Los Angeles Republican mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt has built a reputation for his scorching AI ads, but one of his most explosive critiques of his Democratic opponents focuses on the California governor’s wife and what he calls the debacle of the Palisades fire recovery.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the self-described “First Partner” of California, received at least $300,000 in annual salary from her two nonprofits, according to a report last year from the New York Post. But the claim about Siebel Newsom receiving Palisades fire aid through the office of California Volunteers remains controversial. Newsom‘s Cal Volunteers claimed last year that the recipient of the fire aid was a separate nonprofit California Volunteers that is “independent” but “financially support[s] volunteer efforts in CA, including our programs.” It all depends on if you believe the California government, and what exactly that financial assistance from the nonprofit to the government entity constitutes. In any case, the nonprofit is certainly financially involved with the government office and the Newsoms. And Pratt is doubling down on his accusation that this is shady and corrupt.
In his video, Pratt claimed, “All last summer, I warned you, Gavin Newsom and his wife were on the take. We blew the whistle on how the First Partner, Jennifer Newsom, was getting fire aid money diverted into her dubious nonprofit, taking from donations that people were told was meant for fire victims.”
He made an even bigger accusation, saying after he first talked about California Volunteers, “Well, they just deleted her NPO from the list of donor recipients on the … website and lied about it ever happening.”
Pratt said Mrs. Newsom “netted over $4 million through this nebulous organization, Cal Volunteers, a weird NPO …within the office of the first partner, but nobody can fully explain what they actually do.” This is somewhat confusing, as noted above, because the government and the nonprofit California Volunteers are allegedly independent, but certainly connected.
Gavin Newsom’s wife diverted money meant for fire victims to her own nonprofits
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 8, 2026
How is this not a bigger scandal?! pic.twitter.com/imNDU4El38
Pratt mocked the Newsoms, saying that “it's a pretty California thing for rich dudes to make up fake businesses that burn money so their wives can stay busy and keep distracted from their affairs, but normally, it's like a boutique fashion store. The husband doesn't mind losing 20K a month. It's a write off. But using taxpayer money on shady government initiatives, and actually profiting to the tune of $4 million dollars? Man, Gavin is an innovator. I swear this state is being run by the mob.”
Regardless of the full truth about California Volunteers — and it is almost certainly worth an investigation — Pratt was certainly right to argue, “Everyone in [California’s] government is milking taxpayers through these shady NGOs and nowhere is it more pervasive than Karen [Bass’s] L.A., where the homeless organizations [are] raking in cash, but the problem continues to fester.”
Pratt challenged, “Ever wonder why we pour billions of our taxpayer dollars into homelessness and yet you only see more filth and drug addicts on the streets? Because it's all a scam! They're stealing your money. When I'm mayor, this mafia racket stops. We need to excise this corruption like a cancer before it kills our city. They treat us like they're personal piggy bank so they can get rich while our city just rots. We have the fifth wealthiest city in the galaxy. We should look like Dubai or Monaco. You should be able to eat off the damn streets, they should be so clean. We are being weighed down by corrupt politicians.”
No argument with that!
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