Gubernatorial hopeful Gavin Newsom worked an easy crowd of Napans Thursday night during the local stop on his exploratory campaign tour, but the San Francisco mayor heard an earful from a group he called “roving protesters” who have followed him from city to city.

Hundreds packed Riesling Hall at the Napa Valley Expo Thursday for the town hall meeting with Newsom, billed as “A conversation about California’s future.” Among them, dozens of San Francisco residents, along with members of the Nation of Islam, catapulted questions at the mayor about a shipyard development at Bayview-Hunter’s Point that they argue is exposing their children to contaminants.

The group confronted the mayor at two previous town hall meetings, and vowed to follow him down to Los Angeles and San Diego, if necessary, to make sure their voices are heard.

Newsom engaged in a strained but friendly dialogue with the protesters and promised to sit down with representatives from the group so as to allow Napans to focus their questions on issues specific to Napa County.

Eric Jaye, a spokesman for Newsom, said scientific studies disprove residents’ complaints about contaminants. He added that the development has overwhelming support among residents of San Francisco.

Napans went easy on Newsom, often breaking into flashes of applause for the mayor. He earned a standing ovation when one local woman, the mother of a gay son, praised him as a champion of same-sex marriages. “You’re my hero,” she said.

With his rolled up sleeves and perfectly slicked hair, Newsom walked in and out of the crowd, smiling and shaking hands.

He fielded questions on health care, education and the environment; all of which he said tie into the issue of jobs and the economy.

As the mayor of the only U.S. city to offer universal health care to its residents, Newsom rallied for health care for all, arguing, “It costs less to invest in someone’s health that it does treating their sickness.”

He also called for additional investments in education from preschool to college.

California is “never going to turn the corner and get this economy moving again if we don’t invest in people,” he said.

Newsom faltered, however, when asked about his specific strategies for spending more on education at a time when the state is already in debt.

“I’m not sure in the next couple years there’ll be much more to spend,” he said. Newsom said California should employ strategies to maximize resources by bringing outside agencies such as community organizations and libraries into the schools.

He also spoke of the importance of environmental stewardship, advocating for electric vehicles, high-speed rail and investments in solar, wind and wave energy.

All of these strategies will strengthen the economy, Newsom said, calling California “the epicenter of this emerging renaissance of sustainable jobs.”

“It is ours to lose,” he said.

Thursday’s town hall meeting was the 10th in a long series of scheduled appearances by Newsom up and down the state. He also took the time before the meeting began to meet with a smaller group, made up mostly of local elected officials and representatives from the Democratic Central Committee.

Taxes, ag lands and wine

In a separate interview with the Register, Newsom pointed to land use as the primary political issue in Napa. Specifically, he acknowledged the tension between the need for growth and the preservation of agricultural land and open space.

If elected governor, Newsom said he would seek to apply “smart growth” principles, such as placing new developments near transit corridors with efficient transit systems.

He offered no opinion about the controversial Napa Pipe proposal, which sits on an existing corridor, though he acknowledges he is familiar with the project. Newsom is a business acquaintance of Napa Pipe developer Keith Rogal through Rogal’s separate Carneros Inn project.

“I haven’t once had a conversation with Keith about (Napa Pipe),” Newsom said.

A self-proclaimed champion of the wine industry, Newsom admits that his local business interests could affect his ability to advocate on behalf of the wine industry.

When asked about a wine tax proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger but shot down in this year’s budget negotiations, the gubernatorial hopeful acknowledges a potential conflict of interest because of his financial stake in local wineries PlumpJack and CADE. He noted that when confronted with similar conflicts in San Francisco, he chose to divest himself from San Francisco PlumpJack holdings.

“I didn’t want to get in the middle of potential decisions that would impact my interests,” Newsom said. “The same caution should be extended, of course, to the gubernatorial campaign.

“I would obviously have to consider placing those interests in a blind trust and would certainly want to put myself in a position where I can continue to be an advocate,” he said. “I don’t want to take something I have particular insight and interest in … and set it aside.”

Calling immigration another “front and center issue” for Napa and the state, Newsom called for a “comprehensive immigration reform.” He noted that immigration is of particular importance to agriculture-based cities like Napa.

“I certainly understand the agricultural interests in doing this wisely and thoughtfully and nuancing aspects of immigration reform, because the state is a state of immigrants and it’s our composite strength is that diversity,” Newsom said. Still, “keeping our border secure is not lost on me,” he said.

Newsom also touched on issues such as the state budget crisis and voters’ approval of Proposition 8.

He said structural reform of the budget is long overdue, and said he will seek an overhaul of the current tax system. He said he would consider seeking two-year budgets and specific strategies that would allow the state to build its budget from the county levels up.

A longtime advocate for same-sex marriages, Newsom was gracious about his defeat at the polls when voters in November approved Proposition 8. He acknowledged the “very effective” campaign by Proposition 8 supporters to ban same-sex marriage in California. But, he said, “That’s behind us.”

“I think what’s in front of us is an opportunity to reconcile the fact that we became the first state in U.S. history to change our Constitution to take rights away from a group of people,” Newsom said, “and I don’t think that represents our state very well.”

If he is elected governor, Newsom said some Napa County locals could find themselves in Sacramento with him. He declined to offer specifics, stating, “I don’t want to get them in trouble.”

Newsom did, however, make a point of talking up Napa County Supervisor Bill Dodd, with whom he has had dealings because of Dodd’s previous role as chairman of the regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission.