Any good and conscientious Californian knows that there are 22 states where the government bans travel over their LGBTQ policies. So why did Gov. Gavin Newsom travel to one of them?
Newsom flew to Montana for a vacation and to see his family. According to CalMatters, the governor and his aides were extremely reluctant to say where he had gone for his announced vacation on Friday, and it wasn’t until Tuesday that Newsom’s staff confirmed he was in Montana.
His staff was quick to point out that the governor did not use state funds to travel to the Forbidden Zone. That may be true, but one of the reasons for California’s excommunication of Montana and other states was to demonstrate solidarity with the LGBTQ community by not contributing to the state’s economy in any way.
Newsom is violating the spirit of the boycott if not the letter.
While Newsom’s office has clarified that he did not use government funds to fly to his Montana vacation, the embattled governor has faced criticism a number of times for appearing to flout his own administration’s policies.
“The travel ban applies to using state funds. The Governor’s travel is not being paid by the state. Connecting the two is an attempt at gotcha journalism that is neither gotcha nor journalism,” Newsom’s senior communications adviser, Anthony York, said in a statement on Twitter. “The governor is on a vacation with his family. He will return later this week.”
Harmeet Dhillon, California’s Republican National Committeewoman, told CalMatters in a statement:
“At a time when Californians are still living under a two years and counting state of emergency, our gas taxes were raised (again) July 1 to the highest levels in the nation … Gavin Newsom is running campaign ads in better-run states and refusing to tell the taxpayers where he is or when he will return to his overtaxed, under-served constituents. We’d love to know the gas prices and the COVID emergency status where the Governor is. Most Californians can’t afford to take their normal holidays this year, thanks to Gavin Newsom and his party’s lack of leadership of our state.”
Dhillon is referring to the ads Newsom ran in Florida telling Floridians that they weren’t really free, and if they want freedom, they should come to California!
The Newsom ad running in Florida invites a DeSantis rejoinder referencing two Californias: the one with homeless encampments on streets lined with poop and used needles, and the other where elites like Newsom violate lockdown to dine at the French Laundry. pic.twitter.com/ejWXyuuTJN
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) July 3, 2022
It certainly wouldn’t take much effort to slap back at Newsom about the extraordinary depths to which California has plummeted. And if Newsom defines “freedom” as the ability to show and tell very young children about sex, he will lose that argument every single time.
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