China Makes a Fool of Gavin Newsom
Dear John,
China’s announcement that it will ban the export of rare minerals to the U.S. has brought into sudden relief the failure of decades of American geopolitical strategy. It also spotlights the role of such useful American idiots as California governor Gavin Newsom.
Believing he can use his executive authority in one state to halt climate changes all over the globe, Newsom has accelerated the destruction of California’s once-immense oil industry. He has fenced in the production and retail sale of gasoline with regulations that have driven up the price of fuel to the highest in the nation — and then, displaying a remarkable Hollywood talent for mimicking outrage, called a special session of the legislature to consider how to punish Big Oil for the outcome. He has bet California’s future on technology that doesn’t exist or that requires rare minerals over which China has a near monopoly, including graphite, the key component in electric vehicle batteries, and other minerals used in the production of semiconductors and munitions. Once a global energy producer, California is now utterly dependent on imported foreign oil and Chinese strategic interests.
Newsom might have seen this coming but was focused on building his global bona fides in advance of a likely run for the White House. In six years, he has produced a raft of climate-change policies and has negotiated climate deals directly with foreign actors, including China. Reflecting Chinese interests more than Californians’, Newsom led the campaign to ban by 2035 the sale in California of new gasoline-powered vehicles.
That announcement came in October 2023, the same month that Newsom traveled to China to talk green energy with Chinese president Xi Jinping. California’s progressive establishment was thrilled.
Six months later, in April 2024, Newsom dispatched two cabinet secretaries — representing the state’s environmental and transportation agencies — to China for talks with local officials in Shanghai and the Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Hainan. To add insult to their self-inflicted injury, his diplomatic team met with Beijing’s handpicked officials in Hong Kong.
The following month, Chinese provincial officials returned the favor. They met with their California counterparts on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, home of the state’s California-China Climate Institute. They “announced a series of new actions to advance subnational climate cooperation and progress from the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters,” according to an institute press release. Not to be outdone, San Francisco officials met separately with Chinese local officials in a league of their own, the Greater Bay Area-California Dialogue.
“Just last year, our planet saw the hottest temperatures in over 2,000 years. There has never been more urgency than now to act on the climate crisis — and we have to act together,” Newsom said. “California and China will continue building on our decades of climate work because this moment calls for an open hand, not a closed fist.”
No one person better exemplifies Newsom’s commitment to entangling foreign alliances than Amy Tong, his secretary of state operations. She was Newsom’s emissary to the November 2023 Sister Cities International conference in Suzhou, China, and to the group’s July conference in Tacoma, Wash.
Both events were co-hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. CPAFFC is “a self-styled independent nongovernmental group dedicated to telling foreigners about China,” reports National Review’s Jimmy Quinn. “But U.S. intelligence officials allege that CPAFFC in fact operates the party’s influence operations targeting state and local officials across America.”
California’s role in Chinese united-front programs continued through October of this year, when Newsom dispatched Tong again, this time to Beijing. She was accompanied by Alameda County supervisor David Haubert. In a statement, California’s government operations agency told Quinn that Tong was “in China building on the state’s significant and longstanding efforts across administrations to strengthen subnational partnerships that benefit Californians.”
A photograph of the event “was disseminated . . . across Chinese Communist Party propaganda outlets calibrated for international audiences and the accounts they control on social media,” Quinn reported.
Quinn’s reporting on CPAFFC illustrates the dangers of gubernatorial foreign policies:
In a 2022 bulletin, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence characterized CPAFFC as one of “many quasi-official entities or proxies involved in united front work and foreign influence operations whose ties to the CCP or PRC government may be hidden or not readily apparent.” It cited the association’s efforts to set up “sister-city partnerships” with U.S. participants. The ODNI also accused CPAFFC of leveraging those arrangements to push Beijing’s political priorities on Taiwan and Tibet.
Despite those warnings, Newsom has forged ahead with a series of events directly involving CPAFFC and Chinese Communist Party officials.
It’s clear that Newsom’s diplomacy is doing nothing good for California or for Americans. Following China’s announced rare-minerals export ban, it’s equally clear that China has gained additional leverage in American politics. While California abandons fossil fuels in the name of saving the global climate, China’s carbon emissions continue to rise. Selling green technology to — and signing inspirational memoranda of understanding with — its California counterparts, China continues to build coal-fueled electricity-generation plants. Its 1,161 coal power plants account for 55 percent of global carbon emissions from coal.
Newsom has mismanaged California into historic decline. He is hardly savvy enough to manage relations with a single foreign power. A few of us may remember that in 2028 when it seems almost certain he will be among those angling for the White House.
— This commentary by CPC president Will Swaim was originally published by National Review.
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Teacher union swindle in Orange Unified serves as a lesson for all of California
They may not care much about education, but give teacher union leaders in the city of Orange, California, credit for speed and political ingenuity. Shortly after a successful March recall campaign in which leaders of the Orange Unified Education Association replaced two conservatives with two union-backed trustees, the newly configured board promptly awarded teachers a 10 percent pay hike.
Behind the scenes, district documents show, the real purpose of the recall was to replace conservative board members with union-friendly trustees who would approve the salary hike. That pay hike has blown a hole in Orange Unified’s finances, documents obtained by California Policy Center reveal.
CPC financial analysts say the pay hikes are a disaster in a district with declining enrollment. Without massive spending cuts, teacher layoffs, school closures, and a tax hike, the district will run through its renovation reserve in about two years.
For the full story, read the Orange County Register op-ed by CPC president Will Swaim.
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Registration is now open for CPC’s fourth annual Parents, Not Partisans Summit 2025: California at the Crossroads of Education in Sacramento March 18-19, 2025! Join us for this transformative two-day event designed to equip parent group leaders, education reform advocates and school board members with the tools and strategies to meet the opportunities — and challenges — of 2025 head-on.
California stands at a pivotal moment in education reform. With President-elect Trump’s promise to make sweeping changes to education at the federal level, and return more power to the states, the stakes have never been higher. At this year’s summit, we’ll hear from California’s leading voices on the most effective ways to advocate for renewing our education system to ensure every child receives a high-quality education.
What You’ll Gain:
- Strategies to improve academic fundamentals like reading and math in your school district.
- A game plan for standing up to education bureaucrats and teachers unions that continue to legislate and litigate to override local authority.
- Connections with like-minded advocates, school board members and legislators.
Register today to join us Tuesday, March 18 - Wednesday, March 19, 2025 in Sacramento. Use the promo code "PARENTUNION" at checkout to receive complimentary conference registration.
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After a period of municipal financial stability, California local governments are once again facing fiscal distress. A robust system of municipal financial reporting and monitoring can provide early warnings of fiscal trouble and allow policymakers at the state and local level to proactively address them.
Join California Policy Center and XBRL US for a half-day conference, Modernizing Municipal Reporting, featuring keynote speaker California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, CPA on January 30, 2025 in Costa Mesa, CA.
— Learn how the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA), federal legislation that calls for municipal bond issuance to be reported in machine-readable format, offers the opportunity to modernize government reporting, giving state and local policymakers the tools to monitor fiscal health.
— Learn about steps the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) is taking to build open data standards that will express government financials in digital format.
— Find out how standardized, machine-readable financials can be a game-changer to track and identify financial health for cities, counties and special districts. Get insights into practical aspects of the FDTA rollout from public sector accountants and analysts.
Don't miss this opportunity to learn about the potential impact of the FDTA on California governments, and participate in the discussion about how to implement this program efficiently and effectively!
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Radio Free California #369: The Year of Living Dangerously Again
On this week's podcast: CPC president Will Swaim and CPC board member David Bahnsen revisit California’s Top Ten stories in 2024. Listen now.
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