They are just diapers. But they have landed California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) into messy accusations of corruption for dumping $20 million in taxpayer money into a nonprofit led by an executive who sits on the board of his wife’s organization.
The initiative called “Golden State Start,” which will provide free diapers to newborns in hospitals throughout the state, debuted ahead of Mother’s Day. It has been promoted as a partnership between the state and the Los Angeles-based Baby2Baby nonprofit.
However, the deal has resulted in scrutiny over how the organization was chosen and its “proximity to Newsom’s political and personal network,” the California Post reported late Saturday.
“If you take the number of diapers they’re planning to send out and the amount of money that he’s spending on it, it’s 50 cents for each one, which is like 100 times more expensive if you just bought them in Costco,” Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton told the Post.
He asked, “But where’s the money coming from? Us.”
Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, co-founded the California Partners Project, which helped facilitate the partnership. It aims to increase women in leadership. Norah Weinstein, the co-CEO, sits on Seibel Newsom’s board of directors.
Co-CEO Kelly Sawyer Patricof also runs the organization.
That diaper deal is glaring evidence of the sweetheart relationships between state-funded programs and affiliated nonprofit networks, according to critics interviewed by the Post.
“Instead of taking our money, putting into some scheme that benefits their friends and cronies,” Hilton said, “why don’t they let us just keep more of our money in the first place so we can decide how to spend our money?”
The cozy relationships are not limited to the diapers.
“Patricof’s family ties have also drawn attention from critics, including her marriage to film producer Jamie Patricof, whose father, Alan Patricof, is a longtime Democratic donor with deep ties to the Clinton-era political network,” according to the Post.
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Some $7.4 million has already been approved for the diaper program, with $12.5 million proposed for the 2026-2027 state budget.
Other critics, unnamed by the Post, argued that comparable bulk retail prices are significantly lower than what the state will be paying.
The Post reached out to Newsom’s office and Baby2Baby for comment but has not heard back.
Newsom, whom many observers predict will run for president in 2028, appears undeterred.
He is promoting the “Golden State Start” as a unique child welfare initiative, calling it “a first-in-the-nation program to provide free diapers to all new babies born in California,” the Post reported.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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