Column: Sacramento scandal a wild card for Xavier Becerra and gubernatorial race
sacramento — So far, gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra has escaped the spotlight from Gov. Gavin Newsom amid a graft scandal involving his former top aide. But that may change.
It seemed only a matter of time before one of Becerra’s campaign rivals seized on the federal fraud case as fodder for attack. I’ve heard it: “If a wannabe governor can’t protect his own political money, he shouldn’t be trusted to protect your tax dollars.”
It may not be fair, but this is big politics. The word “fairness” is not in the political lexicon.
Neither Becerra nor Newsom was implicated in any wrongdoing.
Newsom has attracted widespread media attention because his former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, is at the center of the criminal case. Newsom has also made himself a national political celebrity and is leading early polls for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. This made him a major news copywriter.
Becerra, by contrast, has kept a lower profile despite a highly successful and respected career: Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under President Biden, California Attorney General and a 12-term member of Congress.
It was alleged that $225,000 was stolen from Becerra’s dormant state political account while he was health secretary.
Federal prosecutors accuse Williamson, former Becerra chief of staff Sean McCluskey and Sacramento lobbyist Greg Campbell of illegally transferring funds to McCluskey’s wife, funneling the loot through shell companies into phony consulting services.
McCluskey and Campbell both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and have been cooperating with the federal government.
Williamson, who allegedly defrauded Becerra of political capital when he owned a government relations firm before joining Newsom’s staff, has pleaded not guilty to bank and tax fraud charges. In addition to raiding Becerra’s accounts, she is accused of falsifying documents involving coronavirus small business loans and claiming $1 million in personal luxury goods as business expenses on her income taxes.
After news of Williamson’s arrest broke last week, Newsom’s office said the governor suspended her last November after she briefed him on the federal investigation.
A Newsom spokesman also sought to tie the federal case to the confrontational relationship between President Trump and California’s governor. Trump has indeed been targeting his “enemies.” But the three-year FBI investigation began under the Biden administration.
Becerra said in a statement that “formal accusations of misconduct by a long-time, trusted advisor are a punch in the gut.” He also said he had been cooperating with the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation.
The federal indictment alleges that McCluskey and Williamson misled Becerra about how to use Becerra’s political accounts to make monthly withdrawals.
Nearly $2 million in the account was raised for the attorney general’s 2022 re-election campaign, which never took place because Becerra was health secretary at the time. But the money could be used in some future state races, such as the gubernatorial race.
Political staffers I spoke with were surprised to learn that $225,000 could have been siphoned from a politician’s campaign account without him noticing.
“Isn’t there anyone else looking at this account other than the consultants who hacked it?” asked senior Democratic consultant Gary South. “Those of us who have been on the campaign trail are scratching our heads. I can’t imagine how this could happen.”
I asked the Becerra campaign.
A spokesman responded that the health secretary had authorized payment for “event management” after being misled by a trusted adviser.
The spokesman added that Department of Health and Human Services lawyers advised Becerra to stay away from any “campaign or political activity” prohibited by the federal Hatch Act and ethics rules. Therefore, he delegates the responsibility of managing the account to an advisor.
He was snookered and cheated.
Will this tarnish Becerra’s image and hurt his gubernatorial campaign? We don’t know yet. But probably not that many, if any. After all, his only crime was trusting the wrong person and following the advice of his lawyer.
Even major scandals don’t seem to damage politicians in this era—Trump is the perfect example of the unfathomable.
That could affect Becerra’s fundraising efforts if potential donors wonder where exactly their money is going and whether anyone credible will care.
The gubernatorial race remains up in the air with no real front-runner. No candidate can attract voters.
A late October poll from UC Berkeley’s Institute of Government showed negligible support for all candidates. Former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter leads Democrats with 11 percent support among registered voters. Becerra was second with 8%. A whopping 44% of respondents have yet to make a decision.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Blanco, a Republican, came in first with 13 percent. But Republicans don’t need to apply for the job. California has not elected a Republican candidate to statewide office since 2006.
Becerra has as good a chance of winning as any current candidate. He leads among Latino Democrats with 12 percent support.
But he needs a better answer as to why he may have allowed $225,000 in political donations to be seized and used illegally by someone he trusted.
