San Francisco is a quirky city. It’s liberal, it’s fun, it’s weird, and it works. But Mayor Gavin Newsom sometimes seems like he’s a little off his rocker. He’s really forward thinking, which is great. He’s done a lot for gay rights, and participates in the gay pride parade every year. Wikipedia notes, “He caused a major uproar in 2004 when he issued a directive to the city-county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Newsom claimed the California Constitution’s equal protection clause as his authority to do so, and decided to perform the marriages after attending President Bush’s State of the Union address.” But sometimes he does less-than-intelligent things too. Like cheating on his uber-hot wife, CNN legal correspondent Kimberly Guilfoyle with his deputy chief of staff’s wife. Or “accidentally” proclaiming February 23, 2007 Colt Studio Day, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the gay pornography studio. As a result of that little mishap, the local officials had to impose much stricter rules regarding proclamations in an attempt to reign in Newsom. You can see how honoring gay porn could be bad politically.

For some reason that’s beyond me, Newsom decided it would be appropriate to honor Snoop Dogg and give him an award at the Exotic Erotic Ball. Apparently he’s been stopped… just in the nick of time.

The mayor of San Francisco has changed his mind about honoring rapper Snoop Dogg, after local officials imposed tighter rules regarding proclamations.

Snoop Dogg — real name Calvin Broadus — was due to be presented with a proclamation by a representative from Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Office of Criminal Justice during the rapper’s performance at the Exotic Erotic Ball on Friday.

But the honor was withdrawn on Wednesday after new legislation was brought in to prevent a repeat of a previous incident, in which Mayor Newsom accidentally proclaimed February 23 Colt Studio Day, celebrating the 40th anniversary of a local gay pornography studio.

The Colt Studio announcement caused outrage in the local community earlier this year, and the local authorities hope to avoid further criticism for honoring a celebrity known for his advocacy of marijuana and allegiance with the Los Angeles gang the Crips.

But Howard Mauskopf, producer of the Exotic Erotic Ball, is not happy with the retraction.

He tells AllHipHop.com, “All we can really do is roll our eyes. What you have here is a Mayor who I think means to do the right thing, but ended up getting fried in the national press.

“Instead of him standing up for the community, he kowtowed to the Bill O’Reilly’s of the world and instituted a stricter policy. So when it reached a final decision for this proclamation to be reviewed by this new committee, they felt it was too commercial because of the Ball’s sexual nature and Snoop’s past.”

Outspoken talkshow host O’Reilly has previously called for a boycott of rap music because of the presence of allegedly misogynistic lyrics.

[From the San Francisco Gate]

I’m still left pretty unclear about exactly what Snoop’s done that they felt needed honoring. Congrats, you haven’t been accused of murder this year? I think when you get to the point that you’re randomly honoring Snoop Dogg, your political career isn’t heading in the direction you hoped for.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Snoop at the 2007 VH1 Hip Hop Honors on October 4th. Images thanks to PR Photos.