July 2, 2025 Your Source for Brentwood News

Newsom Looking Scared During Fire Season

By Tom Elias, Brentwood News Columnist

At times during this fall’s still simmering fire season, rookie Gov. Gavin Newsom looked a little like a scared rabbit as he ping-ponged for weeks from blaze to blaze, from Los Angeles to Santa Rosa and many points in between.

Newsom has good political reason to be frightened. He lived through the energy crunch in the first years of this millennium and knows how that debacle destroyed the popularity of then-Gov. Gray Davis, even though Davis had no say about the electricity deregulation behind the crisis.

While allegations of corruption were the proximate cause for Davis being recalled and thrown out of the governor’s office, there’s at least a chance that election result would have been different if he hadn’t been so damaged by looking and acting impotent in the face of rolling blackouts and brownouts during the crisis.

Newsom also is not responsible for conditions that created yet another destructive fire season, but he does bear some responsibility for the widespread so-called “public safety power shutoffs” (PSPS) that plagued millions of Californians as winds blew and fires burned.

Most blame ought to lie with a string of recent governors, including Jerry Brown, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Davis, Pete Wilson, Ronald Reagan and Pat Brown.

They all appointed Public Utilities Commission (PUC) majorities that stood by idly as utility companies diverted tens of billions of dollars in maintenance fees paid monthly by customers since the 1950s to other uses, including executive bonuses. Meanwhile, power transmission lines and poles deteriorated for decades.

But Newsom’s office did host a series of private meetings with officials of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. all through the spring and early summer, attended by his top aides and leading PG&E executives. All that while, he pushed hard publicly for passage of AB 1054, a legislative bill that set up a new state Wildfire Fund which will cost California electric customers more than $10 billion.

Records from the meetings remain secret, but it’s highly likely they covered the prospect of PSPS’s and who would design and okay them.

As it emerged, PG&E made all the decisions that blacked out millions in vast swaths of Northern California whenever there was a threat of high, dry winds this fall. Those decisions turned the bankrupt utility into California’s least popular company.

Newsom knows he has mostly done the bidding of big utilities like PG&E, which has put almost $300,000 into his most recent campaigns.

He has not admitted it, but urgent political need to distance himself from the utilities may be one reason he became the most vocal critic of PG&E during the fires, describing the blackouts as “intolerable” and “irresponsible.” He’s adopted an idea advocated here for several years: break up PG&E and possibly other utilities. He even parroted a suggestion made here during the energy crunch: a state takeover of PG&E.

Acting a little panicked, Newsom launched a $75 million program for state and local governments to mitigate impacts of power shutoffs without saying just how the money would be spent. He also called for PG&E – and by extension Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric – to compensate customers whose power was shut off.

So far, only PG&E has agreed to any form of payments or future discounts, details not yet specified. But the PUC members Newsom appointed early this year show no signs of reversing a multi-billion dollar PG&E rate increase scheduled to raise the average residential electric bill by about $9 per month in January.

So Newsom acts like PG&E’s leading critic after the blackouts, which caused some commentators to label California a “third-world state.”

But at the same time, his regulatory appointees do nothing to penalize that company or Edison, whose equipment apparently also sparked some fall fires. Not only is the PUC allowing PG&E’s rate increase to continue as if the company deserved it, but it okayed charging customers monthly for the Wildfire Fund without so much as a public hearing.

So while Newsom talks like a PG&E critic, his appointees’ actions say otherwise. This reality ought to frighten him as he ponders what befell Davis.

Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, “The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It,” is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, go to www.californiafocus.net

Related Posts

(Video) Los Angeles County Supervisor from the 2nd district, Holly J. Mitchel, Gives a Powerful Speech

June 30, 2025

June 30, 2025

Supervisor Mitchell Called on Residents to take action at the rally for Ambrocio “Enrique” Lozano in Culver City.

Top Military Commander Urges Return of Troops Deployed to ICE Protest Response

June 30, 2025

June 30, 2025

General Requests 200 National Guard Soldiers Be Returned to California Wildfire Unit The senior U.S. military officer overseeing federal forces...

Second Victim Killed Alongside LAPD Sergeant in Brentwood 405 Crash Identified

June 30, 2025

June 30, 2025

Authorities Confirm Garcia, 34, Died at the Scene, GoFundMe Launched  Authorities have identified the civilian who was killed alongside a...

The Westside Lights Up for July 4: Fireworks, Drone Shows, and Parades Return Across West Los Angeles

June 30, 2025

June 30, 2025

From Marina Del Rey’s Fireworks to Culver City’s 1980s-Themed Drone Show, Get Ready to Celebrate From fireworks over Marina del...

(Video) Culver City Residents and City and County Leaders Rally for Disappeared Ice Cream Man Ambrocio “Enrique” Lozano

June 29, 2025

June 29, 2025

US Representative for California’s 37th Congressional District, Sydney Kamlager-Dove Speaks About What is happening to the disappeared.

City Issues Determination That Could Clear Way for Barry Building Demolition

June 29, 2025

June 29, 2025

Preservation Deemed Infeasible Due to Economic and Social Factors The historic Barry Building on San Vicente Boulevard may soon face...

Historic Sawtelle Nursery Site Could Become 40-Unit Townhome Complex

June 29, 2025

June 29, 2025

Sawtelle Continues to Change as Nursery Site Faces Redevelopment Plans have been submitted to redevelop a nursery site, F.K. Nursery,...

Drake Slashes Price on Beverly Hills Estate to $79 Million Amid Market Slowdown

June 29, 2025

June 29, 2025

Price Cut Adds to a Broader Retreat From His Los Angeles Real Estate Holdings. Musician Drake has reduced the price...

Iranian Pastor in West L.A. Speaks as Church Rocked by Immigration Raids 

June 28, 2025

June 28, 2025

Five Detained as Fear Spreads Through Persian Christian Faith Community  Fear has spread through a West Los Angeles congregation after...

TV Writer Jon Cowan Brings Legal Thriller Proof to Diesel A Bookstore in Brentwood

June 28, 2025

June 28, 2025

The Suits Producer and First-Time Novelist Will Discuss His Debut Courtroom Drama Television writer and producer Jon Cowan will appear...

Cinespia Brings Fireworks and Fan Favorites to Hollywood Forever This July

June 27, 2025

June 27, 2025

Watch Top Gun, La La Land, and More Under the Stars at Hollywood Forever Cinespia, Los Angeles’ iconic outdoor movie...

California Doubles Down on Hollywood: $750M in Tax Credits Approved for Film and TV Industry

June 27, 2025

June 27, 2025

State Lawmakers Back Major Expansion of Production Incentives, Raising Job Projections Los Angeles’ film and television industry is poised to...

Brentwood Gardener Brutally Attacked by Squatter; Neighbors Demand Action

June 27, 2025

June 27, 2025

Rodolfo Roman Was Hospitalized After Being Beaten With a Metal Pole Tensions are rising in a Brentwood neighborhood after a...

EEEEEATSCON Los Angeles Returns with Star Chefs, Firefighter Tribute, and Wildfire Relief Efforts

June 27, 2025

June 27, 2025

Culinary Festival Features Exclusive Restaurant Collabs, Support for Small Businesses  EEEEEATSCON Los Angeles, the celebrated food festival curated by The...

Supporters to Gather This Weekend for Longtime Culver City Paleta Seller Held in Detention

June 27, 2025

June 27, 2025

Family and Neighbors Will Gather Sunday to Sell Paletas and Raise Funds Supporters will gather this Sunday at Veterans Park...