The recent political farewell of Nancy Pelosi and speculation over who will succeed her in Congress focused fresh attention on San Francisco Democratic politics and its inarguably left-of-center brand.
At one point, the families of former House Speaker Pelosi and California Gov. Gavin Newsom were related (Newsom’s aunt was married to a brother of Nancy’s husband Paul Pelosi) and multi-millionaire Gordon Getty was a major financial backer of both Newsom and Pelosi as well as former California Gov. Jerry Brown and his father, former Gov. Pat Brown.
But providing the foot soldiers and the ideological furor behind Newsom, Pelosi and the Browns was the “Burton Machine” — the grass-roots organization established and guided by John Burton, former congressman, state senate president and Democratic state chairman, and before him his older brother Phil, congressman and power broker in Washington, D.C., as well as in the Golden State.
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