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Mayor Gavin Newsom

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, promised on Friday that his party’s green agenda will ultimately prove to be the key to job growth and economic recovery.

His remarks echoed recent arguments made by Sen. Barbara Boxer and other Democratic candidates who have come under attack by Republican challengers.

Speaking at a luncheon hosted by labor representatives, Newsom offered San Francisco’s recent history as proof that green standards alleviate unemployment. City policies including strict standards on greenhouse gas emissions, the nation’s most comprehensive green building standards, and a compulsory composting program have created jobs for San Franciscans, Newsom said.

 “We are the greenest big city in America,” he said. “And this is good for business.” 

For months, Republicans including Carly Fiorina, Sen. Boxer’s challenger, and gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, who is running against Attorney General Jerry Brown, have sought to portray Democratic policies as wasteful and ineffective in alleviating unemployment, which is the number one issue for voters across the country.

Fiorina and Whitman have both attacked AB 32, the state's landmark greenhouse gas initiative, as an alleged job-killer. Proposition 23, on the ballot this fall, would suspend AB 32 until the state’s unemployment rate drops to 5.5 percent or below for four consecutive quarters. 

Newsom said the Republicans are all wrong, and that Prop. 23 would shut down the single industry that is creating jobs in California.

“What they’ve done is they have demagogued it, I think for political base purposes” said Newsom. “And I think it has been very damaging because it creates uncertainty.”

AB 32 includes a provision which permits the Governor of California to suspend the bill’s conditions if there are “extraordinary circumstances,” such as “significant economic harm.”

Governor Schwarzenegger has made it clear that he will not suspend AB 32 before leaving office. If elected, Whitman would have the power to suspend the onset of AB 32’s provisions.

Newsom said Whitman’s position on AB 32 has already taken an economic toll.

“People are wondering if that is actually going to suspend the implementation in 2012 of AB 32,” explained Newsom. “So already it has had, I think, a chilling effect and a very damaging impact on the state.”