Not even Gavin Newsom’s in-laws are listening to his Florida fear-mongering.
The California governor’s relatives bolted the Golden State for the Sunshine State as Newsom ordered schools, businesses and churches shuttered at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report.
Longtime California residents Kenneth Siebel Jr. and Judith Siebel purchased a $3.3 million home in Naples, Fla., in March 2020, according to Fox News.
The Siebels, whose daughter Jennifer has been married to Newsom for 14 years, then registered to vote in Florida in June 2020, according to the report.
Around the time of the home purchase, Newsom implemented a statewide shelter-in-place order that would not be lifted until January 2021. Business capacity limits and other restrictions would remain in place until June 2021. During that period, more than 40,000 California small businesses shut down forever, more than in any other state.
The report added that the Siebels are believed to still own a home in Northern California.
Newsom’s restrictive lockdown measures stood in stark contrast to what the Siebels would have experienced in Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis lifted all COVID-19 lockdown measures and business restrictions by September 2020.
The Fox News report notes that Kenneth Siebel is a registered Republican and that the Siebel family’s trust made a $5,000 contribution to DeSantis’ Friends of Ron DeSantis political action committee in 2022. Federal Election Commission records indicate that Kenneth Siebel has donated a total of $2,000 each to GOP Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
Newsom, thought to be a possible 2024 Democratic presidential candidate if Joe Biden does not run for re-election, has repeatedly blasted DeSantis’ policies — even airing a July TV ad urging Floridians to move to California and telling them that their “freedom is under attack.”
DeSantis, considered a 2024 presidential contender on the Republican side, responded to the California governor by accusing Newsom of treating Californians like “peasants” and noting that he sees “a lot” of California license plates in Florida.
This is not the first time Newsom’s in-laws have created controversy for the governor. In July, the governor took his family on vacation to a Montana ranch the Siebels own, despite Montana being one of 20 states to which California bars official, state-funded travel over laws deemed discriminatory against LGBTQ+ people.
The Post has reached out to Newsom’s office for comment.