Tim Redmond sums up Newsom’s duplicity here.

He quotes Newsom and then opines:

“We will hold them to account,” he says. “We will restructure” the company when it gets out of bankruptcy.

“And then … what?

“How is that “restructuring” going to work if PG&E remains a privately owned utility that sets up its own corporate structure? How are we going to “hold to account” a company when it’s already in total collapse – and Newsom has no plan to address that except to ask Warren Buffett to buy it?

“This is madness.”

Normally, Gavin Newsom would be conciliatory towards PG&E, but Dan Walters writes

“Newsom and other Capitol politicians are acutely aware that PG&E, et al, are not popular these days and that if they appear to let them and their executives off the hook for wildfire damages, there could be a political backlash.

“Under current law, dubbed “inverse condemnation,” utilities are strictly liable for losses from wildfires their equipment causes. Utilities say that’s an unfair burden because they cannot control nature and are powerless, as it were, to prevent fires when hot weather and high winds cause even well-maintained electric cables to fall.

“The Newsom plan would presume the utilities to be innocent if they have met the higher safety standards to be imposed and otherwise acted prudently, thus allowing damage claims to be shifted from stockholders to ratepayers.”

In other words, ordinary people are going to suffer!

“Party favors: Friends of Gov. Gavin Newsom raised a party-hearty $2.5 million for his inauguration festivities.

“The biggest donor to the inaugural and the two days of parties was organized labor, which ponied up $775,000 to help stage the events, with $150,000 coming from the state’s prison guards union and $100,000 from the California Teachers Association Political Action Committee.
“The state’s Indian casinos chipped in $525,0000, including $200,000 from the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, owners of the Graton Resort and Casino in Rohnert Park.
“Friends of Gov. Gavin Newsom raised $2.5 million for his inauguration festivities.
“The biggest individual donor was former San Diego Padres owner Jennifer Moores, who gave $200,000. Netflix founder and charter school advocate Reed Hastings gave $50,000.

“Other big-dollar contributors included AT&T ($100,000), the State Democratic Party ($100,000) and the California Association of Hospitals ($100,000). In other words, pretty much your usual collection of organizations, businesses and trade associations that do business with the state.
“Donors to the California Rises charity concert held the night before the inauguration included the Silicon Valley Community Foundation at $250,000 and $50,000 from the San Francisco Giants.

“The concert, which featured Pitbull and Common, along with the X Ambassadors and Betty Who, raised $5 million for the California Fire Foundation.” — Phil Matier

It is about time that the chimerical ideal of a “high-speed” rail line from SF to Los Angeles was abandoned by our out-of-touch elites.

Newsom has finally said that the emperor has no clothes.

The facts are that a “high-speed” rail line is not only too expensive to build, has the opposition of landowners and will have ticket prices that will be unaffordable for ordinarly people.

Instead, how about improving the existing rail structure to offer a service which, while beating the bus service times, is subsidized, so inexpensive to use, and is a pleasure to take?

The Los Angeles Times makes an eloquent point here:

Newsom’s family business is run by a close relative — his sister, who seems unlikely to maintain radio silence with her brother for his four-year gubernatorial term. And if Newsom continues to accrue profits from the business’ assets, there’s the potential that lobbying firms or interest groups wishing to curry favor with or grab the ear of the governor might arrange to spend a ski vacation at the PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn or a rejuvenating long weekend at the Ingleside Inn in Palm Springs, book a party at one of the company’s event spaces or order cases of wine from one of the wineries.