As Newsom prepares for an expected Presidential run, he is planning to use $19,000,000.00 of California taxpayer money to rehab his image with a nation ad campaign. Jon Fleischman of the great ‘So Does It Matter’ podcast and Substack brings the receipts. Read more here
Of course Newsom trolled Kristi Noem for her image campaign for DHS:
From Politico:
Newsom alleged Friday that Noem has not signed contracts to advance more than $500 million in funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Los Angeles wildfire recovery. He also said that DHS should redirect to fire survivors any unspent dollars from a $220-million contract for a publicly funded ad campaign that featured Noem on horseback.
Newsom also poked the outgoing DHS secretary, calling Noem “Kosplay Kristi” and including with a statement a still photo of her riding a horse from what the governor said was a “taxpayer-funded vanity campaign.”
But Newsom may not be able to leverage your tax dollars into a beauty campaign–Not if Steve Hilton has his reasonable complaint heard.
Also From Politico:
Across the aisle … Republican Steve Hilton, a frequent critic of Newsom, asked the state Department of Justice to review the Newsom administration’s plan to spend $19 million on a marketing campaign to buff California’s image.
Hilton in a letter argued that the campaign, ahead of Newsom making an expected presidential run, “appears to be an illegal misuse of public funds for political purposes.”
“Governor Newsom appearing in advertisements funded by this campaign would be illegal,” Hilton argued. “Taxpayer dollars cannot be used as a personal political image rehabilitation program.”
