By Steven T. Jones
Sometimes I love Facebook. I quickly find when people I know post interesting photos or break up with their boyfriends. And now I learned that my friend Shawnda Westly, a top Democratic Party political consultant who I knew from my Sacramento days, has left the administration of Mayor Gavin Newsom after less than two months on the job.
Clearly, this is not a good sign for this juvenile frat house of a political team that aspires to the governor’s office, but as usual I couldn’t get Westly to dish the dirt. She’s a pro with long and deep connections to the party, particularly labor, which meant she couldn’t have been comfortable with Newsom so often being at odds with local labor leaders. And I doubt it was very satisfying or inspiring to work with petulant hacks like press secretary Nathan Ballard, who has unnecessarily sullied the relationship between the Mayor’s Office and Board of Supervisors by regularly firing over-the-top invective at President Aaron Peskin and others.
So I’m not sure exactly how Westly is feeling right now, but on this beautiful weekend in San Francisco, my guess is she’s breathing a little easier.