Gavin Newsom's crony capitalism racket
Now that California's Gov. Gavin Newsom has a recall petition apparently reaching the threshhold for ballot qualifiation, there's some renewed press interest in what he's about and what he really does.
Unlike, say, New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, whose style seems to be bullying, machine politics, and use of snarling political muscle, Newsom's racket for maintaining power seems to be crony capitalism, or perhaps more accurately, crony socialism. Which wouldn't be surprising in a state with the highest inequality ratios in the nation -- big billionaires in a couple of urban enclaves, and a lot of impoverished and marginalized people pretty much everywhere else.
Reason magazine points out that Newsom has found a way to positively thrive on it, and with COVID restrictions, positively supercharge himself for it. It goes like this:
In 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office reported that individuals or organizations made $226 million in private donations to organizations at Newsom's request. These "behested payments" were a record-setting haul eclipsing all prior donations on record by nearly $100 million. While most donations supported COVID-19 relief efforts, a closer look suggests Newsom's fundraising was supercharged not just by the pandemic, but also by the broad emergency powers the Democratic governor has assumed because of it.
Behested payments are a unique feature of California politics. State law defines a behested payment as a donation to a government program or charity made "at the request, suggestion, or solicitation of, or made in cooperation, consultation, coordination or concert" with a public official. While payments of $5,000 or more are disclosed to the public, they remain an overlooked portion of politicians' finances, even though contributions often come from businesses with interests in the state government.
So Newsom meets with corporate goliaths, tells them to "donate" money to his pet favorite causes, somewhat like the Clinton Foundation used to do. After that, he notes who donated and dishes out to them huge no-bid contracts. They don't have to compete. They don't have to give consumers or taxpayers any value or accountability. And these moves are very non-transparent, as Reason noted.
Google (through a subsidiary), Blue Shield, Kaiser Permanente, and others all have donated huge amounts (probably tax deductible) to Newsom's favorite pet causes such as housing the homeless (which apparently doesn't do any good) and then in turn, got monster no-bid contracts. One hand washes the other. Mutual back-scratching. Newsom got his start with billionaire Gordon Getty and is cognizant of what billionaires can do, they're pretty much his native stomping ground. It all adds up.
What it isn't is a free market in best prices for goods and services. It's crony socialism, where the rich grow richer based on their political donations, and smaller players get shut out. Apparently, this has been going on a long time, but Newsom has accelerated it. California's cost of living is among the nation's highest. All of these things add up to a culture of rigging and corruption, with inflationary prices and consumer silencing. Newsom has supercharged it with COVID measures (everyone must get a vaccine, see? Delivered by Blue Shield, in the vaccine it chooses for you, too bad if you want something else or someone else to give it), making himself even more powerful.
In this scenarios, the consumer, the taxpayer, and the voter, become zeroes. Newsom has amped up this political game to his advantage. That's allowed him to be none too concerned about the legislature, which normally directs government funding, and outside the framework of checks and balances. It explains why he couldn't care less about business shutdowns in the time of COVID, and could even be doing it at the bequest of the behemoths who contribute to his pet causes and benefit from the shutdown of their tiny rivals. The door has been opened for that, for sure.
Which might just be why the recall referendum was the next logical blowback. The legislature is irrelevant, not a check, to a governor so powerful. And since the elections are rigged for Democrats, even the legislature, if it mattered, is no solution. All that is left is the beleaguered people, which is what this recall referendum is fuelled from. The recall measure is a sign of some powerful popular forces, repressed otherwise, building up like lava. It may just have arose out of this increasingly obvious crony socialist corporate state practice, which is fundamentally anti-democratic.
Report: Gavin Newsom ‘Behested’ Charitable Donations from Companies with No-bid Contracts
California Governor Gavin Newsom reportedly directed a staggering $226 million in “behested donations” to specific charities, some of which reportedly came from companies that also benefited from no-bid state contracts awarded to help with coronavirus relief.
“Behested” payments have come under scrutiny in California in recent years. They are legal payments that politicians are allowed to ask companies to make to charitable organizations. However, as Capital Public Radio noted in 2018, they raise significant questions about conflicts of interest. When Newsom was inaugurated, for example, he gave donors special access “in exchange for nearly $8 million in donations to his inaugural committee and a charitable fund” for wildfire relief.
Reason.com reported Thursday that Newsom’s 2020 behests “were a record-setting haul eclipsing all prior donations on record by nearly $100 million.” Moreover:
While most donations supported COVID-19 relief efforts, a closer look suggests Newsom’s fundraising was supercharged not just by the pandemic, but also by the broad emergency powers the Democratic governor has assumed because of it.
…
Last year, Newsom raised a combined $45 million from insurance giants Blue Shield of California and Kaiser Permanente for Project Homekey, his housing initiative. Newsom had selected Blue Shield CEO Paul Markovich to co-chair California’s task force on COVID-19 testing. In January, the governor again tapped Blue Shield, with assistance from Kaiser Permanente, to manage vaccine distribution across the state. That decision has raised eyebrows as the governor’s office has remained silent about the particulars of the deal, including why his administration selected Blue Shield and how much the company would be paid.
…
But Blue Shield and Kaiser Permanente aren’t alone. Newsom has committed to spending nearly $4 billion on no-bid contracts to fight the pandemic. A number of companies who lined up for these contracts ended up donating, at Newsom’s request, to his various relief efforts.
Reason.com’s Jacob McLeod noted that Newsom had only raised $12 million in behest payments the year before — less than 5% of his 2020 total — and that he was the only political leader in California to experience such a large increase.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is How Not to Be a Sh!thole Country: Lessons from South Africa. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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