A Brief and Unpleasant History of Gov. Newsom’s Record
The fanaticism of California’s Governor and elected Democrats
By Katy Grimes, March 30, 2023 8:04 am
California has some very serious problems. While the Golden State has always exuded the West Coast way of life and California hip, these very real problems go back many years, all while elected officials reveled in California cool rather than in doing the hard work to fix the long-term problems.
And now the piper has come calling for payment.
Notably, the state’s population dropped by more than 500,000 people between April 2020 and July 2022, with the number of residents leaving surpassing those moving in by nearly 700,000. Think about that – the first historical loss of population in California, is taking place under Gavin Newsom’s governorship.
There is so much more, but a little historical context first:
The 2003 recall of Democrat Gov. Gray Davis took hold with such fervor over familiar issues: an electricity crisis that led to rolling energy blackouts, a huge increase in the vehicle license tax, and a $35 billion budget deficit, all of which voters blamed on Gov. Davis. The recall was a warning shot for Californians.
Davis also signed SB 400 in to law which immediately “gave prison guards, park rangers, Cal State professors and other state employees the kind of retirement security normally reserved for the wealthy.” It has also nearly bankrupted the state, growing to more than $1.5 trillion in unfunded pension liability.
“More than 200,000 civil servants became eligible to retire at 55 — and in many cases collect more than half their highest salary for life. California Highway Patrol officers could retire at 50 and receive as much as 90% of their peak pay for as long as they lived,” the LA Times reported.
Only 20 years later in 2023, despite Davis’s recall, the once Golden State is turning into a third world country. And while this is Gavin Newsom’s hair shirt to wear, he had help from former Gov. Jerry Brown who started with a $98 billion state budget in 2011 and grew it to more than $200 billion by 2018 – a 110% increase in eight years, with a population increase of just three million. And to be fair, Gov. Jerry Brown created the most damaging policies in his first two terms as Governor 1975-1983. More on that later.
In just his first five months in office (2019), Gov. Newsom increased the state budget $5 billion – even with a tax revenue windfall. He could have cut the state budget and looked like a hero…
But Newsom owns it now. His current budget is over $300 billion. He was Lieutenant Gov. for 8 years. He wanted to be the Governor of California. And instead of addressing the issues the California people are suffering under, Newsom looks longingly toward the White House and childishly and continuously goes after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, picking fights with a prominent national GOP politician.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s California, can be partially summed up this way:
- Water rationing
- grocery unions striking
- growing homeless population
- denied housing vouchers in Los Angeles
- reparations for descendants of slaves
- $7.00-per-gallon-gas
- porn in K-12 curriculum
- COVID mandatory vaccine bills
- Single Payer health coverage
- public school teachers strikes
- energy shortage, rolling blackouts and
- crime
- Newsom’s COVID State of Emergency order from March 2020 until the end of February 2023 (only 4 weeks ago)
- Newsom’s Vaccine mandates for school children, days after opposing one for prison guards
There’s more, but this is a decent summary, all of which link to articles explaining.
Gov. Newsom’s latest Gas Tax, as it is being called in some circles, would create a new panel of unelected bureaucrats with subpoena power, to investigate oil and gas companies, impose penalties, new costs and regulations, which would inevitably lead to gas shortages, rationing and price spikes.
Like something out of Venezuela, where the oil and gas industry were nationalized, the governor’s scheme is to “create a new independent watchdog within the California Energy Commission charged with monitoring California’s petroleum market on a daily basis to ensure market participants play by the rules.”
Gov. Newsom announced the delivery of 1,200 small homes to Los Angeles, San Diego County, San Jose, and Sacramento — “free of charge and ready for occupancy.”
As the Globe pointed out last week, California has more than 170,000 homeless transients living on the streets, and the governor and Mayors are all excited about 1,200 tiny homes. Sacramento has more than 11,000 homeless, and the Capitol City will be getting 350 tiny homes “for free.”
