California Governor Gavin Newsom is facing major backlash over his decision to spend more than $80 million to “educate” the public about Covid-19, primarily through billboards, while businesses struggle with harsh lockdowns.
Newsom announced the “public education campaign” during a Monday press conference and unveiled some of the billboards, which include messages about remaining six feet apart and wearing masks.
New billboards coming to CA—1000 of them, says @GavinNewsom—as he says the state is going to be “more smashmouth” and blunt in its messaging to get people to wear masks and stop the spread of #COVID19. Here’s one set: pic.twitter.com/ENfbTFoUQZ
“I wanted to connect more to the cause of education,” Newsom said, adding over $80 million has gone into this campaign and more than 1,000 billboards will be erected in the state.
Newsom has faced serious criticisms over his leadership during the pandemic to date, especially lockdown orders in California which have kept many small businesses closed, but allowed other operations such as film and television production to continue.
“If @GavinNewsom is not deliberately destroying capitalism in CA, then he is a complete idiot. He’s not stupid. He is evil,” filmmaker and outspoken conservative Nick Searcy tweeted about Newsom’s new campaign.
If @GavinNewsom is not deliberately destroying capitalism in CA, then he is a complete idiot. He’s not stupid. He is evil. https://t.co/JJ7fkhjloI
“$80 million to ‘educate’ you on why you have to close the only source of income you have for the holidays even though the government has no plans to send you back some of your own money to help you traverse the closures. This is not policy,” RedState editor-at-large Kira Davis added. “This is insanity. Ignore it all.”
$80million to “educate” you on why you have to close the only source of income you have for the holidays even thought government has no plans to send you back some of your own money to help you traverse the closures. This is not policy. This is insanity. Ignore it all. https://t.co/xdiNVtofgf
“Journalists – this is not hard. The follow up questions are: who is getting paid to design the billboards? Is there a media commission involved? Are the large billboard vendors donors or otherwise tied to the Governor/Dem machine? In fact legislators in both parties should ask too,” California attorney Harmeet K. Dhillon tweeted.
Journalists — this is not hard. The follow up questions are: who is getting paid to design the billboards?Is there a media commission involved? Are the large billboard vendors donors or otherwise tied to Governor/Dem machine? In fact legislators in both parties should ask too. https://t.co/q8O9s1DwcW
$80 million could keep 800 (minimum) restaurants in business, and another 3-4,000 Californian’s employed.
California: businesses are going under, millions of people unemployed, people behind on rentClown governor Gavin Newsom: I’m wasting $80 million of your taxpayer money on billboards about COVID. Even though Google is free.
Newsom came under fire recently for breaking his own Covid-19 restrictions when he attended a dinner that included multiple households, something he has advised people against during the holiday season. Photos from the event also showed those in attendance not social distancing or wearing masks.
His ‘education’ announcement also comes on the heels of new stay-at-home orders being put in place for the San Joaquin Valley and much of Southern California, including Los Angeles.
California has recorded more than 1.3 million positive Covid-19 cases, as well as more than 19,000 deaths from the virus.
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