California is back in the spotlight again, and as usual it is not because something inspiring happened. It is because another high ranking Democratic insider just caught the attention of federal prosecutors. Dana Williamson, Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff and longtime Sacramento power broker, has been slapped with a buffet of public corruption charges. The indictment reads like a greatest hits album of how to abuse power while pretending to run a state that cannot even keep the lights on.
The feds say Williamson and her political pals, Greg Campbell and Sean McCluskie, cooked up a scheme involving wire fraud, bank fraud and a long list of financial tricks that would make Enron blush. Twenty three counts in total. Eighteen of those counts carry potential twenty year prison sentences. These are not parking ticket level accusations. This is the kind of indictment that gets written only after investigators have spent a long time digging and the paperwork pile is tall enough to stop a door from slamming.
Prosecutors claim Williamson was still involved in the scheme even while working inside Newsom’s administration. She supposedly transferred control to another conspirator while keeping a hand on the controls behind the scenes. That is classic Sacramento. Change the name on the door, keep the operation running, hope no one notices. Well, someone noticed.
The biggest headline grabber is the allegation that Williamson and her co conspirators siphoned about two hundred twenty five thousand dollars from the dormant campaign account of Xavier Becerra. That money reportedly lined McCluskie’s pockets, disguised as salary for his spouse in a no show job. If that sounds familiar, it is because this is the same style of corruption California politicians pretend only exists in other states.
Then there is the tax fraud portion of the indictment. According to prosecutors, Williamson turned the tax code into her personal rewards program. Luxury travel to Mexico, jewelry, designer handbags, expensive furniture, private jets. All supposedly written off as business expenses. My accountant would faint if I tried to claim a sandwich that cost twelve dollars, but apparently some people think Chanel rings count as office supplies.
The allegations go even further. Fraudulent federal COVID loans, shady bookkeeping, fake deductions. By the time the prosecutors finished tallying, the reported tax fraud reached nearly a million dollars. For someone who claimed in her resignation note that she was proud of her service and the impact she made, this is quite the follow up chapter.
Naturally, Newsom’s office rushed to distance the governor from the scandal. His spokesperson reminded everyone that Williamson no longer works in the administration and delivered a lecture about the importance of innocence until proven guilty. It was a neat little pivot away from the fact that one of his most trusted advisers is now facing charges that could stack up like bricks.
California politics has become predictable. Every year or so, a well connected operative gets caught doing something that would land a regular person in handcuffs before lunch. The machine keeps running, the same insiders shuffle to new jobs and the governor acts shocked that these things keep happening around him. Williamson worked for three governors and built a reputation as someone who knew how the system worked. Maybe she knew it too well.
If the charges stick, this will be another reminder that the state’s political class treats public funds like a private ATM. And if they do not stick, the scent of the whole thing still lingers. Either way, California voters deserve better than a revolving door of scandals coming from the same circle of people who lecture everyone else about ethics and integrity.
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