On California’s failing education, during the pandemic, funding for California’s K-12 schools and community colleges spiked from $79.3 billion in 2019-20 to $110.4 billion in 2021-22 — a 39% increase. Also during the pandemic, California public school enrollment dropped by more than a quarter of a million students. For the first time in 20 years, public school enrollment in the state is below 6 million.
Gov. Gavin Newsom bragged, “we’ve made record investments in education,” as if spending more money actually helps children learn better. But the school lockdowns showed us that it doesn’t.
On California’s burgeoning homeless population, despite spending nearly $23 Billion ($23,000,000,000) on California’s homeless housing, homelessness continues to grow in California. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, “nationally, California has topped the list for the state with the largest homeless population for more than a decade. As of 2022, 30% of all people in the United States experiencing homelessness resided in California, including half of all unsheltered people (115,491 in California; 233,832 in the US).”‘
“This is a solvable problem made impossible by a corrupt government,” a Sacramento source told the Globe.
On Gov. Newsom’s shakedown of the oil and gas industry, blaming “Big Oil” for California’s highest-in-the-nation gas prices, ignoring the package of “sweeping legislation” signed in September to achieve statewide carbon neutrality as soon as possible, and no later than 2045, by establishing an 85% emissions reduction target, capping oil wells, slowing oil and gas permitting, making it impossible to increase refining capacity, and entirely phasing out oil and gas starting in two years. And that’s just the start.
So really, it’s California Democrat politicians fleecing Californians at the pump. This week, lawmakers jammed SBX1-2, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Gas Tax, through an expedited hearing, pretending that was enough exposure to the public, then debated the bill in the Assembly and voted on it.
The governor’s scheme is the creation of a new independent watchdog within the California Energy Commission charged with monitoring California’s petroleum market on a daily basis to ensure market participants play by the rules,” like something out of Venezuela. The division would have access to new information required to be reported by refiners, subpoena power to compel production of other data and records that would reveal patterns of misconduct or price manipulation, and direction to refer violations of law to the Attorney General for prosecution.”
This is odd since the California Energy Commission not long ago found “no evidence that gasoline retailers fixed prices or engaged in false advertising.”
With Newsom as Governor, California loses nearly 700,000 residents since 2020. This news isn’t new – the Globe has been reporting for several years about California’s exodus of businesses to economically friendlier states, and residents seeking economic freedom and liberty.
In 2021, the Globe reported that California ranked as one of the top Outbound migration states, along with four other blue Democrat-run states, while the top Inbound migration states were all red Republican states.
Gov, Newsom has eagerly facilitated the prison early release program, letting thousands of violent felons and violent sex offenders out of California prisons. “California Gov. Gavin Newsom will be letting another 76,000 prisoners out of state prisons – on his own authority through Executive Order – violent crime is spiking in California’s cities,” the Globe reported May 2021. The CDCR expanded “good time credits” without criteria to justify early release of dangerous inmates.
He has also infringed on the constitutional rights of legal gun owners through numerous bills including Senator Anthony Portanino’s Senate Bill 2, while letting violent felons and sex offenders out of prison early, and ignoring felons with illegal guns. Newsom supported a bill aimed at adding restrictions to California’s concealed carry permit requirements and gun ownership.
Gov. Newsom allocated $200M for abortion travel and care, and legalized infanticide: If you need financial assistance to make the trip from a Red State, California, the Abortion Sanctuary State, has officially created a new website, abortion.ca.gov, to assist out-of-staters with abortion travel plans and financial assistance, courtesy of the California taxpayers. Gov. Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2223 into law, the “infanticide” legislation, which removes all penalties from anyone violating any abortion health and safety standards when performing an abortion on a woman through all nine months of pregnancy. The bill also hampers law enforcement’s ability to investigate and prosecute infanticide.
Then there is the rather large problem of Gov. Newsom and the First Partner who 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. But it gets worse.
Newsom also neglected to admit 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. Yet the Silicon Valley Bank failure and shutdown is because of “idiot bank management under an incompetent board,” according to Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary.
