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S.F. mayor admits affair with wife of key aide

Gavin Newsom says he's sorry: "I hurt someone I care deeply about."

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published February 2, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO - Mayor Gavin Newsom apologized Thursday for having a sexual relationship with his former campaign manager's wife.

"I'm deeply sorry," an emotional Newsom said during a brief news conference at City Hall the day after the aide resigned. Newsom spoke for about a minute and left without taking questions.

Alex Tourk, 39, resigned Wednesday after confronting his boss about his relationship with his wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk, 34, who once worked as the mayor's appointment secretary.

Newsom acknowledged that he had the affair first reported Wednesday night on the San Francisco Chronicle's Web site and issued an apology for what he called "a lapse of judgment."

"I want to make it clear that everything you've read is true and I'm deeply sorry about that," he said. "I hurt someone I care deeply about, Alex Tourk and his family and friends, and that is something I'm deeply sad about and sorry for."

Tourk served as Newsom's deputy chief of staff until September, when he became manager of the re-election campaign.

Rippey-Tourk told her husband the affair with Newsom was short-lived and happened about a year and a half ago, while the mayor was undergoing a divorce from his then-wife, Fox News Channel host Kimberly Guilfoyle, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

After his wife told him about the affair, Tourk approached the mayor about it, then resigned.

Tourk did not return calls and e-mails seeking comment by the Associated Press.

"It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the Newsom campaigns and the city of San Francisco and its residents," Tourk said in a news release from the mayor's office Wednesday.

Newsom, 39, said in a statement that he accepted Tourk's resignation "with great sadness."

Rippey-Tourk, who now hosts a weekly radio show for Benefit Magazine in San Francisco, could not be reached for comment.

Information from the San Francisco Chronicle was used in this report.

[Last modified February 2, 2007, 01:48:14]