(Hmmm… I’ve been wondering the same thing for quite some time now. – promoted by atdleft)

This comes as no surprise given Ragone’s backstabbing comments to the press. Gavin Newson has moved his press secretary to the re-election campaign and hired the ex-spokesman for John Kerry and Wes Clark.

Columnists Phil Matier and Andy Ross report in tomorrow’s edition of the San Francisco Chronicle that mayoral press secretary Peter Ragone is moving to the Newsom Re-Election campaign.

Nathan Ballard will replace Ragone in the City Hall post, according to Matier and Ross:

“By the way, Peter Ragone — the media Svengali who engineered much of Newsom’s image magic, but then took his own hit over posting blog messages under a fake name — is moving out of City Hall and over to the Newsom re-election campaign,” report Matier and Ross.

“In other words, Ragone will officially be out, but still very much in the mix.

“He will be replaced by Nate Ballard, who has worked for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and the state Democratic Party.”

On Ballard’s website, Ballard describes himself as having “served as a spokesman for two presidential candidates, John Kerry and Wes Clark. He has also been a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee; the California Democratic Party; California’s largest labor organization; and for elected officials, large organizations, and political campaigns at the national, statewide, and local level.

My personal take is that Newsom will essentially run his re-election campaign out of 200 City Hall and has relegated Ragone to Sutter and Van Ness, where he will probably do less damage. My question is, why didn’t Newsom just flat out fire the guy?