Assembly, Senate Leaders Call on Gov. Newsom to Recuse Himself from Silicon Valley Bank Bailout  

As everyone now knows, Silicon Valley Bank was closed Friday by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, with the FDIC in charge of liquidation.

California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a statement Saturday morning in response saying “Over the last 48 hours, I have been in touch with the highest levels of leadership at the White House and Treasury. Everyone is working with FDIC to stabilize the situation as quickly as possible, to protect jobs, people’s livelihoods, and the entire innovation ecosystem that has served as a tent pole for our economy.”

What Gov. Newsom omitted from that statement is that he and the First Partner are clients of Silicon Valley Bank. The Intercept divulged on Tuesday that the that Newsom’s wineries, CADE, Odette, and PlumpJack, are clients of SVB, and Newsom had personal accounts at SVB for years.

Wednesday, California Assembly and Senate Minority leaders called for the California Governor to recuse himself from any future involvement in procuring a bank bailout “that could benefit his own financial circumstance:”

Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego) and Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) today issued a joint statement concerning Governor Newsom’s financial ties with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and his involvement with securing a bailout for the failed bank:

“For three days now the media has been reporting story after story of Governor Newsom’s personal, family, and business ties with the Silicon Valley Bank. The San Francisco Chronicle, California Globe, Business Insider, Newsweek and others have all detailed that the Newsom family business empire and associated non-profits are deeply twined with the SVB.

“As chief executive officer of the State of California, the Governor is prohibited from taking administrative or other actions that could benefit his own financial circumstance. Simply putting all your assets in a blind trust a few years ago does not allow Governor Newsom to intercede in a bailout of a bank that he knew he and his family had extensive dealings with.

“There’s the potential for conflict of interest, and the actual perception of conflict of interest – we think the Governor’s action in the SVB matter crossed the line into both areas.

“We call upon Governor Newsom to recuse himself and turn over any further state dealings with the SVB bailout to the Lt. Governor. We also encourage Governor Newsom to voluntarily ask that the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) and/or the State Attorney General review the matter to see if any violations of the law actually occurred.”

Newsom also neglected to say that he and the First Partner have even deeper ties with Silicon Valley Bank – Silicon Valley Bank President of Capital John China gave $100,000 “Behested” gift to the Newsom’s nonprofit, California Partners Project, Open the Books discovered, the Globe reported.

Asking for an investigation by the FPPC and AG into the failed bank and political involvement is also fitting. But don’t hold your breath – the FPPC and State Attorney General’s office were weaponized long ago by Democrats.

At least we have the media to dig into this mess (eye roll).

The Globe wonders aloud why California Assembly and Senate Majority leaders haven’t also called for the governor’s recusal.