Newsom’s visit to Diablo Canyon was kept under wraps. Why all the secrecy? | Opinion

Where there is no transparency, there can be no accountability.

That is not a partisan ideal, but an American one; and every American politician, president and governor — all the way down to an ad hoc committee on school lunches — should hold themselves to it, or be held to it.

Why, then, is Gov. Gavin Newsom dodging such basic, everyday transparencies like sharing his schedules?

On Wednesday, for example, he paid a stealth visit to the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant without notifying any media — including San Luis Obispo County news outlets that have been covering the story for decades.

Media members were notified only after the fact, by way of a news release accompanied by a couple of photos.

“Yesterday, Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the Diablo Canyon Power Plant to tour its facilities and highlight how this source of carbon-free electricity will support energy reliability during California’s clean energy transition,” it said.

Talk about controlling the story.

There was no opportunity to ask the governor how this “clean energy transition” is going.

No chance to get his take on the long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel.

Or to find out how the state might assist the Central Coast in developing offshore wind energy.

Residents of the Central Coast are most affected by the decision to keep Diablo Canyon running, yet the governor can’t even be bothered to answer a few questions?

That’s downright disrespectful, but we shouldn’t feel singled out. The governor is an equal-opportunity snubber.

Last week, reporters from The Bee and other outlets attempted to follow Newsom’s schedule for two days through Washington, D.C., as he took multiple meetings with high-profile names such as Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Alex Padilla and President Joe Biden.

But Newsom’s office never made public where he was going or who he was meeting with until after the meetings had occurred.

Reporters want to be aware of these meetings so they can ask questions on behalf of the public; and politicians are usually at least willing to talk to reporters about their schedules. But that’s not the case for Newsom, who makes political moves in supercilious secrecy.

The last schedule listing on the governor’s media advisory website was for Jan. 31, more than two weeks ago. With the exception of a tweet from the governor last Thursday about how the Democratic Governors Association had named him policy chairman, Californians have been in the dark about the business of the governor they elected.

By these actions, Newsom is effectively telling his constituents that whatever limited information he deigns to share will be micromanaged through his public relations team on social media.

Newsom’s high-handed attitude toward transparency is beyond arrogant. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris release a portion of their schedules in advance. Congress, too, makes its detailed committee schedules available days in advance on its House and Senate websites.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and newly elected Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders also share their schedules with the public — surely a comparison Newsom would rather no one draw.

So why is Newsom’s schedule kept secret? His advisers say they simply don’t have time to share information about the Washington trip.

“It was more a function of figuring out what we could share depending on the folks he was meeting with,” Newsom’s deputy press secretary, Daniel Villaseñor, told The Bee. “A lot of those meetings were being nailed down at the time. We were figuring out logistically what we could share ahead of time.”

Really? That’s a curious statement from an administration that has shown it can communicate instantly and effectively when Newsom’s interests are served. But when the public’s interest should be served that’s somehow a bridge too far?

This behavior is exactly why Newsom is so regularly accused by his constituents and opponents alike of elitism. It’s a characterization his administration attempts to mitigate by flooding the news with glossy photos of the telegenic governor rolling up his sleeves. But it’s a reputation the Newsom administration has earned.

This story was originally published March 3, 2023 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Newsom’s visit to Diablo Canyon was kept under wraps. Why all the secrecy? | Opinion."