A few weeks ago, California Governor Gavin Newsom proudly announced the state would be giving free diapers to new parents. Of course, nothing is 'free,' and as Townhall reported in May, the state was paying far more for those 400 'free' diapers than it would have at retail. Oh, and Newsom's wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, has ties to the organization getting paid lots of taxpayer money to distribute those free diapers.
Ok… most of you know I was in the organic baby formula business, but what you don’t know is I dabbled in diapers as well.
— Peter B (@realpeteyb123) May 9, 2026
I also know this baby2baby “non profit” and have had past interactions with them.. I’ll leave that out for now..
Let’s dive into this absolute grifting… https://t.co/0ud0P9KtMi
Journalists wanted to dig into the contract, which is a good thing, but the Newsom administration has been stonewalling the release of the records.
FRAUD 🚨 Remember when Gavin Newsom gave that free diapers contract to the Baby2Baby NGO ran by his wife Jennifer Newsom’s friend
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) July 11, 2026
CBS Los Angeles put in records requests for the contract details and bids and Gavin Neswsom won’t release it
- CBS requested the contract and… pic.twitter.com/Ig3920hYLm
CBS requested the information on May 12, 2026. The Newsom administration has told the media outlet to contact the California Health and Human Services, which told CBS to contact another agency.
Legally, the state had ten days to respond on disclosure, and filed an extension under 'unusual circumstances.' Then it asked for another two weeks to decide on disclosure before promising the records in three or four weeks.
The due date was July 3, and the state requested another two weeks on that date. That means it's been at least 55 days since CBS tried to do its job and look into the contract.
"Immediately, critics pointed out that his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, also had a relationship with at least one of the co-CEOs [of Baby2Baby]," said CBS investigative correspondent Julie Watts.
"We did a little fact check," Watts continued, "but we could only go so far."
The video then cuts to a short clip of Watts' report back in May. "The state will not give us a copy of the contract," she said at the time, "or the competitive bid scoring sheet."
"Four days after that very high-profile press conference, we simply asked the Governor's office for a copy of that contract," Watts said. "They told us reach out to California Health and Human Services. They told us the contracts were with yet another agency. That agency told us our request had been received. That means, legally, they had a maximum of ten days to tell us whether or not we were going to get them."
"Exactly ten days later, now 14 days after the press conference, the state replies, citing an 'unusual circumstance' clause in the California Public Records Act, giving them another 14 days to decide if these are disclosable records," Watts said. "California law clearly states that any executed contract is a public record and so are competitive bid scoring sheets."
"It's unacceptable," said Ginny LaRoe, with the First Amendment Coalition. "You should have had it in your hands the day they were talking about it."
Watts also spoke to State Senator Tom Umberg, who was asked about uploading state contracts to a website so they can be accessed without a public records request.
"I think there's a world where we make them do that," Umberg said. Umberg, the Senate Judiciary Chair, helped gut a bill that would have let state agencies charge fees or sue over public records requests.
This stinks to high heaven, of course. The video points out that California has roughly 400,000 births a year, which means four boxes of diapers at full retail price should cost roughly $8 million, which means $14-16 million of the contract remains unaccounted for.
There's no reason for the Newsom administration to drag its feet on releasing the contract unless it's hiding something.
Editor’s Note: Help us continue to report the truth about corrupt politicians.
Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member