- He’s ignored the will of California voters;
- He’s superseded the California legislators who passed laws implementing and maintaining the death penalty;
- He’s spit in the faces of the family members of the victims of those 700 “excused” murderers;
- He’s laughed at the Rule of Law in his own state.
All that sounds like just another day at the California governor’s mansion in Sacramento!
At first blush, many will be tempted to say the very good looking and young newly-elected California governor is just testing his authority early in his administration. Others might say he’s from the “new” school of liberal American voters who simply don’t know better. But anyone saying either of those would be sadly mistaken. Gavin Newsom although young, is a very smart young man, especially in “all things Californian.” But who is Gavin Newsom?
Gavin Newsom’s Connections
The Governor is no political newbie. He is the 40th governor of California. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California from 2011 to 2019 and as the 42nd mayor of San Francisco.
He attended high school in Marin County — just north of the Golden Gate Bridge outside San Francisco and a very expensive zip code. He graduated from Santa Clara College.
In 2003, Newsom was elected the 42nd mayor of San Francisco, becoming the city’s youngest mayor in a century. Newsom was re-elected in 2007 with 72 percent of the vote. He was elected Lieutenant Governor of California in 2010 as the running mate of Jerry Brown and was re-elected in 2014. In February 2015, Newsom announced his candidacy for Governor of California in the 2018 election. On June 5, 2018, he finished in the top two of the non-partisan blanket primary. Newsom defeated Republican John H. Cox in the general election on November 6.
You just received the “short version” of Newsom’s story. He since birth has actually been part of an unofficial “power group” comprised of 4 California families: the Newsom, Getty, Pelosi, and Brown families. They are all very wealthy, heavy political hitters, and VERY liberal.
Newsom’s parents divorced when he was young. He lived with his Mom who was a working-class Californian. His father was wealthy himself, and though Gavin did not live with him, he opened all the important California political doors for his son.
Gavin was the “unofficial” adopted son of the Getty’s (yes, J. Paul Getty, claimed by many as the richest American in history), and Pat Brown and his son Jerry (both past governors) were part of that circle. Speaker Pelosi’s husband was equal in the power group — and still is. Politics for them all is just a natural part of who they are. And, of course, MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! But even more than money, what so visibly consumed (and still does) every member of that political clan is power. They more than most fully understand that with power, comes everything one desires. The Gettys, Browns, Newsoms, and Pelosi’s have made the accumulation and maintenance of as much power in as many different areas of life — not just politics — their #1 objective. And they have done that and still are.
(as an aside, Governor Gavin Newsom was married for several years to another Californian who shared a lot of camera and microphone time: Kimberly Guilfoyle. Kimberly you may remember was a regular at FOX News and before that Court TV. She left FOX in 2017 to assume a so-far unnamed position in the Trump Re-election Campaign. And she is dating Donald Trump, Jr.)
Newsom Politically
Most American may be familiar with the Newsom name, but few know much about the Governor. Politically, it is safe to say he is hard-core Leftist. Newsom was a major proponent of Proposition 64, the 2016 measure that legalized recreational sales and use of marijuana in California. He characterized it as primarily a social justice issue, arguing drug charges lead disproportionately to the incarceration of poor people and minorities.
“I believe in second chances. I believe that people have the capacity to learn from their mistakes and grow and, in many respects, become better people,” Newsom said. “I like to think I’m a better person, and I like to think that a lot of people have made mistakes, we just don’t read about them,” he said.
He didn’t stop there. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first act as governor was to propose state-funded health coverage for 138,000 young people in the country illegally and a reinstatement of a mandate that everyone buys insurance or face fines.
He also proposed giving subsidies to middle-class families that make too much to qualify them under former President Barack Obama’s health care law. He signed an order giving the state more bargaining power in negotiating prescription drug prices and sent a letter to President Donald Trump and congressional leaders seeking more authority over federal health care dollars.
Healthcare was his fundamental campaign project. Giving state-funded healthcare coverage to those illegal young people mentioned above is just the beginning of his socialistic style economic policies.
