ments are often subject to state regulations — regula- tions that can be made a bit less onerous for firms such as Pacific Gas & Electric, AT&T, and Comcast. Or, in Silicon Valley


CLIMBING LADDER Newsom wanted to run for governor in 2010, but had to settle for the No. 2 spot when Jerry Brown got in the race. He’s seen here with Brown, left, and former President Bill Clinton, at a rally on the campus of UCLA.


Bank’s case, the $100,000 they sent to California Part- ners Project in 2021 returned for the bank as it was facing bankruptcy in 2023. Newsom successfully lob-


Newsom dropped out just


over a year before the elec- tion, giving him enough time to file for lieutenant gover- nor, a near-powerless posi- tion in California. He won the consolation prize in 2010 and was reelected in 2014. Many politicians, it


seems, make more money than their public salaries would allow. In Newsom’s case, he


has a legitimate business, PlumpJack, though financed by powerful friends. And while former President Barack Obama once not- ed, “I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money,” that obser- vation never seems to apply to the political class. In Newsom’s case, money


funnels into his household via his wife and California’s well-trod “behested pay- ments” system. Behested payments work


thusly: Regulated businesses or contractors seeking busi- ness with the state curry fa- vor with elected officials by donating large sums to non- profit organizations set up by, or closely affiliated with, a politician.


52 NEWSMAX | OCTOBER 2025 These donations offer a


bit more political cover than a straight contribution to a campaign account, though in many cases, firms do both. In Newsom’s case, the


nonprofit was the California Partners Project formerly run by none other than New- som’s wife, Jennifer Siebel. Siebel ran the California


Partners Project during the time Newsom was laying low as lieutenant governor. She pulled down just over


$2.3 million from 2011 to 2018, earning more than the governor’s $224,000 salary. The Sacramento Bee re-


ported a spike of 30% in be- hested payments, to $16 mil- lion, to Siebel’s project after Newsom announced his can- didacy for governor. The California Partners


Project appears to have for- mally separated from Siebel in 2020. The nonprofit’s IRS filings for 2020, 2021, and 2022 show revenue of just un- der $2 million, with Siebel’s name only appearing once in the 2020 report. Of course, the payments


don’t just benefit the receiv- ers. Regulated businesses that make behested pay-


bied the Biden administra- tion for a federal bailout for the bank whose president sat on the nonprofit’s board of directors, while the bank it- self had investments in three of Newsom’s wine ventures.


WELL-HEELED As has become the tradition with today’s Democrats — Kamala Harris’ $1.5 billion presidential campaign to nowhere as the latest exam- ple — Newsom has enjoyed the support of well-heeled supporters. Over a decade of cam-


paigning for this guberna- torial election in 2018, $2.2 million of Newsom’s cam- paign haul came from just eight families: foremost, of course, Getty, along with Buell, Fisher, Guggenheim, Marcus, Pritzker, Swig, Traina, and Wilsey. Not content to merely


invest in a politician’s cam- paigns, several of these well- endowed families have put money into Newsom’s 23 businesses operating under the PlumpJack name. Adding to the patina of


privilege, the oddly named firm derives its moniker from Gordon Getty’s first opera. Getty, 91, is effectively Newsom’s adoptive uncle. Newsom’s most-recent fi- nancial disclosure form, filed


KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/GETTY IMAGES


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