California Gov. Gavin Newsom Has a Problem With No-Bid Contracts

This is a tale of two Governors’ disparate treatment by media.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has a problem with no-bid contracts to favored donors, yet he’s barely criticized for it in the media.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis actually used a smart delivery system to get more vaccines to his states’ residents, and was accused by 60 Minutes of favoring a big donor.

Here are several examples of Gov. Newsom’s contracts:

• He awarded a no-bid contract worth over $221 million this year alone for UnitedHealth subsidiary OptumServe to help with vaccine delivery.
• Another no-bid agreement was extended by $61 million.
• awarded a $176 million no-bid contract for a UnitedHealth subsidiary to deliver vaccines.
• The governor awarded Blue Shield a $15 million contract as the state’s third-party administrator for vaccine distribution.
• Last year, the Newsom administration awarded a no-bid $1 billion deal with Chinese company BYD for hundreds of millions of N95 and surgical masks.

These contracts were unnecessary as the state already has an amazing vaccine delivery system in place using retail pharmacies, the way flu vaccines are already delivered annually. It would not have cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars to do this.

Yet, this is exactly what DeSantis did, and 60 Minutes attempted to skewer him for it. But they didn’t have the story they thought they did, because they deceptively edited video of the Florida Governor to make him look guilty.

Here is the FULL clip of DeSantis debunking the Florida vaccine “scandal”

60 minutes deceptively edited it out to make DeSantis look bad pic.twitter.com/QUUXwliJcP

— Jewish Deplorable (@TrumpJew2) April 5, 2021

The national media is going after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis claiming he showed preferential treatment to Publix supermarket chain for vaccine distribution contracts after they had donated to his PAC. CBS’ “60 Minutes” even deceptively edited an interaction between the Governor and a reporter to make it appear DeSantis favored the supermarket chain.

What they fail to say is that Publix is a massive grocery chain with over 800 locations, making vaccine delivery much more effective in Florida.

Here is the edited 60 Minutes version of the exchange: pic.twitter.com/wdCXlkEXRN

— Jewish Deplorable (@TrumpJew2) April 5, 2021

“In the full clip, DeSantis states that the reason the Publix supermarket chain was prioritized to give vaccines was because two pharmacies, CVS and Walgreens, were still completing their mission of vaccinating those in long term care homes,”the PostMillennial reported. “DeSantis said that when he met with local leaders in Palm Beach, they preferred the option of using Publix over more municipal-based options. The majority of seniors live less than two miles from a Publix, and the program has been a success.”

In the edited version, most of what DeSantis said was removed and makes it looks like he is evading the question and criticizing the reporter.

Meanwhile, as Florida is completely open for business, Gov. Newsom is loathe to give up his emergency powers, and instead wants to extend his emergency spending authority into 2022, CPR reported. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office warned against this proposal, arguing “there would be no reasonable checks and balances on the Governor’s COVID-19 spending authority.”

Ya think? The State Legislature has been glaringly ineffective in reining in the governor’s emergency powers or spending. They have the power to stop it, but have not.

Gov. Newsom’s spokeswoman said that the state awarded no-bid contracts “because there is no time to do competitive bidding given the urgent need to bring up a network capable of delivering vaccinations” across the state.

What about CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Target, WalMart, Raleys, Safeway, Ralphs, Albertsons and all independent Leader Pharmacies?

The deceptions coming from this governor and his administration are stunning.