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

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

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.