Gavin Newsom seems eager to run for president in 2028. But that dream may be crushed.
Because the Newsom family has been exposed in a dark money operation according to this earth-shattering report.
Newsom Family Ventures Spark Ethical Questions in California
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, California’s self-proclaimed “First Partner” and a documentary filmmaker, has built a web of businesses and nonprofit initiatives that are raising alarms over their financial connections to state government and corporate players. Public records show her companies, staffed with former aides and allies of her husband, Governor Gavin Newsom, have pulled in significant revenue from state contracts and lobbyists, fueling concerns about conflicts of interest.
At the heart of the controversy is the Representation Project, a Sacramento-based nonprofit that calls itself “the leading gender watchdog organization.” Tax records reveal it pays Siebel Newsom $150,000 annually for a 40-hour work week.
The nonprofit’s biggest contractor is Girls Club Entertainment LLC, a for-profit film company she also runs. In 2024, federal filings show the nonprofit compensated Girls Club $150,000 for “writer/producer/director” services.
The Representation Project has also drawn donations from corporate giants like AT&T, Comcast, and PG&E. These companies have contributed up to $25,000 each to the nonprofit’s annual Flip the Script gala, per the Sacramento Bee.
While the companies deny any intent to sway the governor, the nonprofit removed corporate donors from their website. Meanwhile, AT&T has spent over $2 million in 2025 lobbying California on landline regulations as it vies with Comcast for market share.
Siebel Newsom’s documentaries, including 2019’s The Great American Lie on economic inequality and 2015’s The Mask You Live In on masculinity, are licensed to public schools with accompanying teaching guides featuring her commentary.
Critics argue this setup allows the Newsoms to profit from public institutions while advancing their ideological goals.
“It is no surprise Gavin and Jennifer Newsom have leveraged their business and non-profit endeavors for personal and political gain,” stated Caitlin Sutherland, who’s an executive director for the non-partisan watch group, Americans for Public Trust.
“Backed by left-wing megadonors with ties to the governor, the power couple’s ventures have raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars, pushing a politicized agenda into public schools, all while personally benefiting the Newsoms. Profiting from progressive indoctrination is easy when your husband is the governor — a blatant conflict of interest.”
The Representation Project’s annual “Flip the Script” gala has also drawn scrutiny. The 2024 event honored philanthropist Roselyne Swig, whose family has donated over $100,000 to Gavin Newsom’s campaigns.
Hilary Newsom, Siebel Newsom’s sister-in-law and president of the Newsom family’s PlumpJack Group hospitality business, co-chaired the gala.
Past co-chairs include Joanna Rees, a venture capitalist who ran for San Francisco mayor in 2011 with Siebel Newsom’s support and the backing of SCN Strategies, the firm that managed Newsom’s 2010 lieutenant governor campaign.
The nonprofit’s board includes other Newsom allies, like Brian Brokaw, a political strategist who advised Newsom and helped run Kamala Harris’s campaign for California Attorney General. He also managed her super PAC during her first campaign for president.
“These types of connections certainly appear unseemly and raise some serious red flags,” stated Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, a nonprofit focused on government ethics.
“As was evident during COVID, Governor Newsom seems to enjoy living by the maxim of ‘rules for me, but not for thee.’ It wouldn’t be surprising to see a different set of rules applied to the governor and his team than those that everyone else has to live under.”
Siebel Newsom also serves on the board of the Siebel Family Charitable Foundation, which gave $23,000 to her Representation Project in 2023, its largest donation that year.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
