Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (Photo: https://a18.asmdc.org) Assemblymember Mia Bonta (@AsmMiaBonta) / Twitter)
Assemblywoman Mia Bonta Donates $1.25 Million to Black Panther Museum
What kind of politician represents you?
By Katy Grimes, April 8, 2024 2:20 pm
Do today’s politicians even represent the people any more? What kind of politician represents you?
What would possess California Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) to make a $1.25 million contribution to the Huey Newton Foundation and Oakland Black Panther Museum, when people who live in her district are suffering untold levels of violence and crime. Oakland is in visible decline. Its leaders are either simple or in very serious denial about the condition of their city with horrific homicides, robberies, assaults, rampant crime, rampant violent crime, gang violence, failing schools, car break-ins, retail theft… you get the picture.
Running for political office and winning is exciting. It’s wonderful for the winners. And it is a privilege to represent the people of your district. Elected lawmakers can use their office for good, for evil and corruption, or for selfish, self-serving reasons.
How a lawmaker spends campaign funds tracks with how they use their office – for good, evil, or selfish ends. Campaign funds aren’t supposed to be a slush fund for hedonistic pursuits.
The Federal Elections Commission outlines how campaign funds may be used:
Travel: “may be used to pay the costs of travel to an activity that is related to the campaign or to the candidate’s duties as a federal officeholder.”
Meals: “Campaign funds may be used to pay for meals during face-to-face fundraising events. By contrast, a candidate may not use campaign funds to take his or her family out to dinner.”
Mixed funds: “In the event of travel or vehicle expenses that commingle personal and campaign or officeholder activity, the beneficiary of the personal use expenses must reimburse the committee within thirty days for the entire amount associated with the personal activities.”
Gifts: On special occasions, campaign funds may be used to purchase gifts or make donations of nominal value to persons other than the members of the candidate’s family.
So where does this gift fall – a donation of “nominal value?” California Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, the wife of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, donated $1.25 million to the Black Panther Party Museum, at The Happy Birthday Huey! event honoring Huey Newton’s 82nd birthday, SF Bayview reported. While the article largely glamorized Newton and the Black Panthers, Huey Newton is better remembered as a revolutionary, anarchist, murderer, and the founder of the Black Panthers – “a gang of ruthless killers.”
Who is Huey Newton? He killed “Oakland police officer John Frey in a shoot-out after Frey stopped him in his car early on the morning of 28 October 1967,” the Guardian reported in 2015. However Newton was only found guilty of voluntary manslaughter. “His conviction was overturned and in May 1970 he was released. Two further trials resulted in hung juries and the case was finally dismissed. By then, the party [Black Panthers] was in meltdown.”
Newton fled to Cuba in 1974 “to escape another murder charge. It was alleged that on 6 August 1974 Newton shot a 17-year-old street prostitute called Kathleen Smith in the face, apparently because she referred to him as ‘Baby’. She died after three months in a coma. Newton lived in Cuba for three years and stood trial for Smith’s murder on his return. But the main witness refused to testify, following an attempt to kill her, and Newton again walked free after two deadlocked jury trials.”
How is Assemblywoman Mia Bonta helping or supporting her constituents with this $1.25 million donation to a radical museum in Oakland? Surely she also knows the history of Huey Newton and the Black Panthers. I can think of a few more necessary services for the people of Oakland that $1.25 million would pay for.
Oakland’s crime rates have been higher than the state average, steadily. In August, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on a new study showing that Oakland crime is up in every category compared to crime rates before the pandemic.
But Mia Bonta gave $1.25 million dollars to honor revolutionary thugs in a museum.
Perhaps she should have donated those funds to rehab the Oakland Coliseum and tried to keep the A’s baseball team in town, rather than decamping for Vegas, like all the other people, companies and entities….
Oakland is a complete DUMPSTER FIRE… and so are BOTH BONTA’S….
I did not know there was a “Black Panther Museum”, a museum dedicated to the murderers of Police Officers. But this is the San Francisco Bay Area where we have organizations like the Harvey Milk Club dedicated to pedophiles. Mia Bonta should be ashamed!
This really defines who Mia Bonta is, doesn’t it? Alongside her other misdeeds (an understatement), of course. Just incredible. Every day I’m hearing about what a hell hole Oakland has become; that it is completely DANGEROUS and out of control there now, unless you enjoy being mugged or worse and having your car broken into or stolen, with no response from a 911 system that simply won’t pick up the phone anymore, or at least WAY too late to respond to your heart attack or other medical emergency or violent crime you are a victim of, in a city where sane businesses and residents have fled if they have the means to do it. And her husband AG Rob Bonta is another corrupt politician and wants to be governor! Heaven help us.
she is embarrasses to be black, and rightly so.,
This is obviously transactional. AG Bonta is going to run for higher office- probably Governor. He needs Black votes. This donation buys him the votes.
she is embarrasses to be black, and rightly so.,
Katy Grimes rightly asks whether today’s politicians even represent the people any more? Mia Bonta and the rest of criminal Democrat mafia in office obviously don’t. When they get installed into office with fraud and rigged voting machines, why should they worry about voters? Mia Bonta is another one of those carpet bagging Democrat lawyers from the east coast who graduated from Yale Law School which is a deep-state training ground?
Now where did Mia Bonta get that $1.25 million to hand over to the Huey Newton Foundation and Oakland Black Panther Museum? Maybe it’s a gross misuse of campaign funds? Who’s going to stop her? Certainly not her husband Attorney General Rob Bonta? She’s has ZERO ethics just like her husband?
Where did she get the money?
Did hubby getting Prop One to pass via signature “correction” have anything to do with it?
What parent actually takes their future rocket scientist to a museum honoring a criminal gang? Yup. You guessed it. A progressive California parent.
I will not allow Rob Bonta to take over my job. I will remain Governor AND I will be elected President in 2024. I deserve both jobs!
LOL!
I knew you read Katy Grimes glowing reviews, Gov Gav!
I see you are still delusional.😂
The people who think the BPP is worthy of a museum are her constituents. Huey Newton was just another violent crackhead with a history of violence, particularly against women, who died in a manner similar to the way he lived his life. Similar to OJ- who died of colon cancer.