The wife of California governor Gavin Newsom runs companies stacked with her husband’s former Democratic aides and confidants — while raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees from the state and lobbyists, according to public records.
Documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the self-described “First Partner” of California, also received donations to her Representation Project nonprofit from companies that lobbied her husband, according to reports.
The Sacramento-based Representation Project, which describes itself as “the leading gender watchdog organization,” pays Siebel Newsom $150,000 a year for a 40-hour work week, according to tax filings.
Its largest independent contractor is Girls Club Entertainment LLC, a for-profit film company which Siebel Newsom also controls.
In 2024, the nonprofit paid Girls Club $150,000 for “writer/producer/director” services, according to that year’s federal filings.
Government watchdogs have blasted the Newsoms for what they describe as conflicts of interest.
“It is no surprise Gavin and Jennifer Newsom have leveraged their business and non-profit endeavors for personal and political gain,” said Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, a non-partisan watchdog group.
“Backed by left-wing megadonors with ties to the governor, the power couple’s ventures have raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars, pushing a politicized agenda into public schools, all while personally benefiting the Newsoms.
“Profiting from progressive indoctrination is easy when your husband is the governor — a blatant conflict of interest,” Sutherland added.
Siebel Newsom licenses her documentaries, including 2019’s “The Great American Lie,” about economic inequality, and 2015’s “The Mask You Live In,” which analyzes notions of masculinity, to taxpayer funded schools, according to reports. Included are talking points for teachers, with comments on Newsom’s interviews in the films.
Huge companies such as AT&T, Comcast and PG&E have bankrolled Representation Project’s annual Flip the Script fundraising galas in the past, donating up to $25,000 each, according to the Sacramento Bee.
The companies denied their donations were designed to curry favor with the governor, and the nonprofit then stopped listing its corporate donors on its website.
AT&T has spent more than $2 million lobbying the state on landline phone rules in 2025, and continues its battle against Comcast for market share in California.
Watchdogs are also concerned about the cozy nature between the Newsoms, donors and former staffers.
“These types of connections certainly appear unseemly and raise some serious red flags,” said Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, a Washington-based nonprofit that exposes conflicts of interest in government.
Since 2016, the Representation Project has hosted an annual “Flip the Script” gala.
Last year’s event honored philanthropist Roselyne Swig, whose family once owned the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. The Swigs are among Gavin Newsom’s biggest donors, spending more than $100,000 financing his political career.
The 2024 gala also featured Hilary Newsom, Siebel Newsom’s sister-in-law and the president of the Newsom family’s sprawling Plumpjack Group, which controls the family restaurant and wine empire, as a gala co-chair.
Another former co-chair, venture capitalist Joanna Rees, launched an unsuccessful bid for mayor of San Francisco in 2011. She was backed by Siebel Newsom and used SCN Strategies, the same firm that ran Newsom’s campaign for Lieutenant Governor in 2010.
Other Representation Project board members include Brian Brokaw, a political advisor to Newsom who managed former vice president Kamala Harris’s campaign for California Attorney General and her super PAC during her first presidential run.
“As was evident during COVID, Governor Newsom seems to enjoy living by the maxim of ‘rules for me, but not for thee,’” Chamberlain said. “It wouldn’t be surprising to see a different set of rules applied to the governor and his team than those that everyone else has to live under.”
In addition to the Representation Project, Siebel Newsom also sits on the board of the Siebel Family Charitable Foundation, her family charity.
The charity’s biggest donation in 2023 was $23,000 which went to her Representation Project.
Newsom’s office did not return a request for comment for the governor or his wife.
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