Plenty of idiots and incompetents involved in the bank, were focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion loan and investment goals, rather than responsible financial outcomes – all issues close to Gavin Newsom’s heart.
With all of the evidence and Newsom involvement in the SVP banking issue, 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:”
As if.
Silence from California Democrats.
Newsom’s rules for thee…
The day after Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in 13 counties after record storms dumped another seven feet of snow, he left the state… for Baja California, but his staff were silent on his whereabouts. Again.
As the Globe noted, more importantly, why won’t Newsom and his staff pony-up some honesty and tell taxpayers and voters where he plans to go? His press office does this when he and they don’t want anyone to know where he is going, but will be verbose to the point of bragging when he’s traveling on state business.
As if. The Globe explains:
During the Covid pandemic, the Globe inquired with his office when he took off, and again where he disappeared to over the July 4th weekend 2022. It turned out that Gavin Newsom and his family vacationed in Montana – one of the 22 states on California’s list of state-banned travel. Two months later he flew to Texas (also on California’s state-banned travel list) to speak at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.
The Globe reported in November 2021 that Gov. Gavin Newsom was missing in action for nearly two weeks following his October 27th COVID booster shot. Then the Globe was provided photos by a source as the Newsom family were seen in Cabo San Lucas vacationing at a $29,000/night dacha of a Russian oligarch.
We sent his press office a request for his public schedule. We did not receive a reply until Thursday November 18th, 10 days later, denying our request. The Governor’s legal unit sent the Globe this message:
“We anticipate that the Governor’s calendar for November 2021 will be available in January 2022. This timeline provides us an opportunity to review the calendar, to redact information that is exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act (as discussed below), and to standardize our production dates for all requesters seeking copies of the Governor’s calendar.” (emphasis ours)
Gov. Gavin Newsom left the state in early March as thousands of desperate residents were trapped in snow-bound mountain communities where the National Guard failed to arrive as promised, Breitbart reported. People died trapped in their homes.
It’s either just bad timing, or arrogant timing for the governor to take time off outside of the state. If he was on state business, then why not say so? If it was beach time, he’s even more contemptible than previously thought.
San Bernardino County residents were told National Guard troops would arrive with food and supplies, but that did not occur, and mountain residents died. As the Globe reported, “Gov. Newsom Vacays in Baja as Snowed-In Californians Freeze.”
There may not be a more despicable act an elected governor can do than vacation as residents of his state are freezing and dying during record winter storms.
As for issues that matter to Californias, business deregulation, honoring the independent contractor, re-shoring of industry, energy independence, securing the border, war on drug cartels, restoring law and order in the state, restoring water rights, plentiful water storage, parental rights (ie. ending the assault on the family), ending censorship, election integrity, back to basics school curriculum, honoring and restoring the second amendment, property rights.
Gov. Newsom has only undermined these very important issues, while destroying the quality of life in California.
Next: What other issues are supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats burdening California?
Be sure to reread: California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Failed Policies are on the November Ballot: State-created water shortage, violent crime spike, growing vagrant homeless population, abortion sanctuary state, indoctrination center public schools, gun control
- ‘Jobs are Down and Workers are Suffering’ While Gov. Newsom Touts Job Increases - December 11, 2024
- Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s Career: A Fractured Fairytale - December 11, 2024
- California Exodus: Golden State Tops US Moving Migration Report - December 10, 2024
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September 30, 2020 -
Thank you again, Katy Grimes, for these Gavin Newsom retrospectives. Because of the constant bombardment of CA and U.S. bad news, with each super-alarming story wiping out the importance of the last super-alarming story, regularly-scheduled reminder lists of how despicable, destructive, and malevolent CA’s Governor Gavin Newsom has been and continues to be are needed and welcome.
Can’t help wondering, though, in light of Newsom’s well-known sociopathic lack of conscience, if the ONLY thought really squeezing his brain right now is that he is between a rock and a hard place: He apparently knows that CA’s budget deficit is way, WAY worse than what he publicized previously ($20 billion?) at the same time the expectations and pressures appear to be mounting now for CA (with Newsom’s blessing and under his direction) to pay out what has been conservatively estimated to be $800 BILLION in so-called “slavery reparations.”
