Finally unshackled from the constraints of having to play governor while running a shadow campaign for president, Gov. Gavin Newsom is now able to drop the pretense and be himself.
He’s letting Gavin be Gavin and it’s exactly what we would have expected.
Newsom had a plan to reduce gas prices, which experts say will actually increase gas prices, and instead of introducing it during the legislative session that had been going on since January, he waited until lawmakers were headed home to call a special session.
Proving that fewer and fewer people take him seriously, the Senate President Mike McGuire, a Democrat, actually refused to compel senators to return until there was actually something to vote on.
Assemblymembers were not as lucky, and some were forced to stay in Sacramento to consider his scheme to raise gas prices. And you can imagine their dismay when he skipped town to go to Mexico for the swearing in of the new president.
You know, just doing the hard work of governing California from Mexico.
Democratic Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo summed it up nicely on X: “Several members of the Assembly canceled plans to… attend the inauguration in order to complete our work amid the Special Session and vote on ABX2 – the governor’s priority – what an interesting situation we find ourselves in.”
An interesting situation indeed! Kind of like when Newsom told everyone they must isolate, and stay inside, and don’t go to the beach, and wear a mask, and to deviate would be selfish and deadly to others – only to find him maskless at a fancy restaurant with lobbyists.
We feel you, Assemblywoman.
In fact, that seems similar to when he said a modest ballot measure aiming to address the fentanyl crisis and rampant retail theft would pull us “backwards,” was about reviving the war on drugs and “mass incarceration.”
Sounds terrifying! But when asked if he was going to actually fight the ballot measure, he complained of his “bandwidth.”
Poor Newsom! He has such a packed calendar, what with trips to Mexico and courting national media attention to tend to.
Newsom’s rhetoric not matching his actions is nothing new. What’s new is that others are starting to catch on – at least publicly.
After calling his special session to raise gas prices – a bill to impose additional storage requirements on oil refineries – Newsom got pushback from the governors of both Nevada and Arizona.
These neighboring states import a significant amount of gas from California refineries, so they were naturally concerned about Newsom’s plan. Apparently there are actually governors in this county who actually are concerned about escalating costs of living.
The pushback might not be too surprising from Nevada’s governor, Joe Lombardo, who is a Republican. But Arizona’s is a Democrat.
“Arizonans are struggling with the high cost of living, we can’t afford yet another price hike,” Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs tweeted.
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As I wrote a few weeks back, Newsom has been gaslighting reparations supporters for years into thinking their issue was important to him. He’d strung them along up until the very end of session only to have him try to twist the legislation into a meaningless study. Naturally, the activists felt betrayed.
Newsom also vetoed a bill with unanimous bipartisan support that would have required the state to track spending of funds for homelessness programs. The bill was the result of an auditor’s report finding $24 billion had been spent on various programs over five years without any tracking of results.
Once Newsom decided to move his family back to Marin County, two years before his term ended, it should have been obvious that the jig was up. Though Newsom had spent years shunning California for the national spotlight, he’d always at least tried to give the appearance that he was taking the job seriously and not just governing for headlines. But nothing says I’m over you quite like moving a few hours away.
What will Newsom do next? Maybe he’s hoping for a cabinet appointment or an ambassadorship if Democrats win in November. Though whatever he does next, it probably won’t be governing well.
Follow Matt on Twitter @FlemingWords