There is something poetic about a politician getting caught up in a diaper scandal, because the whole thing stinks and somebody clearly needs to be changed.
Gavin Newsom launched a program called Golden State Start back in May, which directs California hospitals to hand out 400 free diapers to new parents on the taxpayer dime. Sounds nice on the surface. The problem is that the nonprofit chosen to administer this multimillion dollar contract, Baby2Baby, has connections to Newsom's household that are so obvious they practically glow in the dark. As USA Journal reported, Baby2Baby co-CEO Norah Weinstein sits on the board of a nonprofit run by First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. The other co-CEO, Kelly Sawyer Patricof, is married to a film producer whose father is a longtime Democratic mega-donor. Of all the child and mother focused nonprofits in the largest state in the union, the one with a direct line to the Governor's wife just happened to win.
Coincidences like that are why public records requests exist. CBS News Sacramento's investigative team filed one asking to see the contract and the competitive bidding records. California law says the state has to hand those over. The Newsom administration took 24 days just to decide whether it would acknowledge the request existed, and now, 60 days later, reporters have received exactly zero pages. Not a redacted document. Not a partial release. Nothing.
This is the part where it gets even better. While the Governor's office is treating transparency laws like suggestions, California Democrats are simultaneously pushing legislation to give state agencies even more time to respond to public records requests. You have to admire the audacity of trying to rewrite the rules while you are actively breaking them.
The public has a straightforward right to know how their money was awarded, who else competed for the contract, and what criteria were used. That is not some radical concept. That is how government is supposed to work in a place that calls itself a democracy.
The most likely explanation for the silence is also the most damaging one: releasing the documents would confirm that competitive bidding was either a formality or nonexistent, and that the contract was steered toward Baby2Baby because of personal connections. A DOJ investigation into Newsom and Jennifer Siebel Newsom is already underway, and prosecutors tend to be less patient than journalists when it comes to getting their hands on paperwork.
Newsom has spent years building a brand around competence and transparency, positioning himself as the polished future of the Democratic Party. Getting tangled up in a diaper contract awarded to his wife's associates while refusing to show the public how it happened is not exactly the presidential audition tape he was going for. Then again, maybe it is the perfect one for modern politics.
Read more conservative news commentary at: USA Journal News