I guess we’ll wait and see what Governor Newsom does with this situation as the ratcheting vise continues to tighten.
Thank you Katie,
There is an estimated 20+ billion dollar fraud at the EDD. Shouldn’t Newsome have to address that in some way? Isn’t he the “CEO” of the states finances? Why has there been no comment from him about this loss of state funds?
why is he allowed to continue to do all these bad decisions that hurt California just the svb banking issue should be impeachable then him leaving the state and staying at a Russian estate while people died in there homes why is he still in power
Ohhh, Katy,
I love your documentation. You bring the receipts!
California is the bellwether for ONE PARTY CONTROL.
For those that want a national Democrat supermajority this is what you all have to look forward to.
A complete breakdown of society. Many Californians have fled and will continue to move to other states for respite from insane policy that has led to dangerous streets and minimal opportunity unless you are a techie.
I ask where will U.S citizens run too?
We are on the precipice of this country failing as well!
Newsom will continue to destroy this state as long as he is in office, he has the legislature and a compliant media in his pocket.
Not only do we emulate Venezuela, but the powers that be are buying dirty oil from VENEZUELA! You just can’t make this sh*t up. Newsom loves talking the green, clean talk and push us all into electric cars but has no issue with dirty foreign oil coming into our state.
A Venezuelan oil official has recently admitted to taking bribes and now all exporting has been halted. Hmm, wonder how this will effect our gas prices this summer?
https://www.lapatilla.com/2023/03/30/venezuela-halts-nearly-all-oil-exports-amid-payment-probe/
Newsom is a one man wrecking ball!
He has succeeded in his mission.
Buckle up this ride is only going to get worse.
I spent an embarrassing amount of time this afternoon looking again at the Nov. 2 “CA Gov Gavin Newsom’s failed policies are on the November ballot,” and following (just about) every link. The SHEER VOLUME of what has been written about Newsom’s destruction of California is mind-boggling on its own. If you printed it all out it would be a towering, ready-to-collapse stack of paper. The horrors and devastation just kept coming; the next one worse than the last. Try it yourself and you’ll see what I mean.
Oh sure, this guy beat the Recall in 2021 and then was reelected in 2022. Not a chance.
Republicans need to start fighting fire with fire and stop pussy-footing around with these leftist radicals. Taking the “high road” simply means fighting with only one hand. For example, if there is anyone in California who needs to be indicted it’s Gavin Newsom. DO IT! Am I calling for retaliation for Bragg’s indictment of Donald Trump? YES, absolutely!
P.S. Deterrence theory is based on the concept of mutually assured destruction (as in nuclear war). It was effectively used on the Soviet Union. At this point in time, Democrat politicians have no fear and, therefore, are emboldened to use the legal system against Donald Trump and anyone else who stands in their way. They need to fear retaliation – MAKE IT SO.
Based on voter in the 2020 gubernatorial elections, there was 11.2 million cast for governor out of 22 million eligible. So that opens of the question of how many of California’s votes came from this pool of abandoned ballots?
Our elections are so corrupt no one even goes through the motions any more.
What ever happened to Newsom’s memory holed billion dollar mask deal with China.
A billion here, a billion there, and it starts to add up!
Colorado=California lite.
Same situation here, one-party demoncrats and a joke called the republicans.
Don’t forget when Governor Climate Change ended the death penalty with an executive order. This after California voters rejected ballot measures that would have ended it in two consecutive elections. He does not want to execute convicted murderers but it’s ok with him to slaughter babies.
The fundamental challenge in CA is that there isn’t a credible opposition party to challenge the supermajority.
Democrat/NPR/ClimateChange voters have no alternatives to consider, not least because what’s left of the Republican party has a very low level of visibility or selling of any sort of future vision. The Greens, Libertarians etc are effectively invisible.
