San Francisco figures again in a personal reckoning this week after a former mayoral staffer published an essay recounting an affair with Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2007 and describing the personal consequences that followed. The piece, published in Vanity Fair, was written by Ruby Rippey, who served as Newsom’s appointments secretary while he led the city.
Admissions and aftermath
In the essay, Rippey details a relationship with Newsom and writes candidly about her battle with alcoholism. She says the episode was a turning point: “
For my former boss, it is a footnote in a longer arc of ascent. For me, it is the fracture that split my life into before and after.” The account says she left her job in government and entered treatment, and that she is now sober.
Newsom, now governor of California, has not denied that the relationship occurred. Reporting cited in the essay summary notes that Newsom acknowledged the relationship took place in 2007 and characterized it as “the briefest of affairs” in his own memoir, according to The Guardian.
Legal and political context
The essay also recounts interactions with other figures in San Francisco’s civic sphere during that period. Rippey says that then–District Attorney Kamala Harris advised her to pause amid pressure to speak about the episode, guidance Rippey described as valuable while she was newly sober and still processing the experience.
- Author: Ruby Rippey, former appointments secretary
- Subject: Relationship with Gavin Newsom while he was San Francisco mayor (2007)
- Publication: Vanity Fair
- Outcome for Rippey: Left job, entered rehab, reports being sober
What the essay means for San Francisco
The story ties back to a period when San Francisco’s executive office was the starting point for a political rise that now spans statewide office. For local readers, the essay revisits City Hall-era relationships and the environment surrounding appointments, staffing and personal conduct. The memoir citation and Rippey’s account together underline how events rooted in San Francisco politics can reverberate years later at the state level.
Reporting on the piece notes that Newsom has publicly acknowledged the 2007 relationship, while Rippey’s narrative centers on the personal costs: shame, addiction and recovery. She frames the episode as a pivotal personal moment rather than a political narrative.
| Person | Role then | Role now | Year cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby Rippey | Appointments secretary | Author of essay | 2007 |
| Gavin Newsom | Mayor of San Francisco | Governor of California | 2007 |
| Kamala Harris | District Attorney (San Francisco) | U.S. political figure (later roles referenced) | 2007 |
The essay adds to a continuing public record about behavior in San Francisco political circles in the early 2000s, and it has prompted renewed scrutiny of the personal histories of leaders who advanced from City Hall to statewide stature. As with past disclosures involving local officials, this account will likely draw attention from constituents, colleagues and political observers who track how personal and professional lives intersect in governance.
For now, the facts in public view are largely confined to Rippey’s first-person narrative, Newsom’s partial acknowledgment of the relationship in earlier writings, and reporting that places the encounter in 2007 while he served as San Francisco mayor. Rippey’s decision to publish the piece in a national magazine brings that San Francisco episode back into broader circulation and highlights the lasting personal fallout she describes.
As the story develops, local readers may watch for any responses from the governor’s office or additional commentary from other San Francisco officials who were active in the city’s government at the time. The episode underscores how incidents from the city’s political past can continue to surface and shape public conversation years later.
