The wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom (D.) has reportedly charged the state’s public schools up to $1.5 million to broadcast her videos on “gender justice” and “business exploitation.”
According to the watchdog organization Open the Books, Newsom has raised about $1.5 million from film licensing and nearly $1.7 million from sales since 2012.
Her organization, the Representation Project, costs schools an average of $270 to license movies such as ‘The Great American Lie,’ which claims that sexism promotes economic disparity, and ‘Fair Play,’ which focuses on women who want to do less housework.
While the organization does not indicate how much money it got from schools, Open the Books claims that it could easily account for all or virtually all of her $1.5 million in streaming income.
Siebel Newsom’s organization may provide an ethical quandary for her husband, who is considering a presidential run.
The Pacific Gas and Electric Corporation (PG&E), the utility company responsible for some of the state’s deadliest wildfires, donated $358,000 to the Representation Project in 2019.
For years, the governor and his wife have solicited funds from the same people and corporations—he for his political campaigns, she for her non-profit.
AT&T, Comcast, Planned Parenthood, and Kaiser Permanente are among the shared donors. AT&T, a significant lobbying force in Sacramento and a campaign supporter to Newsom.
Many ethical experts are concerned because Siebel Newsom does not reveal which firms acquire and license her films. A situation which makes it difficult to track the timing of such events and whether or not they may be being used by interested parties as a way to unethically lobby California’s first couple to pass favorable legislation.
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