Democrat/Soros/NPR/ClimateChange machine politics and their pyramid of party members are promoting fear while undermining any opposition and are extremely powerful. The only way out of this slow motion disaster is a credible alternative to the DNC in the state that doesn’t alienate voters.
We have had plenty of credible candidates running against career Democrats in our locale. But Democrats run a formidable Mean Machine, so even the opposition candidate’s own mothers would not recognize them after the Democrats are done with them.
They use their local media cabal and immediately target the opposition candidate with a mean-spirited nickname and always associate the candidate with equally vile name calling whenever they can. They know voters like simple labels and are not really interested in issue or arguments. Just tell them early who the “good guy” is and who i the “bad guy”. . Just calling an opposition candidate early on as the “Trump candidate” is all they need to do in our “progressive city”. The deep state voters already know who they want to vote for – (D)
Democrats have mastered the art of personal destruction. Scary this is happening to stifle lawful political process, but we have watched this play out locally for too many years.
The last minute smear when there is no chance to rebut it, is another favored Democrat tactic – they used “anti-abortion” to take down Larry Elder who was gaining traction on the Newsom recall, but at the very last minute they moved in on any undecided with their typical and scurrilous last minute smear on an issue that had not even been relevant in California.
Crime and fiscal sanity were the driving issues for that Newsom recall race – not abortion, but Democrats injected it anyway just to cull out any last minute undecided.
I am amazed we still get good people who keep trying to unseat Democrat incumbents or get on the revolving door after term limits for some offices, but they never come back second time. Even when they actually gained a little traction, after successfully butting heads against every single Democrat slur.
Democrats latest ploy is to keep a candidate from even getting their name on the ballot, challenging them and draining out their campaign funds to fight a never ending string of ballot challenges. All directed from party central who have the lawyers up front, ready to take on anyone.
Democrats play hardball because so much money is at stake for them – which just happen to be our very own tax dollars that they use to pay off their deep state cronies in order to ensure their own next re-election. Lucy and her football -every time, no matter what campaign promises they make. It all goes to the public sector unions once the votes are counted.
So no, it is not a lack of good candidates, particularly when you compare them to the party machine incompetents they continually put up. Where we fail is we haven’t yet found away to beat their Mean Machine on their own terms.
And probably can’t because voters now are either deep state supporters who only vote one way, regardless of the candidates on either side. The power and skill of the Democrat marketing machine is just too daunting -look how they sold a total incompetent like Biden and made people actually like voting for him.
Democrats run on giving you things – GOP runs on taking things away.
This is why we keep losing. Yet the state itself losing after they give away everything. This has not yet clicked with state voters. And especially not Gens XYZ who will get stuck with paying for all those Democrat vote-buying promises.
Is this another one of the many Newsom campaign contributors? Just asking:
https://www.oann.com/newsroom/san-jose-police-union-exec-charged-with-importing-fentanyl-and-attempting-to-distribute-them/
Katie, This is a splendid & informative article~! Keep it up~! “Gavin” is a well-dressed criminal, who is deeply-embedded well within the DC Swamp=Rats’ Club~! “Gavin” is related by marriage, I believe, to Nancy D’Aselandro-Pelosi. Nancy’s father, Thomas D’Aselandro, was a Baltimore Underworld Heroine Dealer who murdered many others. So, Nancy grew up on Blood Money”, and her career shows her contempt for anyone below her wannabe Elitist status, with “Gavin” following suit quite closely, (as I saw, first-hand, when I was able to penetrate his security at a speaking event outside of Sacramento). A “White-Man-Smooth-Talk” speech. Another HUGE, HUGE economic crime “Gavin” is committing, is well-documented in the heroic Kristi Diener’s CA Water for Food & People Movement on FB~!! Kristi’s Super Capable research & water-knowledge is Stunning. “Gavin’s” California Water Resource Control Board bureaucracy has Stolen Trillions of gallons of OUR Water WEEKLY since “Gavin” got control, by dumping Our Water uselessly out to sea, robbing CA Farmers, Ranchers, etc, often of up to 100% of their hugely-needed & pre-paid-for water~! Thus, over 1,000,000 acres of our food creators have been destroyed~!!! “Food Inflation”, anyone~? So, Katie, & All California Globe readers, please look at Kristie Diener’s CA Water for Food & People Movement, (almost 28,000 members with FB trying to hurt her). Great Article, and, Best Regards.
