This week Governor Newsom pushed back on critics of his family vacation in Montana. As shared by Calpeek last week, it was discovered that the Governor and his family were vacationing at his in-law’s ranch in Montana. Not such a big deal, except for a 2016 law signed by Governor Jerry Brown that forbids state-funded travel to Montana and other states which have policies that discriminate based on gender identity or sexual orientation.
The discovery of Newsom’s travel to a banned state gave great fodder for Republicans at whom Newsom has been taking swings lately. However, the Governor says he’s done nothing wrong because the travel was not state-funded. It was a personal vacation which is not prohibited. In an interview with the L.A. Times, the Governor stated “My frustration with the reporting was it was expressed as a violation, but in fact, it wasn’t, and I thought that was wrong and unfair.” He said that the travel was not paid for by the state and that the expenses incurred by the CHP security detail is permitted.