Finally, Gavin Newsom Admits He Can't Govern California

But the problem isn't the bureaucrats and the NIMBYs. It's Gavin Newsom.

“I see what everybody’s seeing,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom on January 20, “and I’m asking myself, ‘What the hell is going on?’”

From crime and homelessness to energy and water shortages, everyone can see that California is in a crisis of chaos. Governor Gavin Newsom says it’s not his fault. In December, after a talk show host complained about rising crime, Newsom pointed to the fact that there are 470 cities in California. Last Tuesday, Newsom called the Coastal Commission’s vote against a desalination plant a “mistake.” And on Thursday, Newsom blamed “NIMBYism” for the worsening homelessness crisis.

In other words, Newsom has effectively admitted that he can’t govern California. And he has done so not once but repeatedly throughout his time in office.

In January, after videos of widespread looting and garbage at the Union Pacific train depot in Los Angeles went viral, Newsom staged a photo op at the site, where he helped clean up the mess. “I see what everybody’s seeing,” he said, “and I’m asking myself, ‘What the hell is going on?’”

The event was widely ridiculed. A satirical news site spoofed the event with an article headlined, “Gavin Newsom Demands Answers from Whoever’s in Charge of California.”

Newsom’s not wrong that he faces obstacles to governing. It’s a problem that voters in San Francisco and Los Angeles elected District Attorneys who don’t prosecute drug dealers, and city council members who demand the police stop enforcing anti-camping laws. It’s a problem that the California Coastal Commission is dominated by anti-growth, pro-scarcity activists. And it’s a problem that NIMBYs block new building of all kind, from homes to apartments to shelters.

But nobody has had more influence over California’s policies, from crime and homelessness to energy and water, than Newsom, and nobody has more power in California than the governor.

As mayor of San Francisco in the early 2000s, Newsom diverted funding from homeless shelters to homeless housing, resulting in a shortage of shelters first in San Francisco and then, over time, statewide. As a result, homelessness increased 31% in California even as it declined 18% in the rest of the US, over the last decade.

As mayor, lieutenant governor, and governor, Newsom championed the policies that resulted in rising crime, including radical decriminalization of drugs and shoplifting and the release of prisoners before they have been adequately rehabilitated. And in his latest budget proposal, Newsom proposed closing three prisons, not just two, and releasing 76,000 prisoners early, including 63,000 who were convicted of violent crimes, without any plan to properly rehabilitate them, first.

And not only did Newsom’s own appointees to the Coastal Commission vote against the proposed desalination plant, the governor has extraordinary influence over the other Commissioners who were appointed by the Senate Rules Committee, which is controlled by Democrats, and the Speaker of the Assembly, an ally of Newsom’s.

Newsom has extraordinary powers and hasn’t hesitated to use them in the past. During covid, when the teachers union demanded that he keep our children out of school for the entire 2020-2021 school year, he did so, even though European nations sent children back into classrooms in the fall of 2020, and even though Newsom’s own children received in-classroom instruction in private school.

Michael Shellenberger @ShellenbergerMD

Gavin Newsom sent his kids to private school while keeping ours out. Now he's trying to lower standards. All for special interests. This is personal for me. I will defend our children from open drug scenes, the dumbing-down of schools, and radical ideology. Let's go!

And when Newsom wanted the California Public Utilities Commission to give Pacific Gas & Electric, which had donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaign, and to his wife’s nonprofit, a “safety certificate,” he made sure it did, over-riding the objections of its staff. “I did not want to sign this,” said former Commission director Alice Stebbins. “The bottom line is I was told to sign it. You will sign this. Period. “I trusted my Governor.”

Newsom could declare a state of emergency on the homelessness crisis, create a statewide psychiatric and addiction care system, and build the shelters, drug detox centers, and other facilities California desperately needs. And Newsom could declare a state of emergency on energy and water to build the plants required to prevent deaths from blackouts and water shortages that could cripple the state.

But he won’t, and so now California is facing multiple crises simultaneously on crime, homelessness, blackouts, and water shortages. Why won’t he? Because action would require that Newsom cross the special interests that he feels he needs to run for president in 2024 or 2028; because action would require Newsom taking responsibility for what’s happening, rather than blaming others; and because, at the end of the day, Newsom is a product of good times, and good times make weak leaders.