Governor Gavin Newsom is feeling the heat of a growing Recall effort that already has over 800,000 signatures, small businesses that are refusing to go through a second lockdown, and County Sheriffs who are refusing to enforce this latest Stay-At-Home effort and are essentially telling him to go pound sand.

In a press conference yesterday, FoxLA anchor Elex Michaelson asked Newsom the $25,000 question.

“I’m wondering what do you say to these people who say, ‘Look, I’ve done everything you asked. I followed the rules. I’ve spent a lot of money on PPE. My staff is on the brink of losing their jobs. We’re on the brink of losing our business. It’s the holiday season…’ What do you say to these people who are really desperate, and confused, and angry right now?”

"I have reverence for small businesses….I deeply recognize people's pain & suffering….their dreams being shattered…"@GavinNewsom was unusually personal in response to my ? about businesses shutting down during Covid 19. @CAgovernor's full answer: https://t.co/tvH31zZleW pic.twitter.com/6iBC3rTKK8

— Elex Michaelson (@Elex_Michaelson) December 11, 2020

Michaelson spun Newsom’s answer in the best possible light, tweeting,

“@GavinNewsom was unusually personal in response to my ? about businesses shutting down during COVID-19 19.”

“Unusually personal”? With all due respect, Elex, you haven’t been paying attention. This is the same rehearsed answer Newsom has given since he came into office. When confronted with his hostile policies toward small business via some regulation he has allowed the legislature to vote in and that he signs, or another tax, he does a song and dance about his “humble” small business beginnings and how much he “respects” them. Nobody is buying it anymore.

Michaelson posted a video portion of the Governor’s nauseatingly scripted response, and that’s just enough to shoot it full of holes.

The fact that Newsom was ready with the answer right out of the box, with no pause for reflection or consideration, showed that he had stage managed it to the hilt. I bet you dollars to donuts he and Jennifer Siebel Newsom blocked out the entire scene.

Newsom begins,

“I am a small business owner. I started right out of college, put pen to paper, opened a small business with one part-time employee. It was the cause of my life. I deeply recognize people’s pain and suffering this moment. Their dreams being shattered because of this pandemic. So, you ask me how I feel; it devastates me to know because I intimately understand what it means when you put everything on the line, you leverage everything; your family, your dreams are on the line.”

I cannot attest to whether PlumpJack Winery was the cause of Newsom’s life or not—I seriously doubt it. The PlumpJack holdings, which encompass 9 different wineries and restaurants, is a far cry from a small business. Newsom’s “small business” is partially funded by Gordon Getty of the J. Paul Getty family, and Getty’s son Billy is his business partner. So this illusion Newsom paints of understanding what it means to put everything on the line is just him blowing smoke. He’s not draining his savings and mortgaging his mansions to remodel to meet COVID safety standards or to pay his employees, and he diminishes the real pain and hardship of those business owners who are being forced to do just that by drawing a false equivalence with their plight.

Newsom continues:

“And through no fault of your own, something global, a pandemic hits. And creates all of these constraints, and all of these constructs that are devastating to your life and your prospects for the future.”

Newsom is seriously disconnected from the fact that it is HIS policies in response to the pandemic, NOT the pandemic itself that is the cause of the small business owners pain and stress. The Governor picked and chose who would be essential and who would not. The Governor chose to shut down small businesses, not once—but twice—arbitrarily, and without justification. All while he galivants to the French Laundry with his health officials for an expensive dinner party.

The state’s Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly let the cat out the bag by admitting that these new shutdowns of outdoor dining have nothing to do with science.

“So the decision to include, among other sectors, outdoor dining, and limiting that, turning to restaurants to deliver and provide takeout options instead, really has to do with the goal of trying to keep people at home, not a comment on the relative safety of outdoor dining.”

Then Newsom does what he does best: blames other people for his inept leadership.

“And so we need the federal government to recognize that, and to reconcile the fact that they are not doing their job to provide additional supports at the scale that’s required of this moment by extending the PPP program, by extending small business loans and grants, to help support folks in this time of need.”

This is the height of dishonesty and falsehood. The federal government already supplied the State of California billions of dollars in CARES Act funding that went toward unemployment and PPE loans. What, pray tell, has the Governor done with this?

1) He allowed EDD Director Sharon Hilliard, Labor Secretary Julie Su, and the other brain trusts given the run of the Employment Development Department to target small businesses with audits under the draconian AB5. These geniuses opened up unemployment insurance claimants to fraud, waste, and identity theft because the department, despite ample warnings, did not put in the proper verification system safeguards. The icing on the cake is death row felons scamming the UI system to the tune of 2 billion dollars, while California citizen’s legitimate unemployment claims were either memory-holed, backlogged, or left unanswered.

