Gavin Newsom slammed for secretly funding $97K monument dedicated to himself inside SF city hall

Jedd McFatter and Susan Crabtree's new book claims that California Governor Gavin Newsom used a 'behested payment' to build a memorial for himself
UPDATED MAR 13, 2025
Gavin Newsom's bust at the city hall commemorates his time as the mayor of San Francisco, a position he held from 2004 to 2011 (Getty Images and @libsoftiktok/X)
Gavin Newsom's bust at the city hall commemorates his time as the mayor of San Francisco, a position he held from 2004 to 2011 (Getty Images and @libsoftiktok/X)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: California Governor Gavin Newsom is facing backlash from residents of his state on social media after reports surfaced that he paid to set up a monument in his own honor at the San Francisco City Hall, the Daily Mail reported.

Newsom's bust at the city hall commemorates his time as the mayor of San Francisco, a position he held from 2004 to 2011, while still being married to Kimberly Guilfoyle, former Fox News anchor and current Ambassador to Greece. 

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 8: California Governor Gavin Newsom (R) tours the downtown business district of Pacific Palisades as the Palisades Fire continues to burn on January 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Fueled by intense Santa Ana Winds, the Palisades Fire has grown to over 2,900 acres and 30,000 people have been ordered to evacuate while a second major fire continues to burn near Eaton Canyon in Altadena. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
California Governor Gavin Newsom (R) tours the downtown business district of Pacific Palisades as the Palisades Fire continues to burn on January 8, 2025, in Los Angeles, California (Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

How did California Governor Gavin Newsom pay for his monument at San Francisco City Hall?



 

Jedd McFatter and Susan Crabtree's book titled 'Fool's Gold: The Radicals, Con Artists, and Traitors Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All' was released on Tuesday, March 11. The writers claim that Newsom put together a memorial of his time as the San Francisco mayor with the help of donors at the city hall in the book.

Newsom allegedly used "behested payment" to pay for the vanity project. According to the Daily Mail, behested payments refer to "contributions made by donors that their political clients ask them to make on their behalf."

Fool's Gold: The Radicals, Con Artists, and Traitors Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All (amazon.com)
Jedd McFatter and Susan Crabtree's new book titled 'Fool's Gold: The Radicals, Con Artists, and Traitors Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All' was released on March 11 (amazon.com)

Three private organizations, out of which two are owned by Newsom himself, allegedly made donations to the non-profit earmarked for "Mayoral Bust at San Francisco City Hall."

The Newsom-owned organizations, Balboa Cafe Partners and PlumpJack Management Group, donated a combined $10,000.

The monument reportedly cost $97,000 to complete. During its construction, Newsom insisted that he found the whole thing odd but never revealed who paid for it.

"I don't want to call it embarrassing, but it's a strange thing," he shared in an interview at the time. "I'm just awkward about it. But now the word is out."

Internet slams Gavin Newsom for funding his own memorial 


LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 13: California Governor Gavin Newsom (C) speaks as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (L) listens at a press conference near the closed I-10 elevated freeway following a large pallet fire, which occurred Saturday at a storage yard beneath the freeway, on November 13, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Engineers have been assessing the extent of the damage and it remains unknown how long the freeway, which is a major commuter artery through the downtown area, will remain closed and complicate traffic for the city. Newsom said the fire was caused by arson and that over 300,000 vehicles drive through the freeway corridor each day with drivers being urged to use public transit. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
California Governor Gavin Newsom (C) speaks as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (L) listens at a press conference on November 13, 2023, in Los Angeles, California (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Reacting to the shocking revelations in the book, people on the internet slammed California Governor Gavin Newsom for funding his own monument in San Francisco City Hall and called him a "narcissist."

"Just wow. What a narcissist. That’s embarrassing," wrote a social media user on X.



 

"What a narcissistic jack a**! A man without any humility or self respect! His family must be ashamed and embarrassed," shared another.



 

"Funding a sculpture of yourself has got to be the most self obsessed, selfish trait of an egomaniac! Get this Egotistical POS Newsom out of politics permanently!" exclaimed one person.



 

"He's so vain. And worse still, it's so obvious," added another. 



 

"What a colossal d***he this guy is. Worships himself with a bust nobody wants & then pretends that he didn’t do it," one individual remarked.



 

"California is falling apart, and this guy is out here building statues of himself. You can’t make this level of delusion up," expressed another.



 

"He deserves it so future generations can remember him as GOD of inefficiency," someone else remarked.



 

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.

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