Many no-shows at unemployment meeting

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The state's six-member Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board hastily called a meeting last week to discuss the governor's criticisms that the board wasn't working hard enough to clear a backlog of 82,500 cases. But only two of the members managed to show.

The four other board members - all former state legislators making annual salaries of $128,109 - phoned it in.

Former Republican Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, wife of state Sen. George Runner, was at a cabin near Lake Tahoe; George Plescia, the former Republican Assembly leader, was somewhere near his home in La Jolla (San Diego County); former Assemblywoman Cindy Montañez, the Democratic speaker's appointee, was in Washington, D.C.; and former Democratic state Sen. Liz Figueroa was working out of an Oakland satellite office.

We should point out that neither Runner nor Montañez was scheduled to be working. They called in anyway, according to the agency's staff.

The two who did show up were former Republican Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, the board's chairwoman, and Ann Richardson, a lawyer and former deputy to Gov. Gray Davis.

Ironically, one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's biggest complaints has been that staff judges who decide the appeals - as well as board members who have the final say -telecommute too much rather than showing up for work in person.

Double irony: Two of the phone callers - Runner and Plescia - were appointed by Schwarzenegger.

By the way, board members aren't buying the argument that telecommuting is responsible for the appeals cases piling up. They blame the governor's furlough program.

Hint, hint: Politicians usually do their best to avoid rehashing scandals, especially when they involve adultery. Not Gavin Newsom.

The mayor-turned-gubernatorial candidate is going out of his way lately to recast his affair with Ruby Rippey-Tourk, his former staffer and then-wife of his chief political organizer, Alex Tourk.

"There's a story that's never been told," Newsom said in a recent New York Times Magazine story on his gubernatorial run. "Things were much more benign than they actually appeared in print."

Newsom said much the same in a recent Fast Company magazine article.

When word of the affair first broke, Newsom called a news conference at City Hall. He admitted to the affair, apologized, confessed to having a drinking problem and left without taking questions.

Rippey-Tourk, her ex-husband and Newsom have kept mum on the topic ever since.

So why bring it back up now?

Those close to the mayor tell us Newsom has long felt victimized by how he was cast in the media. Now that he's running for higher office, Newsom is trying to rewrite history through innuendo.

As for Newsom's claim of a story that has "never been told?"

"The mayor addressed this topic in 2007, and now for the sake of everyone involved he's moving forward," said mayoral spokesman Nathan Ballard.

And why is Newsom bringing it back up?

"I'm sticking with my first statement," Ballard said.

Parking revolt: The last big parking controversy to hit Oakland City Hall was the fight between council members Desley Brooks and Jean Quan over who got the primo spot next to the council offices.

Now, thanks to the council's decision to increase meter rates, raise ticket prices and extend enforcement until 8 p.m., parking has become the hottest issue in town.

"A customer gets a $55 ticket and they are not coming back," said Grand Lake Theater owner Allen Michaan, leader of the movement to rescind the parking rules or recall the council.

City Councilwoman Pat Kernighan, whose Lake Merritt shopping district is ground zero for the ticket blitz, said her office has been hit with more than a hundred complaints, "and there is no sign of people's anger waning."

Others at City Hall, however, seem to feel that the public is just whining and will stop in time. Besides, the city needs the money.

Whatever the case, don't look for any big changes soon. The council is on vacation until September.

And when council members come back to work, parking won't be a problem for them. They get it at City Hall for free.

Extra! Catch our blog at www.sfgate.com/matierandross.