Let me help everybody out.
Many probably remember Gavin Newsom's infamous French Laundry scandal where he ignored all Covid protocols (which he implemented) to have a private party at the exclusive Napa restaurant.
Well, what many people don't know about the story is that the dinner was hosted by a PG&E lobbyist named Jason Kinney.
PG&E is responsible for igniting hundreds of fires in California, including the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 residents in town called Paradise, CA.
Newsom, who takes hundreds of thousands in donations from PG&E, arranged to have the victims paid in part with the company's stock, instead of cash, and in part with a taxpayer-funded slush fund. Predictably the stock price plummeted after the scandal was made public, leaving the victims billions short what they were initially owed.
He then set up something called the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which was supposed to grant "safety certificates" to make sure PG&E was compliant with safety regulations. Except, per whistleblower complaints, the CPUC was effectively controlled by Newsom, and functioned essentially as a rubber stamp for PG&E.
In short, Newsom ignored court rulings and rigged California law to bail out a major corporate donor, trading policy favors for campaign cash while sticking wildfire victims with the bill.
🚨 MIDNIGHT TAX INCREASES!
In the dead of night, California legislators passed massive new taxes on insurance, digital software, and employee payroll taxes.
Don’t let anyone fool you this isn’t the federal government’s fault. The math isn’t mathing.
California just passed a $355 billion record budget with record revenue. Yet my colleagues still blame the President.
For context: The state budget was around $170 billion just 10 years ago. Now it’s more than doubled and life in California doesn’t feel any easier.
Sacramento has an insatiable appetite for your hard-earned money. If you’re not paying attention, they will keep taking more.