Power begets power. Powerlessness begets…zilch, nada, nothing, oblivion

Check out this Chronicle story about Newsom’s fund raising. He gathered in almost $1 million so far this year and the election is still about three months away.

Newsom’s donors read like a list of the crème de la crème of Democratic politics, San Francisco’s social elite, the downtown business interests, and a substantial number of city employees, some of whom continue to be friends of Ruby and Alex. To no one’s surprise, neither her nor Alex’s name appeared on the donor list.

I’ve argued for years that power is one of those amorphous things that seem to grow and reproduce. The more power a person has, the more support and money seems to flow his/her way. If you have no power, you’re out in the cold.

Take a look at the current status of the Affaire de Axis—Newsom-Tourk-Tourk– as a classic example of expendability. Newsom is more popular than ever. He’ll win the election in a landslide.

Alex Tourk is also wildly popular as made evident by the turnout for his Ground Floor Public Affairs grand opening. There, he mingled with the likes of Eric Jaye, Newsom’s campaign manager, and other power brokers. If anyone doubted that he is still a power broker himself, his grand opening should have settled the argument once and for all.

And what about Ruby? The third leg of this triangle, the truly powerless appointments secretary, is out in the cold, looking in at what could have been had the affair never occurred. She was always the most expendable of the expendable, now relegated to the status of “ex-mistress” attempting to recover from 20 years of alcohol and drug use with no aid and no apparent sympathy or support from Newsom or Alex. She is just another wretched castaway in the turbulent ocean of real power.

This tale hasn’t played out yet. It may never end. Everything seems to hinge of the content of Ruby’s phantom book or on any revelations she chooses to make by other means, which at this time appears iffy, at least until after the election.

We’ll just have to waut and see.