"Young Man in a Hurry" | Reviewed by Bill Schwab

Sage political advisors encouraged him to “go slow,” but young Newsom only knew one speed. One month after his 2008 inauguration as mayor of San Francisco, 38-year-old Gavin Newsom allowed same sex couples to get married at City Hall. In 28 days, more than 4000 couples were married before the California Supreme Court stopped the ceremonies and voided the marriages. In 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that states must allow same-sex marriages. Many barrier-breaking actions mark Newsom’s political career.

In this candid memoir, Newsom recounts his Irish roots and how the California Dream lured his paternal family from County Cork six generations ago. His great-great-grandfather was a San Francisco police officer; his grandfather built homes along the Pacific Coast, and his father, William, became an appellate court judge and manager of the Gordon P. Getty Family Trust — Gordon Getty being his father’s best friend from childhood.

When his parents divorced, Newsom was only 5-years-old. He and his sister Hilary were raised by their young mother, Tessa Menzies, who juggled “three jobs to keep a roof” over their heads while their father was embedded in San Francisco society. As a child, Newsom spent many hours with the Getty family, playing with their children, especially with Gordon Jr. As he entered his teenage years, Newsom felt a sense of dissonance as he watched his mother struggle while his father lived comfortably in Lake Tahoe, California. The young man wrestled to fit together the starkly different worlds of his parents. The internal tension between these two worlds is the book’s subtext.

Newsom credits his relationship with the Getty family for his rise from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to mayor and, eventually, governor. “In my life as a husband, father, and politician, the Getty connection would cloud and distort many things,” he writes. “In the eyes of the press, I was forever the ‘golden boy’ whose daddy had prospered because of his ties to the Gettys, and now the son was simply following suit.”

Newsom revisits his record of advancing climate policy, gun safety, and reproductive rights as governor. He also recounts several personal missteps, including the failure of his first marriage, largely caused by an affair with staff member Ruby Rippey-Tourk, the wife of his deputy chief of staff. When the assignation became common knowledge, he was forced to publicly admit that the allegations were true. Newsom has been married to Jennifer Siebel, a filmmaker and actress, for 17 years. They have four children.

While not a blatant campaign memoir, it is curious that the autobiography was published when Newson was only 58, and he is widely regarded as a potential presidential candidate. However, this is not a standard campaign life-history but a restrained recollection of his political achievements, the origins of his political ambition, and his partisan positions. Mostly, it is a very personal portrait of his struggles growing up, as well as his business and political achievements. It is unlikely the book will change readers' minds about Newsom on the political level. Still, there is much to appreciate in this memoir and much to anticipate as the author’s personal and political life continues to unfold.

About the author: Gavin Newsom is the governor of California. He previously served as the Lieutenant Governor of California and as the mayor of San Francisco. Before entering elected office, he was a small-business entrepreneur, founding the PlumpJack Group, which now includes twelve retail stores, wineries, hotels, and restaurants.

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