But Klaus Schwab and George $oro$ are both happy that their WEF “Young Global Leader” Governor is exacting their plans for global dominion and control in a large US State….
Great summary. Unfortunately, everything you listed are considered assets by idiot Democrats. The Democrat Media Industrial Complex will not stop until he’s in the White House.
I love California still to this day! The California I was born and raised in that is until Newsom was elected! I’ve been on the recall campaign since the beginning. When the results came out he wasn’t even close to being recalled I lost all hope! This machine is way too big now to stop. People try to fix things through conversation even if they disagree they talk! If you’re not a democrat in this state these days you are silenced your context means nothing!! I recently became one to move out of the state unfortunately. I however did not move to a red state I moved to a blue state. Hawaii big island. This reminds me of the days of California growing up. This is a blue state that works. You ask how because of moderate democrats not progressive democrats! I felt hostage in my own state of California. It’s good to be free again.
Thank you, Katie. This kind of article is SO important since Newsom is angling for the presidency. The nation doesn’t know how destructive Newsom and his predecessors have been to our state. They only know that Californians are coming to their states and voting for Democrats and Progressives. People need to know this background in order to talk to others in efforts to persuade them away from modern Democrats (aka Progressives). We must share this information far and wide if for no other reason than to give voters the truth about this smarmy crook when he uns for president.
Cliff Notes version : Gavin Newsom is a complete pr!ck…
DO NOT LET HIM NEAR THE WHITE HOUSE, whatever the cost!!!!
Tour de force article. Thank you for putting this sordid history of uni-party misrule of this state in one easy to follow article. Yes, the state’s downfall can be measured from the 2003 Prison guard pension sell out forward.
Passing term limits as “election reform” cannot be ignored too. This allowed Democrat party operatives to swoop in and place their revolving door union ideologues in every elected position they could find. Astro-turf special interest campaigns quickly replaced former grassroots community engagement campaigns. It happened so fast, most voters were caught flat-footed. Now it is too late. They quickly cemented their one-party hegemony.
The common question arises from even casual observers: why did California do this to itself? We do need to track that history too, because we the voters in fact cannot escape responsibility for pushing this state into its current free fall.
The state employee unions hired the best marketing campaigners that ever existed, after the Gray Davis recall in 2003. They quickly took down every campaign promise made by 2004 recall winner Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger and never looked back. This must be the very same marketing team that turned Joesph Biden into a “Return to Decency” from his basement.
We have met the enemy, and he is us. (Pogo)
CA sounds like the other Zimbabwe I lived in. Gavin Mugabe, you say? Sadly, he can never achieve the notoriety of printing $100 trillion bank notes like Comrade Bob, but he apparently is doing the same thing by other means. Choo choos to nowhere and burning windmills. It’s all the same.
A good start enumerating the affronts that Californians have endured, but there are so many more that Newsom has engineered; particularly the appointees to the various boards and departments (DMV, EDD, Fish and Wildlife CARB and so many more). And then the DA’s he supports, the unilateral decision to not enforce penalties (death and others) negating, the work of police, investigators, voters, judges, juries and so on. Why pay for a system just check with king Newsom let him decide. And then all the various side hustles – why the hell is there no investigation of the stupid mask fiasco that he engineered with a brand new company that he had ties to. There never seems to be even a slight repercussion for poor decisions, appointments, or the appearance of sleaze.
Are we doomed, apparently hundreds of thousands have given up and left deciding with their feet.
Democrats: The party that gives away things for “free”.
GOP: The party forced to pay for them.
Trick question: Which party gets the most votes in California?