(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Call him Gavin Newsom, the autocrat.
Newsom, the California governor and 2028 presidential hopeful, has joined the ranks of Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin and Kim Jong Un, all of whom used their power to erect statues of themselves.
Newsom secretly commissioned a $100,000 statue of himself in the San Francisco City Hall following his tenure as the city’s mayor from 2004 to 2011. Even worse, Newsom paid part of it himself, the Daily Mail reported on Tuesday.
These revelations were made by authors Jedd McFatter and Susan Crabtree in their latest book Fool’s Gold: The Radicals, Con Artists, and Traitors Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All.
The book found that Newsom used two of his companies—Balboa Cafe Partners and PlumpJack Management Group—to donate a combined $10,000 toward the statue, which cost approximately $97,000.
$97,000 bust of Gavin Newsom unveiled at San Francisco city hall.
What do you think it is made of? pic.twitter.com/OPQRvAu6ef
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) March 11, 2025
The rest of the donations came from “behested payments,” meaning Newsom solicited contributions from donors for the statue’s construction. These types of payments are typically reserved for charitable or humanitarian work—not self-aggrandizing monuments.
In 2015, Newsom—then California’s lieutenant governor—faced questions about his role in the statue’s creation but played coy, telling the SFGate at the time, “I don’t want to call it embarrassing, but it’s a strange thing. I’m just awkward about it. … But now the word is out.”
Newsom claimed the statue was merely a proposal, as it still required approval from local civic art leaders. “There’s some risk,” he added.
At the time, Newsom claimed the statue had “been in the works for a few years, but no one’s worked on it. … It’s been an idea that’s been floating around.” He misleadingly claimed he did not know who the fundraisers were—despite his two companies funding part of it.
Nearly a decade later, Newsom is under fire for the statue, which many see as a sign of narcissism, according to the Daily Mail. The San Francisco City Hall is maintained by the city’s taxpayers.
The statue features a quote from Newsom and lists his past positions, including lieutenant governor, mayor, member of the Board of Supervisors, University of California regent and California State University trustee.
