Jack Davis, the most feared and loathed man in San Francisco politics, dies at 79

"“I didn't agree with his behavior and he violated some agreements he had made to me, so I terminated my relationship as the manager of his campaign. In other words, I fired him,” Davis told me in 2015. “He said 'you can't do that.' I said 'I just did, Gavin.'”"

"But just because Davis had “fired” Newsom didn't mean Davis would turn down a payday. Newsom's subsequent 2003 mayoral campaign manager, Jim Ross, confirms that he still authorized a $10,000 check to Davis every month. “We paid Jack for the entire campaign,” Ross said. “And I don't think he ever came into campaign headquarters.”"

"What did Davis do to earn this money? That's the wrong question: It's what he didn't do. Ross is candid: Davis was paid for not switching sides and “doing someone else's campaign.” Davis was feared by his political enemies - and by his own clients, too."

"Davis, raised in a family of Pennsylvania undertakers, broke into politics in the 1970s, organizing for LGBT rights in Florida against the anti-LGBTQ political campaigns promoted by Anita Bryant, but soon joined the gay migration to San Francisco. He went on to mastermind three consecutive winning San Francisco mayoral campaigns in the 1990s - at one point running a winning campaign against a sitting mayor he'd helped elect only four years prior."

In 2003, a campaign manager recalled terminating his relationship with Gavin Newsom shortly after Newsom tapped him to run a mayoral campaign. The manager said he disagreed with Newsom’s behavior and that Newsom violated agreements, leading to the manager ending the campaign relationship. Despite the firing, the manager continued to receive money during Newsom’s subsequent mayoral campaign. The later campaign manager confirmed authorizing a $10,000 monthly check to him and said he was paid for the entire campaign. The payments were tied to loyalty, with the later manager describing him as feared and paid for not switching sides or running someone else’s campaign. The lobbyist and consultant later died at age 79.

Read at Mission Local