Gavin Newsom has been blasted for secretly paying for his own monument at San Francisco City Hall to commemorate his time as mayor.
The California governor is considered a contender to run for president in 2028 after his time as a surrogate for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris despite his liberal Golden State record.
Newsom has even attempted to reach out to conservatives by launching a podcast, where he’s interviewed Charlie Kirk and Michael Savage.
A new book, however, threatens to undo Newsom’s image rehabilitation by claiming he paid to honor himself at San Francisco City Hall.
Newsom served as mayor of California’s second largest city from 2004 to 2011, elected while he was still married to Donald Trump’s current Ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle.
A new book claims Newsom, who has been governor since 2019 despite a recall attempt, put together a memorial to his time in the city with the help of donors.
Jedd McFatter and Susan Crabtree’s Fool’s Gold: The Radicals, Con Artists, and Traitors Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All claim Newsom used something called ‘behested payments’ to pull it off.
Behested payments are contributions made by donors that their political clients ask them to make on their behalf.
The book says that Newsom’s payments show three private organizations – two of which are companies owned by Newsom – donating to a nonprofit earmarked for ‘Mayoral Bust at San Francisco City Hall.’
Balboa Cafe Partners and PlumpJack Management Group are the Newsom-owned organizations, donating a combined $10,000 to the $97,000 bust.
Newsom has also asked behested payments go towards projects run by his current wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
When the bust was being constructed, Newsom admitted that he found the whole thing odd but chose to play naïve about who paid for it.
‘I don’t want to call it embarrassing, but it’s a strange thing,’ he told SFGATE at the time. ‘I’m just awkward about it. But now the word is out.’
At the time, the newspaper reported that ‘Newsom supporters’ had paid for the bust with ‘private funds.’
Newsom has faced scrutiny for the move, with one calling him ‘ridiculous.’
‘Now I know what a narcissist is,’ wrote another.
‘This is peak leftist arrogance—worshiping their own failures while everyday Californians suffer under their disastrous policies,’ added another.
‘If only he cared half as much about fixing his state as he does about immortalizing his own ego.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to Newsom for comment.
Newsom has been facing criticism over his his podcast and his handling of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.
While the Golden State is in the midst of recovering from the horrific wildfire disaster, which left at least 29 people dead and more than 18,000 structures destroyed, the Democratic governor was accused of having his focus on other issues, as he has promised that his new venture will be ‘anything but the ordinary ‘politician’ podcast.’
Many have seen the podcast as Newsom’s way of positioning himself for a presidential run in 2028, which he is widely expected to do as he is term limited as California Governor in 2026.
Inviting one of America’s most famous conservatives on to speak and risking the wrath of transgender activists indicates Newsom’s desire to position himself as a centrist who’d appeal to moderate conservatives.
However, some praised both Newsom and Kirk for their civil conversation above the often-hostile fray of politics, while others poked fun at the liberal governor’s confession that he is raising a young conservative.
Newsom shocked the politics world when he debuted his podcast with Kirk, where he showed he is ready to break ranks with liberals on issues like transgender women in sports.