LogFAQs > #970812154

MICHALECOLE posted...

Highest minimum wage in the country (still too low, I agree) going up every year

And now we're living through the highest inflation in the country and most especially in California. In Arizona, it cost me about $86 to register my car for two years. In California, my car would cost me something like $400 to register for one year.

Also, this is Newsom's background:

https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-pol-ca-gavin-newsom-san-francisco-money/

Gavin Newsom wasnt born rich, but he was born connected and those alliances have paid handsome dividends throughout his career.

A coterie of San Franciscos wealthiest families has backed him at every step of his political rise, which in November could lead next to his election as governor of California.

San Francisco societys first families whose names grace museum galleries, charity ball invitations and hospital wards settled on Newsom, 50, as their favored candidate two decades ago, said Willie Brown, former state Assembly speaker and former mayor of the city.

He came from their world, and thats why they embraced him without hesitancy and over and above everybody else, said Brown, who is a mentor to Newsom. They didnt need to interview him. They knew what he stood for.

A Times review of campaign finance records identified eight of San Franciscos best-known families as being among Newsoms most loyal and long-term contributors. Among those patrons are the Gettys, the Pritzkers and the Fishers, whose families made their respective fortunes in oil, hotels and fashion. They first backed him when he was a restaurateur and winery owner running for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1998, and have continued their support through the governors race.

They are not Newsoms largest donors: The families in total have given about $2 million of the $61 million that donors have contributed to his campaigns and independent committees backing those bids. But they gave while he was a relative unknown, providing crucial support to a political newcomer in the years before his campaign accounts piled high with cash from labor unions, Hollywood honchos, tech billionaires and donors up and down the state.

Now the families appear poised to see their investments pay off...

...The front-runners opponents have attacked him for his connections. During the primary, two of his Democratic rivals, Antonio Villaraigosa and John Chiang, painted Newsom as the beneficiary of wealth and privilege. John Cox, his GOP opponent in the November election, reiterated the theme in a new website titled Fortunate $on. And an independent expenditure committee supporting the Republican spent a quarter-million dollars late last month on an ad calling Newsom a child of privilege, his path greased by family and political connections and billionaire patrons.

Newsom, whose campaign did not respond to a request for comment on this article, has long been tied to San Francisco society.

His father, Bill, was a lifelong friend of Gordon Getty, the son of oil magnate J. Paul Getty they attended high school together. Bill Newsom later managed the Getty family trust on behalf of Gordon, estimated by Forbes to be worth more than $2 billion in 2018. Bill Newsom was so close with the family that he helped deliver the ransom money after the 1973 kidnapping of J. Paul Gettys grandson, John Paul Getty III.

During Gov. Jerry Browns first tenure, he appointed Bill Newsom a judge, and the Newsom family had close ties to Willie Brown, former state lawmaker and California Democratic Party leader John Burton and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

The Gettys support has played an important role in Gavin Newsoms personal, professional and political life.

He has said he was primarily raised by his mother, who at times struggled to make ends meet. But Gordon and Ann Getty viewed him as a son, according to interviews the couple gave to the San Francisco Chronicle and W Magazine, and they provided him with experiences his parents could not afford, including an African safari when he was a teen, Newsom said in an earlier interview with The Times.

It all goes back to the Gettys as far as Gavin is concerned, said Jerry Roberts, former managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle and an expert on Bay Area politics.

In addition to helping fund Newsoms early business ventures, the family has been a mainstay as he pursued his political ambitions. Eighteen Gettys including Gordon, Ann and actor Balthazar Getty have collectively donated more than a half-million dollars to Newsoms nine campaigns, starting with a total of $750 to his 1998 campaign for supervisor. Members of the family have spent more than $362,000 supporting his current gubernatorial bid.

A spokesman for the Gettys did not respond to a request for comment...