“Gavin Newsom is part of a disgusting new trend: Privileged people inventing ‘poorigin’ stories” (NY Post)
Given Mr. Fluff’s penchant for creative autobiography—on a TV interview last week he reminisced about “Wonder bread and macaroni and cheese”—let’s take a stroll down the gold-paved memory lane of Gavin’s real upbringing.
Once upon a time, I ran an intelligence service for a European prince. On a swing through San Marino—the ancient micro-state inside Italy—the head of its financial unit central bank chief explained how “democracy” really works in the world’s oldest democracy: six families take turns running the place.
Don’t laugh. That’s the American dream according to our own dynasts—the Clintons, Bushes, Kennedys.
And it’s exactly how California operates: government by a closed circle of dynastic families—the Browns, Newsoms, Pelosis, and Gettys—bound by marriage, money, and the magic trick of convincing the public they’re “of the people.”
The game isn’t merit; it’s inheritance and proximity.
Gavin is related to Nancy Pelosi through her brother-in-law, Ron Pelosi. But when Gavin’s parents divorced, his childhood took a detour from middle-class San Francisco into the plush embrace of the oil rich Gettys. Gordon and Ann Getty “informally adopted” young Gavin—giving him a room in their Marina mansion, whisking him off on African safaris, and treating him like one of their own. Gordon Getty, son of J. Paul Getty (once the world’s richest man), became a second father.
Before we get back to the Gettys, let’s rewind to the alliance that made this dynastic power loop possible: the elder Newsoms’ friendship with Edmund “Pat” Brown, whose 1959 run for governor they bankrolled. In return, Governor Brown repaid his financiers handsomely—awarding William Newsom Jr. and John Pelosi (father of Ron and Paul) lucrative contracts to run the Squaw Valley Resort, site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. All costs were covered by the state; taxpayers, as usual, picked up the tab. The ensuing scandal helped sink Brown’s third-term bid against a Hollywood actor named Ronald Reagan.
Fast-forward to the next generation. Jerry Brown—Pat’s son—kept the circle unbroken, appointing William Newsom III (Gavin’s father) to the Superior Court, then to the Court of Appeal. Before that, Bill Newsom had been J. Paul Getty’s personal attorney, later administrator of the Gordon Getty Family Trust—the same trust that benefited from his rulings on the bench. When Getty’s grandson was kidnapped in 1973, it was Judge Newsom who personally couriered the ransom money to Italy.
The Newsoms’ motto might as well have been: We make our money working for Getty.
When Gavin entered business, it was no bootstrap fairy tale. In 1991, with Getty money, he co-founded the PlumpJack Group—named after one of Gordon Getty’s operas—with Getty’s son Billy. By 2003, Getty owned nearly half of PlumpJack’s Holding Company, 96 percent of its winery, and the lion’s share of its real estate arm.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, PlumpJack quietly collected $2.9 million in federal Paycheck Protection Program funds—about $207,000 per employee—while small businesses across California folded. Knowing how to work the system pays dividends, especially when your lawyers already have the forms filled out.
And who else had skin in the game? The Pelosis. Their personal investment firm, Isolep Enterprises (Pelosi spelled backward), held stakes in Newsom’s ventures.
When Gavin later ran for governor, Getty family members poured in another half-million dollars—on top of a decades-long torrent that financed his climb from city commissioner to mayor to governor. Getty money bought him not just the wine cellar, but the political cellar door.
Gordon Getty also bankrolled another California climber—Kamala Harris. In the Golden State, upward mobility comes from the right donor, not the right résumé.
The Getty dynasty’s glamour has long been shadowed by tragedy—drug overdoses, suicides, and whispered paternity rumors. Some even speculate Gordon Getty could be Gavin’s biological father—a question no one involved has ever denied outright. True or not, the rumor survives because it fits the script: California’s power elite operates like an old European court—titles by bloodline, scandals by inheritance.
Meanwhile, California itself reels: a grid that fails, cities overrun with homelessness, taxes that chase away large corporations and the middle class, and governance that feels more like performance art than sound policy.
The industry that thrives best? Cannabis. The state’s most successful if illegal export now doubles as its coping mechanism.
As for Gavin—maskless at the French Laundry while lecturing others to “trust the science” in lockdown—his hypocrisy is legend.
The irony is rich: the six families running San Marino do a better job of governance than the “progressive” oligarchy running California into the ground.
Because in San Marino, they take turns; in California, they just take.
Call it autocrazy—a new world order of coiffed plutocrats selling empathy while banking entitlement.
Because, for a select few, the Golden State has become a Gilded Palace.
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Such a breath of fresh air to have the corrupt history of this once beautiful state exposed! Thank you Robert!!!
Can Americans cope, survive as free people or is the rising demand to be taken care of by a family dynasty?
Is there any doubt as evidenced by CA’s statewide voter turnout today of only 28.6% the day before the official Election Day— that the majority of Californians are willing to cede part or all of their sovereignty to a politically elite, trusted, aligned ‘family dynasty’ to control our country? There’s no commitment to civic duty by stupid, ignorant, lazy, entitled, assuming, or alienated citizens. When Elders are the highest voting segment, we know there’s trouble within the American social experiment.
Our forefathers fought to be free from royal control. 250 years later, some seek its return — to be taken care of by the Pelosi-Newsom or another cabal — as per posts on “X” from those associated with Open Society, DSA and other groups, and as reported by ‘The Pulse’. Your article’s opening gives food for thought.
Entitlements for the masses results in dependencies which has led to seeking perceived benevolent dynasty control for survival.