Gov. Newsom Vacays in Baja as Snowed-In Californians Freeze

The day after California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in 13 counties after record storms dumped another seven feet of snow, he left the state. He also left a lot of questions on his whereabouts.

This is the notice his staff released via email announcing his departure on Thursday:

No details, no explanation for why the governor would leave the state as people are running out of food and medicine, and some freezing to death.

And on Sunday March 5, Gov. Newsom returned:

There still were no details. Was this an important state business-related meeting? Was this a quickie vacation?

“Newsom was on a personal trip in Baja California, per a spokesperson,” Emily Hoven at the Sacramento Bee posted on Twitter Sunday, after Newsom returned to California.

Governor Newsom is all over the media for his pet projects like calling out “Big Oil” on “windfall profits” and demanding a “Price Gouging Penalty.” Right now, Californians desperately need affordable energy, oil and gas, and an abundance of it. But the governor took off as Californians froze.

“In some counties, people have been without power or snowed in, unable to leave their homes, for more than 10 days,” RedState reported. “As conditions have predictably worsened and even mainstream media outlets in the state are reporting that promised help has not arrived.”

*Storm Closures* 6:15 a.m. 3/3/23

State Route 2 CLOSED 2.2 miles north of I-210 to Vincent Gulch Rd. & Wrightwood to SR-138.

SR-39 CLOSED starting at San Gabriel River Bridge in Azusa.

SR-33 CLOSED Matilija Hot Springs Rd. to Lockwood Valley Rd.

I-5 Grapevine OPEN. pic.twitter.com/OslM90yic2

— Caltrans District 7 (@CaltransDist7) March 3, 2023

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.

Californians are trapped in their homes without power. More storms are on the way. And Governor Newsom has just left the state for “personal travel.”

— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) March 2, 2023

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)

So, this isn’t our first rodeo with Newsom.

December 3, 2021, the Globe sent the California Highway Patrol a public records request asking for “The number of California Highway Patrol security detail personnel assigned to Gov. Gavin Newsom, the First Partner and his family, on the governor’s recent vacation to Mexico, November 22, 2021 through November 28, 2021 as well as the number of vehicles assigned on the trip.”

We did not ask for names or any personal information – just for the number of security detail personnel assigned to Gov. Newsom.

That was an odious response.

Newsom has vacationed many times as he refused to relinquish his emergency powers. He dined at the exclusive French Laundry in Napa. He went to the Super Bowl playoffs maskless. He traveled to Cabo and Costa Rica while Californians were still being held to indoor mask-wearing, to vaccine mandates, and school kids were masked all day in class.

He and his administration certainly are cavalier with information that should be public. Newsom is a public servant – not California Royalty.

Gov. Gavin Newsom left the state as thousands of desperate residents remain trapped in snow-bound mountain communities where the National Guard failed to arrive as promised, Breitbart reported. “Newsom belatedly declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, March 1 — a week after a blizzard swept the state and stranded residents of Crestline, Lake Arrowhead, and other towns in the San Bernardino mountains.”

It’s either just bad timing, or arrogant timing for the governor to take time 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, as the Los Angeles Times reported:

A volunteer helicopter operation ferrying in badly needed supplies to beleaguered communities in the San Bernardino Mountains was shut down by authorities as desperation among residents continued to grow Saturday in the aftermath of storms that dumped historic amounts of snow.

…the effort was halted early Friday afternoon by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department because of safety concerns. The department said in a statement that a helicopter tried to land in a parking lot crowded with people waiting for supplies.

Perhaps the most poignant comment is this from Joel Pollak at Breitbart:

“Newsom likes to troll Republicans like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) over social issues. But in Florida, the governor declares states of emergency days before a storm arrives — not a week later. And he dare not leave the state while citizens are still suffering.”

Boom.