Many are confident that Newsom is simply running a “pre-campaign” for a presidential campaign in 2024. Pundits feel strongly that he is diligently working to position himself somewhere to the left of the currently declared Democrat Party candidates. It’s hard to believe there’s even any room left of Bernie and Elizabeth Warren! But apparently, Newsom feels there is and that he fits in that spot.
Campaign Philosophy
Certainly, if Newsom’s target is the presidency, his history of the family and business close ties with wealthy people inside and outside of California is important for him. And the typical organizations and individuals supported “candidate” Newsom in a big way.
- Labor unions, housing developers and wealthy entrepreneurs are among the thousands of people and groups who gave money to help elect Newsom, according to the final disclosure reports filed by his campaign. Labor unions spent millions on independent efforts supporting Newsom, allowing them to avoid donation limits as long as they didn’t coordinate with his campaign. More than two dozen representing a range of professions – from health care workers to construction crews – also gave the legal maximum amount of $58,400 directly to Newsom’s campaign.
- Various branches of the Service Employees International Union spent more than $2.7 million. The union has applauded Newsom’s efforts to boost funding for the state’s early education programs and his proposal to expand paid family leave, policies the union says will help working families.
- The California Correctional Peace Officers Association also spent big to help elect Newsom, dropping $2.8 million.
- The California Nurses Association spent more than $700,000 on independent efforts to elect Newsom and gave the maximum contribution allowed to his campaign. The group wants Newsom and the Legislature to create a government-funded universal health care system, often called a “single-payer” system. But the health care groups backing Newsom don’t all agree on what they want. Private health insurance companies, which could cease to exist under a single-payer system, generally oppose the idea. Blue Shield of California, for example, spent about $1 million supporting Newsom. The group was one of the insurers who opposed a bill in the Legislature’s last session that would have created a single-payer system in California.
- California teachers unions spent more than $1.3 million supporting Newsom and gave the most they could directly to his campaign. They’ve applauded his commitment to making charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run, more transparent about how they spend their money and his call for more state oversight.
- Newsom also became the preferred candidate for some prominent charter school backers, who often oppose the teacher’s unions in California politics. Charter schools, for example, were a major point of contention during the teacher’s strike last month in Los Angeles. As part of the deal to end the strike, the school district agreed to the union’s demand to consider a cap on charters.
Summary
Gavin Newsom is the cookie-cutter version of the perfect Leftist in today’s U.S. political landscape. He believes and supports all the standard causes of the left: gun control, marijuana legalization, open borders, free healthcare for all, massive tax increases, free college tuition, and everything and everyone who is anti-conservative. His personal history is one of entitlement, even though his single mother basically raised him in a working-class home. But he always had connections with the rich and famous and used them all from a very young age. He knows how to run successfully for office — at least in California.
How will he govern? His administration is just several months old, so it’s hard to judge at this point. But, so far, he has governed exactly as he ran for governor.
Most Americans struggle to comprehend the mindset of today’s far-left Democrat Party: increased abortion options, massive gun control, runaway taxes linked with runaway government spending, free everything, and open borders. And now Newsom with impunity has thumbed his nose at California law while ignoring those who were killed — in many cases actually slaughtered — by 700 individuals who under California law were found guilty for first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Death sentence haters are actually questioning that the Governor did not simply go ahead and pardon those people. I wonder the same thing myself. Actually, I think he probably wanted to do that very thing but was advised by those who have his ear that doing so would certainly alienate Middle America voters in a run for the White House.
I am glad he did not use the power of the pardon. But in typical Leftist fashion, he apparently ignored his conscience regarding the unfairness of the death penalty instead pulling lever B: “Do everything you do in office to smooth any potential ripples that might appear in your “next” run for your “next” office.
Look for Gavin Newsom to turn harder and harder and further Left. After all, he’s in California. And for everything in California regarding politics to be successful, the purveyor MUST bow before the god of Liberalism in every policy decision they make.
And one more thing: you can bet Gavin Newsom has his sights set on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We just don’t know how long he’ll wait.
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