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In her two terms as mayor that followed, she was given high marks overall for having developed an envied transit system, a strong police force that reduced certain categories of crime and, later on, an elaborate anti-AIDs program. Again and again, she showed a talent for bringing warring factions together. At the time, however, she was almost constantly beset by controversy. Liberals assailed her for allowing an overblown "Manhattanization" of the downtown business district and for overemphasizing tough law enforcement. Conservatives criticized her for leaving the current administration of Art Agnos with a "shortfall" of $140 million in the 1988-89 budget and for catering to minorities, especially the increasingly powerful gay community. "As a supervisor, all she could think of was tax, tax, tax," snaps retired realtor John Barbagelata, who had been her longtime Republican archenemy on the board of supervisors. "And as mayor, she was ambitious, selfish, expedient and hypocritical."
On the job, Mayor Feinstein prided herself on being a hands-on administrator, often to the distress of other officials. When a foul-up occurred, she was apt to respond with a blistering dressing down or at times even a bout of temper behind closed doors. Once she summoned police chief Cornelius Murphy to her office posthaste.
"Chief," she demanded, "there've been all these 2-11s ((armed robberies)) lately. What can we do about that?"
"Well," Chief Murphy sighed, "we can start by turning off your police radio."
"For a lark" back in 1975, Feinstein recalls, she and two women friends forced their way into the off-limits gentlemen's dining room of an exclusive club. Nevertheless, today feminists outside San Francisco tend to blow hot and cold about Feinstein. Some find her standoffish. Assemblywoman DeLaine Eastin of Fremont, among others, complains that as mayor, Feinstein appointed many more men than women, gave short shrift to women's issues and failed to support a number of other women candidates. "Let's face it," says Eastin, "she has not been a team builder for women."
National feminist leaders, however, argue that what's important is the symbolic value of Feinstein's candidacy and that she has evolved with the times, like many women. "I've lived a feminist life," Feinstein says in her own defense. "I had to quit a job because there was no maternity leave. I raised a child as a single mother. I put together legislation. I haven't been a marcher, but I've lived it."
In the end, when all else fails, there is always her abiding ability to disarm friend and foe alike. On the evening of Agnos' inauguration as current mayor, Barbagelata and his wife Angela were having dinner with a group of friends at Trader Vic's, off Taylor Street, when they saw the tall figures of Feinstein and her husband saunter into the restaurant. Feinstein immediately came over, threw out her arms and said, grinning, "C'mon, John, you ole curmudgeon, give me a kiss!" Barbagelata complied. "What could I do?" he says ruefully. "She's a charmer."