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The time for Gavin Newsom honoring himself isn’t over yet.
California’s governor wants taxpayers to spend $33,000 on an official portrait of Newsom, even as Democratic lawmakers fume over his“absurd” $20 million proposal to honor the state’s living former governors— an exclusive club of which he’ll soon be a member.
Funding for the proposed painting is included in Newsom’s proposed 2026-27 budget under “Governor’s Portrait,” which says the money would pay for the “traditional painting of the Governor’s portrait” to be displayed in the State Capitol alongside portraits of every other California governor.
The $33,000 would come from the state’s General Fund at a time when all new discretionary spending is being discouraged by Democratic lawmakers and state budget analysts. California faces long-termstructural budget deficitswhile residents are dealing with high gas prices, soaring housing costs and increasingly expensive health care services.
State Sen. Suzette Valladares (R-Santa Clarita) scoffed at the price tag.
“Only in Sacramento would a governor look at struggling families and think, ‘You know what this moment needs? A painting of me,’” she said.
Assemblymember Alexandra M. Macedo (R-Fresno) — who has excoriated Newsom’s over the boondoggle high-speed rail project that will supposedly begin service in her district in 2032 — joked that the governor’s proposed portrait is “a real tribute to modern California governance.”
“At least future generations will have a painting to remember who kept spending billions carving a permanent scar through prime Central Valley farmland for a train that will never connect Northern and Southern California,” Macedo said.
California governors have traditionally had official portraits displayed in the Capitol after leaving office — Jerry Brown started the practice withan infamously ugly portrait in 1984, which some legislators joked to New York magazine looked as if it had been painted with “spilled ketchup and soy sauce.”
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
