship with the Getty family. He gets Ann Getty to talk about her husband's relationship with Newsom and – at last! – get at the source of Gordon Getty's closeness to Gavin's father, Bill.
This is a well-known story. It remains a mystery to me why The Chron's political writers have not seen fit to tell it. It explains a great deal: Why Newsom remains close to the Gettys. Why Gordon Getty has always looked out for him. He's just returning a favor. A big favor. Judge Newsom got Gordon Getty access to his father's billions and it did it at a time when the money was very much needed. Using his skill as a lawyer, Newsom broke the trust J.P. Getty, a nasty, miserly old man by any description, had set up to reduce his tax burden. This is the same nasty, miserly old billionaire who only grudgingly agreed to pay his grandson's - Gordon's nephew's - Italian kidnappers. And it was Bill Newsom who carted the cash to get him released.