California Governor Gavin Newsom has come under fire following claims that he secretly funded the creation of a bronze bust of himself at San Francisco’s City Hall during his tenure as mayor. The allegations are detailed in the book Fool’s Gold: The Radicals, Con Artists, and Traitors Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All, written by Susan Crabtree and Jedd McFatter, which was released on Tuesday.
According to the book, Newsom used funds under his control to pay for the sculpture, despite public claims of ignorance about who the private donors were and the design of the bust. The sculpture, which was meant to commemorate Newsom’s time as mayor of San Francisco, was part of a broader tradition where former mayors are honored with busts inside City Hall. However, Newsom’s bust became controversial because it was funded through “behested payments,” a practice where politicians request donations to charitable causes on their behalf.
Breitbart News reports:
“Behested payments” are donations to charitable causes that politicians in California often ask donors to make on their behalf. They are widely considered corrupt, especially when the payments provide some benefit to the politician. (Newsom, for example, has requested payments to a project controlled by his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.)
Jedd McFatter wrote, “In this case, Newsom allegedly requested donations for the bust from a number of private donors, including companies he was involved with. An analysis by co-author Jedd McFatter reveals that Newsom’s companies—Balboa Cafe Partners and PlumpJack Management Group—donated $5,000 each to the effort. Additionally, the H B and Lucille Horn Foundation donated $10,000 at Newsom’s request. The total cost of the bust was reported to be $97,000, which was paid for by these private donations.”
An analysis of Newsom’s “behested payments” reveals that between late 2015 and early 2016 three private organizations each donated to a nonprofit called Community Initiatives. As it turns out, two of those payments came from companies owned by Newsom—Balboa Cafe Partners and PlumpJack Management Group. Newsom’s companies specifically earmarked these behested payments for “Mayoral Bust at San Francisco City Hall.”
The San Francisco Chronicle noted that the unveiling of the bust was a low-key affair, with few attendees and no press coverage. At the time, Newsom was running for the position of lieutenant governor. In interviews surrounding the bust, Newsom downplayed his involvement, claiming that he didn’t know how the bust would turn out and that he was unsure about the identity of the donors or the overall design of the monument.
“I don’t want to call it embarrassing, but it’s a strange thing,” Newsom said at the time of the unveiling, describing his awkwardness over the monument. Despite this, he indicated that the bust had been “in the works for a few years.” He also expressed uncertainty over whether the project would even come to fruition, joking that if no one was interested, the bust could be “molded back into a big ball.”
Newsom has long been accused of having a vanity-driven approach to his political career, with critics highlighting his inflated ego and desire for constant self-promotion. Recent examples have fueled these accusations, such as his decision to hire a celebrity photographer at a taxpayer-funded salary close to his own. This move drew sharp criticism, with opponents arguing that it was an unnecessary expense that served only to enhance his personal image rather than provide value to the public.
Additionally, Newsom’s launch of a podcast has further raised eyebrows. Critics have claimed that the podcast was yet another example of his penchant for self-promotion. These actions, combined with the controversy surrounding his self-funded bust, continue to paint a picture of a leader more focused on his image than on serving the needs of Californians.
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