NEWSOM FACES BACKLASH AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS' ESCAPE IN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

The Drug Dealers, Shielded and Sent South by San Francisco, Have
Prompted a Firestorm of Criticism of the Potential Candidate for
California Governor.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Gavin Newsom has his work cut out for him: As he
positions himself to run for governor, he must persuade Californians
that he is more than just the mayor of a famously liberal city, the
man who ushered in same-sex marriage.

This week, he has another issue, but it might just make his job a lot harder.

For years, this sanctuary city has been shielding convicted juvenile
offenders who were illegal immigrants from federal authorities,
either escorting them to their home countries at city expense or
transporting them to group homes, often outside the city.

But in recent days, eight young undocumented drug dealers from
Honduras who were convicted in San Francisco walked away from
unguarded facilities in San Bernardino County. Although Newsom said
the city has stopped the practice, news reports of the escapes have
created an uproar in the electorally important Inland Empire and
shined a national spotlight on this city's singular policies.

On Wednesday, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) demanded that San
Francisco officials turn over all convicted illegal immigrant drug
dealers to federal authorities instead of shipping them "out to San
Bernardino County, where they can escape and victimize the
neighborhoods in my district."

In a strongly worded statement, Newsom said Wednesday that he has
directed his administration "to work in cooperation with the federal
government on all felony cases. And I urge the district attorney, the
public defender and the courts to do the same."

Reality, however, might not be that simple. Public Defender Jeff
Adachi agreed that all parties involved with these youths need to
"meet and confer." But their disposition is "ultimately a judicial
determination."

And the public defenders, he said in an interview, "are going to
continue to advocate for the child, for our client. If the client
doesn't want to go to the feds, that's what we'll be advocating for."

Even though the city's sanctuary status long predates Newsom, all of
the conflict and confusion do little for his nascent bid for
statewide office and his efforts to define and introduce himself in
the less liberal corners of California.

"The criticism and rap on [Newsom] is he's a single-issue"
politician, said Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the
Study of Politics and Media at Cal State Sacramento. "This is
certainly another issue, but it's a core issue for liberal folks.
He's already got that corner of the market."

Political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior scholar at the
School of Policy, Planning and Development at USC, noted that if
Newsom won the Democratic nomination for governor in 2010, "in the
general election, Inland California is going to be critical."

And that's exactly where the Honduran youths were shipped, ultimately
escaped and are doing Newsom no favors among the independent and
swing voters that any future governor will have to woo.

O'Connor's and Jeffe's concerns were echoed Wednesday in interviews
in this city's bustling Financial District and in scores of scorching
comments posted on latimes.com.

"Please Newsom, please oh please run for governor!" began one of the
more printable missives. "My vote against you shall then be all the
more gratifying as, hopefully if Californians aren't that stupid,
your campaign crashes in flames."

Wrote "disgusted in LB": "Don't even think about running for Governer
Newsome! Your a psycho lefty, and the only city in California that
would accept your ideals and beliefs is SF."

At lunchtime Wednesday in downtown San Francisco, workers judged the
mayor less harshly. But many still scratched their heads at a policy
that was designed to protect illegal immigrants who were otherwise
law-abiding but apparently shielded convicted drug dealers from justice.

Mary McDonald, a 61-year-old who lives in Berkeley, called Newsom a
"very appealing politician who's learned a lot being mayor of San Francisco."

However, the Bay Area is "a cocooned place . . . not like the rest of
the state," said McDonald, who works in commercial real estate
finance. "In theory, a sanctuary city is a great idea -- until you
hear the story of the crack dealers put into a group home in Southern
California" and then escaping.

"This could be a real negative issue for Newsom," she said.

Jim Allen, a retired insurance broker who was born in San Francisco
and now lives in Walnut Creek, called the sanctuary policy
"absolutely wacky," the kind of policy that narrows Newsom's
political base to wide-open San Francisco.

Shipping convicted juvenile offenders back home to their own
countries with nothing to keep them from returning "is so explosive
it's just not going to play well" for Newsom's gubernatorial bid, Allen said.

"I think it'll put a big hole in the bottom of his boat," said the 61-year-old.

One fourth-generation San Franciscan disagreed. Insurance broker
Larry Colton, 57, said he is proud that his city is "a bastion."

"It's what we stand for," he said. "We are a sanctuary city and we
should continue to be so, God, especially with the Bush administration."

As for Newsom's 2010 ambitions, he said this immigration uproar could
hurt the mayor in Orange County and Southern California, be a
"non-starter" in Northern California and pale in comparison with the
price of gas.