2) The County of Los Angeles has given $2 million of CARES Act funds to a public relations firm to guide COVID “messaging”. Funds that were supposed to go to small businesses within that County. On December 7, Michaelson reported that Newsom planned to spend $80 million of CARES Act funds on this same type of education and outreach, including billboards. Small businesses are struggling, bleeding, and dying, and Newsom wants to mount billboards. Are you kidding me?!

.@CAgovernor @GavinNewsom says California is spending $80 million on a education campaign to help with public health messaging including 1,000 billboards.

— Elex Michaelson (@Elex_Michaelson) December 7, 2020

3) Now let’s turn to the PPP program. ABC 7 reported that Newsom’s PlumpJack Winery holdings, which consist of 9 different companies, received at least $3 million in PPP loans. All 9 concerns employ a total of 307 employees, and most of them list employees between 8-37 persons. As ABC 7 analyzed,

” ‘It’s unexpected for a 14 employee organization to get nearly $1 million,’ said Sean Moulton, a senior policy analyst with Project on Government Oversight (POGO). He specializes in tracking PPP funds. ‘The purpose behind this program was to save entry-level jobs, people going in and working on that paycheck. That was what we put this out there for, to stop unemployment.’ “

When Newsom became Governor, he supposedly put his investments in a blind trust, which disconnected him from the everyday decision making of the concerns. But how do you not know that your business holdings collection of PPP funds were robbing money from small businesses in your state who desperately needed it? No, Governor, just as with your pricey dinner out, this is fully in your lap. You are the one who needs to do your job, the federal government has already done theirs.

To wrap this up, Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted last week that she held up an agreement between House Democrats and Senate Republicans for another coronavirus relief package until after the election, because she was banking on a Joe Biden win. So, King Gavin, when you get all stompey-foot about what the federal government is not doing, go visit your Aunt Nancy in her Napa mansion and whine to her over a pint of Jeni’s.

Newsom then segued into his “servant of the people” shtick.

“This is not an intellectual thing for me as someone literally who is here because of my entrepreneurial background that got me engaged in local government initially. That led me to be on a commission, the parking commission in San Francisco. That led me to want to serve in a Board of Supervisor capacity, ultimately run for mayor.”

According to an entry in the Encyclopedia of World Biography, Newsom’s family connections helped get him his first job out of college, in the office of a well-connected San Francisco real estate mogul. From there, he was tapped by then-Speaker of the Assembly Willie Brown for the Parking Commission, then the Board of Supervisors. While Newsom campaigned and was elected as Mayor, within the San Francisco Cabal, it was pretty much a done deal, as was his rise to the Governorship. From his business concerns, to the governor’s mansion, Newsom has not only had the luxury of monied backers, but of having everything handed to him. All his blather about how he is here because of his entrepreneurial drive and passion to serve is pure horse hocky.

This last part of the segment was probably the most nauseating, and if I was Angela Marsden, Andrew Gruel or Mark Geragos, I would have thrown my computer across the room in anger.

“I have reference… not just respect, reverence for small businesses. Reverence for entrepreneurs. And it breaks my heart to see videos, breaks my heart to see reports of you and others. Of people’s lives being torn asunder because of this pandemic. And we’re just simply trying to do our best. And I recognize, it is never good enough. But we’re not going to give up, and we’re going to continue to do our best to provide more support during this very, very challenging time.

Reverence? Seriously? If Newsom’s actions towards small business is a reflection of his reverence, I’d hate to see how he treats something that he despises!

Let’s be real. Newsom is nowhere close to doing his best nor does he care to be. The Twittersphere recognized this and responded accordingly:

Not an ounce of sincerity. He's in panic mode, you can see it in his face. He's losing his grip with these lockdowns because 1. LE refuses to enforce 2. People are fed up and are starting to resist. Out of touch but he has to give the illusion of "feeling our pain"

— Chris (@chrisdinvegas) December 11, 2020

Please stop blaming federal gov, response something better rather than recognizing people’s pain in the capacity as the governor of California.

— lemongrassrose🥂 (@miraclemile11) December 11, 2020

I hear him talk and you can just simply see the script as it is written for him. No empathy, no sadness, no remorse, just blame others. Perfect example of the opposite of a leader.

— Adam Pilder, CFRE, CAP® (@apilder80) December 11, 2020

If you can stand listening to the rest of Gavin’s scripted diatribe, Michaelson included it, along with resources for small businesses into his tweet.

The response to my question went on for over 10 minutes. It also included resources for Californians in need & information about ICU use this year vs a normal year.

Watch the full answer here: https://t.co/JH0BroWfAa

State resources here: https://t.co/eq7jDO7wgV

— Elex Michaelson (@Elex_Michaelson) December 11, 2020

If, like most of us, you have had enough of the Governor and his gaslighting, go over to RecallGavin2020.com, print out the petition, sign it and get other signatures. If you can, hit the Donate button and contribute to the cause.

Times Up, Gavin. You need to go.