Last month, the governor said his children were transitioning back to classroom learning at their Sacramento-area private school. 'Instead of sitting down, I should have stood up and walked back, got in my car and drove back to my house.' 'As soon as I sat down at the larger table I realized it was a little larger group than I had anticipated and I made a bad mistake,' Newsom said of the dinner at the French Laundry.

Newsom said Monday that he's visited restaurants three times since February, twice with his wife and once alone. Rules for dining say restaurants should “limit the number of patrons at a single table to a household unit or patrons who have asked to be seated together,” without stating any limits on the number of households that can sit at a table. State guidelines updated in November allow private gatherings of no more than three households at a park or outdoor space. The governor visited the restaurant with more than three other households at the same time that he and his administration were warning Californians not to gather with their own families during Thanksgiving.Ĭalifornia’s COVID-19 safety guidelines limit the number of households at a private gathering, but do not explicitly impose those same rules on restaurant patrons. 6, first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, attended a birthday party for his political advisor Jason Kinney, a registered lobbyist, at the Michelin-starred French Laundry restaurant in Yountville on Nov. He can dine on a $350 meal at one California’s fanciest restaurants during the worst recession in generations. He signed legislation in September that will give nurse practitioners more authority to work without physician oversight, a bill that CMA opposed.His kids can learn in person. Besides listing dozens of bills, CMA also reported lobbying the Newsom administration on Covid-19 screening and testing rules.īut the group isn’t always successful with Newsom. The doctors’ lobby this year successfully convinced Newsom and state lawmakers not to slash Medi-Cal reimbursement rates that were funded by a tobacco tax that CMA spearheaded in 2016. The group spent $2.1 million last year lobbying state leaders. The CMA has long been a powerful presence in the state Capitol, and its Sacramento officials are longtime friends with Kinney. It is unclear whether that counts as outdoor dining under state guidelines, though Napa County restaurants were allowed to serve patrons inside at the time of the Nov. Newsom and Kinney’s lobbying firm, Axiom Advisors, has insisted that it was an outdoor dinner. The photos suggest that the dinner was held in what amounts to a fancy garage, with walls on three sides and a roof.

However, the state has intentionally allowed restaurants to seat people from more than three households together.ĭoctors and other health care workers have been vigilant since the pandemic began in asking Califorians to stay at home - a call that has ramped up in recent weeks as hospitals across the nation fill to capacity.Ī spokesperson for the CMA, Anthony York, said in a statement that “the dinner was held in accordance with state and county guidelines.” The state has issued guidelines prohibiting more than three households from gathering privately - a limit clearly exceeded by the French Laundry dinner. While Newsom and Kinney’s lobbying firm have said the meal abided by public health rules, it has struck a chord with Californians who have assailed the upscale soiree as hypocritical as coronavirus cases surge. The presence of CMA brass could amplify criticisms of the dinner occurring despite coronavirus restrictions that have limited Californians’ movements and constrained businesses.

Newsom french laundry restaurant