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OPINION (CALMATTERS) – Gov. Gavin Newsom’s obvious efforts to raise his national profile have taken two forms – touting California as a societal model and criticizing red states such as Florida and Texas for their supposed shortcomings.
Increasingly, Newsom employs a third tactic – shifting blame for California’s less seemly aspects.
That tendency is particularly evident in something that Californians rate as one of their top concerns – its worst-in-the-nation incidence of homelessness, manifested in thousands of squalid encampments in the state’s cities.
While running for governor in 2018, Newsom promised to appoint a cabinet-level official to concentrate on homelessness but later, when reporters pressed him, responded, “You want to know who’s the homeless czar?” Newsom. “I’m the homeless czar in the state of California.”
Despite that self-appointed role, as homelessness continued to grow, officially approaching 200,000 people but probably much higher, Newsom began shunning responsibility.
Last year, he blamed local officials for a lack of effective action, at one point suspending state funds. He later restored the money but continued to castigate them.
“If we can’t clean up the encampments and address what’s happening chronically on our streets, I’m going to be hard-pressed to make a case to the Legislature to provide them one dollar more,” Newsom said as he introduced a new state budget in January.
