If you ever wondered how Gavin Newsom became a “bestselling author,” the answer just landed. And it’s about as authentic as everything else the California governor does.

According to new reporting, Newsom’s political action committee quietly spent over $1.5 million in donor cash to purchase roughly 67,000 copies of his own memoir. That accounts for about two-thirds of the book’s total sales. Let that sink in. The man had to buy his own book to make it look like people wanted to read it.

The book is called “Young Man in a Hurry.” And apparently the only thing in a hurry was Newsom’s PAC, racing to inflate his sales numbers before anyone noticed.

New York Times reporter Shane Goldmacher was the first to break down the numbers:

Read those numbers again. Out of 97,400 total copies sold, about 67,000 came through Newsom’s own PAC giveaway. That means only around 30,000 copies were purchased by actual readers who voluntarily walked into a bookstore or clicked “buy” on Amazon.

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Mediaite laid out the details of the scheme:

Newsom’s PAC, the Campaign for Democracy Committee, spent $1,561,875 to purchase and deliver the 67,000 copies through the Porchlight Book Company.

The governor launched the effort last November, following the passage of Proposition 50, with a fundraising message that read: “We just spent a bunch of money on passing Prop 50. So now I need to refill that coffers at my Campaign for Democracy for the fights ahead.”

Supporters who donated any amount received a free copy of the memoir. The PAC listed the purchases as “books at cost,” making them the largest single expenditure of the year.

So let’s get this straight. Newsom told donors he needed money for “the fights ahead.” Then he turned around and spent $1.56 million of that money buying his own book. That’s not fundraising. That’s a book deal with extra steps.

But here’s the part that really stings. Newsom’s own team put out a press release in March bragging that the book had sold “more than 91,000 copies through organic, in-person and online, non-bulk purchases.” Organic. That’s the word they used. When two-thirds of those sales came from a PAC-funded giveaway where the book was literally free with any donation.

Fox News contributor Steve Hilton summed it up perfectly:

Hannity.com added more context on the scale of the operation:

The strategy traced back to November, when Newsom began offering supporters a free copy of his memoir in exchange for any donation to his Campaign for Democracy PAC. The operation ran through Porchlight Book Company, and by the time the numbers were tallied, roughly 70,000 of the 97,000 total copies sold were directly tied to the PAC promotion.

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A Newsom spokesman defended the program, stating: “We were thrilled with the response. Our goal was to deepen the relationship between him and the millions of folks who have already expressed support for Governor Newsom’s work.” The spokesman added that the amount donated through the campaign actually exceeded what the PAC paid for the books, and that Newsom received no royalties.

The “no royalties” defense is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Because even if Newsom didn’t pocket royalty checks directly, having a “bestselling” book does wonders for a governor clearly eyeing his next move on the national stage. The inflated sales numbers generate press coverage, bookstore placement, and the kind of credibility that comes with being a published author people supposedly want to read.

This is the same Gavin Newsom who presides over a state with a $21 billion budget deficit. The same governor whose state paused new Medi-Cal enrollment for undocumented adults in January because the money ran out. But sure, $1.56 million in donor cash for a vanity book project? That’s a great use of resources.

For anyone keeping score at home, only about 30,000 people actually bought Newsom’s book because they wanted to. The other 67,000 got it as a freebie for donating to a political committee. That’s not a bestseller. That’s a bulk order with good marketing.

 

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