Frequent-flier S.F. mayor draws fire on ground SAN FRANCISCO

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom chats before an address by US President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to US mayors February 20, 2009 in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) less San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom chats before an address by US President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to US mayors February 20, 2009 in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. AFP ... more Photo: Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images Photo: Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Frequent-flier S.F. mayor draws fire on ground 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Gavin Newsom has spent the equivalent of more than nine months traveling outside of California since he became mayor in 2004, in addition to his frequent in-state trips to Sacramento or Southern California.

His regular absences - particularly the recent ones that have coincided with ever-worsening news about the city's budget deficit - have prompted some accusations that Newsom seems more devoted to his own agenda than he is to San Francisco.

The mayor has been out of the state about 280 days since he was first elected, according to calendars and other documents requested by The Chronicle. In 2004, he only left the state for seven days, compared with 80 days in 2008 and 21 days already in the first two months of this year.

And as his run for governor heats up, the criticism is likely to grow. He'll be in Southern California for campaign events four days this week.

"That habit of being out of city or out of state is consistent with my impression of him as being a bit disengaged," Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi said. "His absence is felt quite a bit. His campaigning (for governor) dovetails with arguably the worst times ever with the current economic crisis."

High-profile expected

Still, many political pundits say Newsom doesn't appear to travel any more than his predecessors or other big-city mayors. Newsom says that traveling is a key part of his job, and local political analysts said San Francisco residents expect their mayor to have a high profile in the state and around the country.

"Judge me on my performance. All of these trips are very much in line with the job description," Newsom said. "Look at the last two months. I feel we've had an extraordinarily productive few months, and that's when I've been campaigning more for governor."

Each year, Newsom takes a couple of weeks of vacation, often to Hawaii. Last year, the mayor was married in Montana and went on a three-week African honeymoon.

At times his vacation plans have angered critics. In 2007, Newsom left town in November just hours after the massive Cosco Busan oil spill in the bay. A month later, he left town after the deadly Christmas tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo.

But most of his traveling is professional. Every year, except 2004, he has attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and toured at least one foreign city, often as a sister-city exchange. He also makes regular trips to the East Coast, usually New York and Washington.

Newsom's trips outside San Francisco are almost always funded by groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, although the mayor's security team, which travels everywhere with him, is paid with city money. Police officials have refused to release the cost of the security detail.

Newsom was out of the state for more than 20 percent of 2008, "and that's going to go up," said David McCuan, an associate political science professor at Sonoma State University. "It's not just a function of the 2010 gubernatorial election, but the Obama administration, too," he said. "If his trips are to D.C., the travel makes sense because San Francisco is such an important city."

The Chronicle's count of Newsom's out-of-state absences includes days when he was only gone for a few hours - for example, when he was in San Francisco for most of the day before getting on a red-eye flight to the East Coast.

Acting mayor

Each time the mayor leaves the state he must appoint an acting mayor in his absence. He almost always appoints one of his political allies on the Board of Supervisors.

It's not as easy to tell when he's traveling to other parts of the state. The mayor's office has long refused to provide detailed daily calendars, and Newsom doesn't always promote his quick jaunts to campaign in Los Angeles or vacation at Lake Tahoe, where his family has deep roots.

Political analysts say Newsom's travels are to be expected. San Francisco residents are used to electing mayors who become national leaders and even celebrities. Plus, big-city mayors often look to other cities for policy ideas, and Newsom makes frequent references to plans that he co-opts from other mayors, said University of San Francisco political scientist Corey Cook.

"We want people in other cities to be able to pick out our mayor in a photo. Our mayors are people like Willie Brown and (Dianne) Feinstein," Cook said. "One of the things that Newsom did very early was to show people he had the stature to be that type of figure."

That said, Cook said, it's not surprising Newsom's City Hall colleagues are becoming frustrated with his absences.

"During the good times, people in San Francisco liked having a jet-setting mayor. But in the context of budget problems, it's different," Cook said. "The perception early in his term was, 'Isn't this great that we have this young, vibrant mayor who's promoting San Francisco around the world?' And now it's like we have this mayor who's somewhere else when he should be right here."

Newsom's defense

Newsom said he works continuously on city policy while he's traveling, pointing out that sometimes he can get more work done on a flight to Southern California than in his office, where he's constantly interrupted.

"People should want to see me outside City Hall," Newsom said. "City Hall is oftentimes not a very productive place. I'd argue I'm in there way too much."

But his critics, most of them speaking privately, said it's not always a question of how much work the mayor does as how much face time he gives the city. Department heads have complained of feeling abandoned by the mayor at a time when they're being asked to make deep budget cuts, and Newsom was criticized last month for not attending budget meetings organized by David Chiu, the freshman president of the Board of Supervisors.

Mirkarimi, who has traveled abroad with Newsom, said he doesn't doubt that the mayor's out-of-town trips are useful. He's just not convinced that Newsom's time wouldn't be better spent in the city.

"I think he would actually win empathy and support if he was more communicative and clear about how these efforts benefit us all," Mirkarimi said. "Some communication, some sincere interface, would go a lot further than the administration understands."