San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is going to have to learn the Twitters all over again. The gubernatorial hopeful lost the brains behind his online campaign to recruit young supporters and donors. His longtime political strategist, Eric Jaye, announced he was unfriending the mayor's campaign on Monday.
"There was a fundamental difference in how to run the campaign," Jaye told the Chronicle's Matier and Ross, who broke the story.
Jaye was given the task to run Newsom's media campaign and online fundraising, which recently crossed the $1 million mark in online donations. Newsom's longtime adviser was also pivotal in developing Newsom's Care not Cash homeless campaign and the mayor's most controversial move to date: allowing same-sex marriage at San Francisco City Hall.
Jaye's departure may signal a kink in Newsom's armor as he sets his sights on the highest office in the state. The mayor has gone on a media tour, including stops at Facebook and Twitter headquarters, to brand himself the Ashton Kutcher of politics. But Matier and Ross point out Newsom must raise a lot more than $1 million online to fend off former governor and Oakland mayor Jerry Brown as well other well-funded candidates on the other side.
"In the past six years, we have accomplished extraordinary things in San Francisco," Newsom said in a statement to the Chronicle. "I'm grateful for Eric's help and support . . . and I wish him well as we both move forward from here."
