Thumbs down: Newsom undercuts his own credibility by attending French Laundry dinner party

With the coronavirus infection curve bending in the wrong direction and a new round of restrictions being imposed on California businesses, with the potential of more to come, Gov. Gavin Newsom needs all the public forbearance he can get. Too bad he squandered so much of his credibility by violating the state’s basic guidelines for preventing COVID-19 infections.

In the unlikely event that anyone missed the story, Newsom and his wife were among a dozen people at a 50th birthday party for lobbyist Jason Kinney, a longtime Newsom political adviser, at the French Laundry in Yountville a couple weeks ago. It was too many people from too many households, according to state guidelines — and the embarrassing news broke on the same day that Newsom urged Californians to limit their exposure to people outside of their immediate family because the state is experiencing another COVID surge.

No details on the birthday dinner menu, but Newsom did end up eating some crow. “We should have modeled better behavior and not joined the dinner,” he said in a written statement — issued after his staff offered up a defense of the governor’s hypocritical behavior. Thumbs down.

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