Well, I'd say this is maybe an important detail that the governor of California is concealing.
On Monday, after the whole Silicon Valley Bank kerfuffle, California's governor Patrick Bateman - I mean Gavin Newsom - released this statement about what a terrific job the Biden admin has done to save the bank:
The Biden Administration has acted swiftly and decisively to protect the American economy and strengthen public confidence in our banking system. Their actions this weekend have calmed nerves, and had profoundly positive impacts on California — on our small businesses that can now make payroll, workers who will get their paychecks, on affordable housing projects that can continue construction, and on non-profits that can keep their doors open tomorrow. California is a pillar of the American economy, and federal leaders did the right thing, ensuring our innovation economy can continue to grow and move forward.
Okay, so the California governor is glad the federal government is saving the biscuits of a California bank. That's not exactly a shock.
From the Intercept:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom praised the Biden administration's decision to intervene on behalf of Silicon Valley Bank's clients after the bank was taken over by the FDIC on Friday amid a bank run. The White House "acted swiftly and decisively to protect the American economy and strengthen public confidence in our banking system," Newsom said in a statement. What Newsom didn't mention is that it also protected his own companies if they held over $250,000 in deposits.
Yeah, Newsom totally forgot to mention that SVB is HIS bank with at least 3 of his personal wine companies having accounts with the bank.
CADE, Odette, and PlumpJack, three wineries owned by Newsom, are listed as clients of SVB on the bank's website. Newsom also maintained personal accounts at SVB for years, according to a longtime former employee of Newsom's who handled his finances, and who requested anonymity to avoid professional reprisal.
"Governor Newsom's business and financial holdings are held and managed by a blind trust, as they have been since he was first elected governor in 2018," Nathan Click, a spokesperson for Newsom, told The Intercept in an email.
Yeah, so Newsom likely just avoided losing millions of dollars thanks to Biden's plan, which totally not a bailout according to Biden but is, in fact, the federal government using a bucket to take water out of SVG's sinking ship (we used to have a term for this).
Newsom has a real personal interest in making sure that he gets all his money back after the collapse!
And there's more, of course.
Newsom also didn't mention his wife Jennifer Siebel's professional ties to the bank. In 2021, Silicon Valley Bank gave $100,000 to the charity founded by Siebel, the California Partners Project, at the request of Newsom. John China, president of SVB Capital and responsible for SVB's funds management, is himself a founding member of the California Partners Project's board of directors.
The ties run deep with Democrats and slimy politicians like Newsom. There are always these incestuous connections lurking.
Newsom, a multimillionaire who was a businessman before becoming a politician, has been dogged for years with ethics questions about his corporate holdings. When asked during his 2018 campaign for governor if he would sell his companies, Newsom reportedly replied, "These are my babies, my life, my family. I can't do that. I can't sell them."
Instead, in December 2018, Newsom announced that he would establish the blind trust and give control of his trust to a family friend and attorney, Shyla Hendrickson. Under the arrangement, his sister, Hilary Newsom, retained her role as president of the governor's PlumpJack Group, which includes hotels, wineries bars, restaurants, and liquor stores founded by Newsom.
Newson has him a family-run money-making machine and this "public servant" is going to use all his connections to make sure that his financial interests are taken care of.
It seems like if the governor of California had an outsized stock in the success of a certain bank that he would keep his mouth shut or at least try to appear impartial.
Instead, Newsom is happy to take your federal tax dollars to rescue his companies.
