Soda, the New Tobacco

California governor-wannabe Gavin Newsom will save us all (h/t Rob Port):

Calling soda the new tobacco, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will introduce legislation this fall that would charge a fee to retailers that sell sugary beverages.

Newsom would need voter approval to tax individual cans of soda and sugary juice, but only needs approval from the Board of Supervisors to levy a fee on retailers. His legislation would charge grocery stores like Safeway and big-box stores, but would not affect restaurants that serve sodas.

Newsom wouldn’t say how much the stores would have to pay or how the city would spend the fees. When he first floated the idea in 2007, he said the money would go to his Shape Up San Francisco exercise program and for media campaigns to discourage soda drinking.

This is the same guy who banned water bottles in San Francisco (except the ones he used), ignored State law and single-handedly made gay marriage legal in SF... until a court smacked him down, and has garbage collectors who are required to examine homeowner's trash to make so no recyclables get into the regular trash.

And he wants to be our governor and was endorsed by Bill Clinton.

California's in trouble now. If he becomes governor, we're finished.