California’s governor Gavin Newsom is in some very hot water – and no, not from conservatives in the state, but from his fellow Democrats over a “hidden” $1 billion dollar deal he made with a Chinese company to make masks.
Newsome actually lied – he said that he was working with a “manufacturer” in the state of California to make the masks. That’s not true at all. It’s a Chinese company.
“In the last 48 hours we have secured –through a consortia of nonprofits and a manufacturer here in the state of California – upwards of 200 million masks on a monthly basis that we’re confident we can supply the needs of the state of California, potentially the needs of other western states.”
As it happened, the manufacturer wasn’t exactly “here in the state of California.” The manufacturer was BYD, “Build Your Dreams,” a Chinese company not known for making personal protective equipment. Newsom wasn’t revealing details of the $1 billion deal, which as John Myers of the Los Angeles Times noted, “will cost taxpayers 30 percent more than the governor’s January budget allotted for infectious diseases for the whole fiscal year.” [Frontpage Mag]
After word got out about the Chinese company, Democrats started asking questions, but Newsome wasn’t talking. He got very tight-lipped and that really escalated things.
The day after Newsom’s MSNBC appearance, San Francisco Democrat Phil Ting, chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee, told reporters, “We don’t have any information as to how many masks we’re buying, who we’re buying them from, at what price. What are we obligated? For how long are we obligated?” Los Angeles Democrat Holly Mitchell, chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee, fired off an official letter demanding details. Newsom wasn’t talking, which prompted an escalation. [Frontpage Mag]
Is Newsome quiet about this because he’s profiting in some way, either politically or personally from this massive deal he quietly and sneakily struck with the Chinese company? At a time when Americans should be shunning Chinese companies, especially when it comes to masks and such for Coronavirus, Newsom is awarding billion-dollar contracts on the sly?
Democrats at the Sacramento Bee are now calling for legislators to use their “subpoena power” to get to the bottom of this very secretive deal.
“Perhaps it’s time for legislative leaders to dust off their rarely-used subpoena power,” the Sacramento Bee editorialized on April 22. The administration feared that “Trump might steal California’s equipment,” but that did not justify Newsom’s decision “to hide a taxpayer-funded contract from legislative leaders.” Neither did the obfuscation account for “other reasons why the administration may wish to shield the contract from oversight.” Journalists and legislators alike should have seen this coming. [Frontpage Mag]
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To make matters even worse, “BYD” the company Newsom paid the $1 billion to has “glaring red flags on its record, including a history of supplying allegedly faulty products to the U.S., ties to the Chinese military and Communist Party, and possible links to forced labor,” reported Daniel Newhauser and Keegan Hamilton of Vice News reported.
In the recent past, BYD was even prohibited by law from bidding on federal contracts and is wrapped up in lawsuits with several states.
You can read the entire riveting article here.
This piece was written by Missy Crane on April 24, 2020. It originally appeared in WayneDupree.com and is used by permission.
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