Gavin Newsom Spins Revisionist History of His COVID Record

Plus: internet censorship, outdoor dining land grabs, and more…

CHRISTIAN BRITSCHGI

“We didn’t know what we didn’t know,” he told host Chuck Todd, adding later that “we would have done everything differently.”

The governor was nevertheless rather vague when saying what exactly he would have changed about California’s pandemic policies, mentioning only the increased understanding of how COVID spreads indoors versus outdoors and the efficacy of different types of masks.

“There was no ‘I,’ it was we collectively,” he said. “Red states…shut down their beaches in the early part of the pandemic.”

Newsom is right that in the earliest portion of the pandemic, California’s stay-at-home order differed little from the policies of other states, red or blue. But his comments elide just how long his state’s business closures and other restrictions lasted, and how responsible he specifically was for keeping them in place.

Throughout the pandemic, Newsom readily exercised his emergency powers as governor to erect a continually changing restrictions and reopening frameworks. Contra his comments that “there was no ‘I,'” the governor acted unilaterally in adopting constantly changing public health restrictions.

He rebuffed legislative and legal efforts to limit his use of emergency powers. Where local governments declined to enforce many of the restrictions Newsom put into place, state agencies stepped in to threaten businesses with fines and license revocations.

Nor was Newsom just following the consensus opinion at a time of uncertainty. During the COVID spike of winter 2020–2021, the governor shut down outdoor dining and closed public parks, despite wide acknowledgement by that time that COVID was far less likely to spread outdoors.

Newsom’s policies were so restrictive that they spawned mass non-compliance among business owners throughout California and criticism from some state public health officials.

Newsom’s unwillingness to offer a full-throated defense of his COVID record shows he recognizes how unpopular a lot of his decisions were. His blame-shifting and revisionist history make clear he’s less than fully contrite.

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Bhattacharya, a plaintiff in the lawsuit that produced that decision, writes:

But I can never go back to the uncomplicated faith and naive confidence I had in America when I was young. Our government is not immune to the authoritarian impulse. I have learned the hard way that it is only we, the people, who must hold an overreaching government accountable for violating our most sacred rights. Without our vigilance, we will lose them.

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The land grab—and that’s what it is—benefits the owner of the property even more than the restaurant. Essentially, the extension onto the street is an expansion of the landlord’s real estate, like an extra floor but much more accessible and visible.

Less obvious is who loses from the land grab. The city government loses parking revenue. Neighboring businesses lose accessibility and visibility, especially if restaurants extend beyond neighbors’ store fronts. Pedestrians lose sidewalk space; what’s left feels more like a tunnel. Drivers lose parking spaces and roadway.

Png suggests charging market rents to businesses for the public space they take up. A better option would be for cities to sell the space that’s already been effectively privatized. The new owners could use it for outdoor dining, parking, or whatever activities suit them best.

QUICK HITS

• A devastating earthquake in Morocco has left some 2,500 people dead.
• Sen. Josh Hawley (R–Mo.) proposes an 18 percent cap on credit card interest rates.
• Service workers are tired of being involuntarily included in your dumb TikTok videos.
• A new poll finds that most California residents are opposed to reparations for black residents.
• We didn’t need more evidence that rent control is a destructive and poorly target policy, but The New York Times has provided it anyway.

Christian graduated from Portland State University with a degree in political science in 2016. He worked briefly in public relations before moving into journalism by way of an internship at Reason’s D.C. office.

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