California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom, famed for eating out at the French Laundry while his state was shut down during the COVID pandemic, visited Montana — which California has banned from state-funded travel — and his staff has not yet answered who paid for his security on the trip.
Cal Matters reported that Newsom was visiting family in Montana, one of 20 states banned from state-funded and state-sponsored travel by California Assembly Bill 1887.
But when asked if the state is paying for Newsom’s security while he is in Montana, Anthony York, Newsom’s senior advisor for communications, told Cal Matters, “We don’t comment or provide details on the governor’s security.”
“We don’t legislate where people vacation,” York protested. “Never have. The travel ban applies to expending state funds. The Governor’s travel is not being paid for by the state.”
The parents of Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, own a ranch in Montana.
Newsom’s office was not initially disposed to revealing where Newsom had gone, Cal Matters reported, adding that his office disclosed his vacation in Central and South America from March 30 to April 12 and his Thanksgiving trip last year to Mexico.
“Gavin Newsom is running campaign ads in better-run states and refusing to tell the taxpayers where he is or when he will return to his overtaxed, under-served constituents,” famed attorney Harmeet Dhillon stated. “We’d love to know the gas prices and the COVID emergency status where the Governor is. Most Californians can’t afford to take their normal holidays this year, thanks to Gavin Newsom and his party’s lack of leadership of our state.”
In November 2020, Newsom was caught violating COVID restrictions as he and a group of acquaintances dined together at the expensive French Laundry restaurant in Napa, California. At the time, indoor dining was prohibited. Newsom first insisted the group had dined outside but later admitted, “I should have stood up and drove back to my house.”
Radio host and former gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder ripped Newsom, saying, “He slammed down the state of California in a way more severe than any of the other 49 governors. Ignoring science, his own kids enjoying in-person private education, he exempted his own winery from the mandate he was forcing down the throats of everybody else, sitting up there at that French Laundry.”
“By the way, had anybody ever heard of the French Laundry?” Elder asked rhetorically. “I looked it up. I thought it was one of the most elite restaurants in California; it’s not. I thought it was the most elite restaurant in America; it’s not. It’s one of the most elite restaurants in the world. He’s incurred a $12,000 wine tab, that’s just for the wine. What’s in the wine? What happened to the wine, a TV set? What’s in there? And he was sitting with the very same lobbyists and medical professionals who drafted the mandates they were violating by not wearing masks and not socially distancing. It’s the hypocrisy.”