In an Op Ed, contradictorily titled “Gavin Newsom has been the leader California needs,” The Los Angeles Times sets outs some valid critiques of the highhandedness of the Newsom establishment.

For example, Newsom announced the closure of all beaches. Was it really necessary to close all beaches? Every single beach? Or should he have left it to county officials to regulate this.

The next day, the governor claimed he never intended to close all the beaches, and was in fact only targeting Orange County. And the memo police agencies said they’d received from his office? It “never got to me,” he said. That explanation did no favors for Newsom’s credibility. It was also perplexing. What’s wrong with having a change of heart after receiving new information and input from the public? That’s what we want our elected officials to do.

Wow, we heard him announce this meals-for-seniors program? He just made that up off the top of his head?

Inattention to process was also a factor in a number of other pandemic-related initiatives the governor touted before all the details were in place. One example was the governor’s announcement on April 24 of a plan for idled restaurants to provide three free meals a day to home-bound seniors, a win for both businesses and at-risk residents. The program would be administrated by local officials, he said, which surprised many local officials who had no idea such a program was in the works, according to a report by CalMatters. Thousands of people quickly signed up for the service, but have yet to receive meals.

Why should a Chinese electric car company be making masks for California? California does not have ONE factory that could make these masks? The cost is off the charts, and we all know that Chinese manufacturers have a problem with quality control. A very large problem with quality control, if one remembers the melamine in powdered milk scandal (as well as many others).

Why does Newsom believe it is OK to keep the legislature uninformed about this substantail deal?

Both Democratic and Republican legislators have complained that the governor fails to keep them in the loop or provide details about spending. They were particularly concerned about a ballyhooed $990-million deal with the Chinese electric car company BYD to buy millions of medical-grade masks, and it took weeks for the governor’s office to share the contract’s specifics. The state constitution grants the governor wide executive power to respond to emergency situations, but it doesn’t relieve him of accountability.

So he just made up that plan to re-open schools as early as July? That was pure fantasy on his part?

And why, without any consultation, would you ship ventilators to another state?

And local elected officials often find out about policies that would affect them at the same time as the public, such as when Newsom said last month that schools might open as soon as July. It was a surprise to some local superintendents, who were still working on how and when they might safely reopen their schools. And when Newsom noted in early April that he was going to send 500 ventilators to other states, it caught Santa Clara and Riverside county officials off guard. They were still madly scrambling to secure ventilators for their hospitals; in fact, Riverside had been denied a request for state-provided ventilators.