As we approach the mid-term election – so named because it is held midway between presidential elections – California voters get to choose whether they wish to vote for candidates who do “nothing.”
Perhaps the most legendary example is Vice President Kamala Harris’s approach to the border problem: do nothing.
Consider the group from the Sacramento-San Francisco area who did “nothing” in response to San Francisco’s “GIFT” program in 2022: the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Governor Gavin Newsom, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla, Congressman Eric Swalwell, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and his wife Mia Bonta (currently occupying her husband’s former position in the California State Assembly), and California State Senator Scott Wiener.
The current Democrat candidate for governor Xavier Becerra, as the Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had the duty and power to stop the GIFT program: but did nothing.
The GIFT Program
In June, 2018, San Franciscans elected London Breed as their mayor. Breed’s biography indicates she served an internship under Willie Brown before being elected as the first Black woman mayor of San Francisco.
In 2022, during Governor Gavin Newsom’s COVID restrictions that reduced the opportunity for many residents to earn a living, Mayor Breed guided the San Francisco City Council to enact the Guaranteed Income for Transgender People (GIFT) pilot program, designed to provide unrestricted cash payments paired with healthcare and support services to a highly specific demographic.
G.I.F.T. | Guaranteed Income for Transgender People | San Francisco
GIFT is a financial assistance program for low-income Transgender, Non-Binary, Gender Non-Conforming, and Intersex.
Core Eligibility Criteria
Applicants had to identify as transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, or intersex (TGI).
The individual’s income could not exceed $600 per month.
Must be a resident of the City and County of San Francisco.
Must be at least 18 years old.
Open to all qualifying residents, explicitly including undocumented individuals.
Enrollment Priorities & Enrollment Cap
The pilot program was restricted to a cohort of 55 participants.
The application process prioritized individuals who were Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC). It also gave weight to those experiencing homelessness, living with chronic illness or disabilities, youth and elders, monolingual Spanish speakers, and those who were legally vulnerable (such as formerly incarcerated individuals or sex workers).
Financial Assistance
$1,200 per month in unrestricted cash.
Provided for up to 18 months (originally scheduled from January 2023 to June 2024).
Reloadable Visa debit cards issued monthly.
Participants did not have to report or justify their spending.
Wrap-Around Care Services
Program participants were granted access to gender-affirming medical and mental healthcare, holistic case management, and tailored financial coaching provided by Lyon-Martin Community Health Services and The Transgender District.
Mandatory Requirements
To remain in the program, recipients were required to complete an evaluation survey every three months to help researchers study the impact of guaranteed income.
The Law
The GIFT program not only expressly discriminated based on race, creed, national origin, gender, and sexual preference, but also created a form of discrimination among transgenders by giving preference to Black and Latino men who identified as women over other races of men and over all women who identify as men.
This was occurring in the home town of many of the Democrat office holders.
Did anyone try to stop it?
In January 2024, Judicial Watch, labeled a “right-wing watchdog,” on behalf of taxpayers Michael Phillips, Paul Wildes, and Reed Sandburg, filed the lawsuit Phillips v Breed against Mayor London Breed, Treasurer Jose Cisneros, and City Administrator Carmen Chu.
The suit argued that the program unconstitutionally distributed taxpayer funds by prioritizing participants based on race, sex, and transgender status, violating equal protection provisions under the California Constitution.
Even though all the funds had been spent by January 2024, the city did not terminate GIFT (appropriately named), which meant they retained the option of refunding it at a future time.
Judicial Watch continued its efforts to terminate the program.
After a year of fighting Judicial Watch’s attempts to shut it down, after the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump was sworn in as president and Harris and Becerra were no longer in office, the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco voted 7-3 to authorize a settlement.
The Settlement
—San Franciscan agreed to discontinue its GIFT program, to not create a new guaranteed income program with the same eligibility criteria, and to pay $3,250 attorneys’ fees and costs.
Notice San Francisco did not agree not to create similar programs with slightly different eligibility criteria.
Subsequently
San Francisco voted for a new mayor and the Democrats took care of the named defendants in the lawsuit.
—London Breed is active in Democrat speaking engagements while the FBI investigates allegations concerning a past appointment to the Board of Supervisors,
—Jose Cisneros continues as the treasurer for the City and County of San Francisco, where he serves as the city’s banker and chief investment officer,
—Carmen Chu was sworn in for her second term as City Administrator overseeing 25-27 departments and also serves as a Regent of the University of California.
The Democrats who did nothing to stop the harm thrust on citizens by the GIFT program remain in office.
That is, other than Xavier Becerra who, after being removed from office by the Trump presidency, became the Democrat nominee for governor of California.
The Future
Will San Francisco, or some other town, create another program that abuses so many of its residents?
Are there, or will there be, similar programs elsewhere in California?
The GIFT program demonstrates the importance of having a governor who will take the actions necessary to protect Californians.
Don’t give Xavier Becerra the opportunity to continue to do nothing.
Vote for Steve Hilton for Governor.
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The Democrat carousel of failure begins in grade school where children are introduced to ideas of gender fluidity and normalization of transexulaity. In adulthood, transgenders experience significantly lower income and higher rates of mental illness. In all ways, public education under the stewardship of the Democrat teachers union has failed our children for decades preparing them not for success but rather for a life of failure and dependence. The GIFT program benefited an insignificant fraction of the disinfranchised but served as a signal to Democrat voters that the Democrat party is here to help. We get you, vote Democrat.
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