Gov. Newsom’s selective idealism should inspire cynicism

One reason politicians get such a bad rap is that so many depict themselves as having pure, noble motives on high-profile issues while being unrepentant, undemocratic bullies when there are fewer cameras around. A stark example is now playing out in California with Proposition 36, the measure approved in every county last November in response to the crime wave triggered by Proposition 47. That 2014 measure — sold to voters as humane criminal justice “reform” — strongly incentivized retail theft and drug use by changing many “nonviolent” felonies into minimally punished misdemeanors.

After a decade of dithering by state leaders, voters forced change last November with their landslide approval of Proposition 36, which reversed parts of Proposition 47 and made some theft and drug crimes felonies once more. One of the measure’s thoughtful features was its emphasis on providing access to treatment for long-term drug addicts.

But Gov. Gavin Newsom — an inexplicably fierce critic of the initiative — refused to provide a dime for related funding in his initial budget and only grudgingly provided $110 million for courts, behavioral health programs and public defenders after bipartisan criticism. A Sept. 21 U-T story looked at how his denial of funds to jails run by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office had forced the department to house individuals who should be getting in-custody drug treatment. Newsom’s claim that this decision was due to the state’s budget crisis — not his childish pique — is impossible to square with his willingness to throw another $1 billion on the garbage fire that is the California high-speed rail project and his refusal to consider the Legislative Analyst’s Office’s suggestion that money for drug treatment could be found in the bloated budget of the state prison system.

But what’s so striking about Newsom’s bad-faith bullying is that it’s happening even as he offers himself as the anti-Donald Trump: the purest defender of “democratic institutions” that honor the will of the public that modern America has to offer.

Newsom makes many, many good points about President Trump’s appalling assaults on American norms. But when such idealism is deployed selectively, not consistently, it should inspire as much cynicism as applause.