Almost-San Francisco Mayor Matt Gonzalez must be peeved at victor Gavin Newsom's fake bouquet to The Left on gay marriage, because he's quitting politics altogether. The Green Party stalwart has stunned supporters by announcing he won't seek re-election to his very secure seat representing Haight-Ashbury and adjoining neighborhoods on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

His considerable appeal to supporters is pretty well summed up here.

At Adobe Bookshop in the Mission District, where Gonzalez frequently browses -- and where there's a photo of him by the front desk -- Gonzalez recently appeared to read the premiere of his lyrical 'My Green Manifesto.' It's a list of four dozen reasons why he joined the Green Party, each prefaced by, 'I shall vote Green because...'

The list includes the rejoinders, 'I read the Communist Manifesto and I liked it,' to 'I love asparagus' to 'Federico Garcia Lorca loved Green.' To supporters it embodies Gonzalez: a politician bold enough to publicly embrace Marx, whimsical enough to adore asparagus and literate enough to drop Garcia Lorca.

A framed copy of the Manifesto was auctioned off for a fund-raiser.

"I think he's like a male, tan swan,' said Katrina Morrow, a 25-year-old Mission District resident who has written two poems and an essay about Gonzalez, one since the election. 'Swans are mythical, and stubborn and independent. And he's all of those things. That's what gives him his charisma.'

Ah well, at least he left the city with a visionary piece of legislation, approved last week by The Board of Supes. It bans chain stores in the Hayes Valley neighborhood, and restricts their establishment elsewhere in the city. That's some legacy.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at April 1, 2004 11:46 AM

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