Gavin Newsom, AWOL: Maybe he was getting his hair done

Gavin Newsom’s official calendar confirms what Californians have suspected for months: Governing California is no longer his full-time job.

The California Post’s exclusive review of Newsom’s official calendars found 18 weekdays during the first four months of this year marked “no official business.” His typical recorded workday ran about seven hours, with many days beginning after 9 a.m. and ending before 5 p.m.

There were also 53 blocks labeled simply “WORK TIME,” along with days when the governor’s only listed activity lasted barely an hour.

California’s problems certainly do not appear to be commanding the governor’s full attention.

Newsom’s office says the calendars are incomplete. Unscheduled calls, reading, travel and informal discussions may not appear.

That is fair. It does not explain why Californians had to wait three months, or why The Post’s attorneys had to get involved, just to obtain a calendar Newsom’s office now says does not tell the whole story. It also does not explain why 34 entries remain partially or entirely blacked out.

Gavin Newsom is forever demanding transparency from everyone else. When it comes to his own schedule, he treats basic public information like a state secret.

Newsom is forever demanding transparency from everyone else. When it comes to his own schedule, he treats basic public information like a state secret.

The calendars do show that the governor can work long hours when he wants to.

He spent more than 19 hours rehearsing his final State of the State speech, a 65-minute production that received tepid reviews. He devoted plenty of time to overseas travel, diplomatic meetings, media appearances and prestige events.

He found 100 minutes for a Vogue prep session and interview that produced a profile gushing about his looks and “eminence.” Marie Claire got access to promote his wife. Bloomberg cast him as an economic maestro.

California reporters trying to determine how he actually runs California got redactions and legal arguments.

When the subject is his image, his memoir, his wife, his national profile or his presidential future, Newsom’s schedule fills up. When the subject is governing California, things get vague.

“No official business.” “WORK TIME.” Redacted.

Newsom is plainly busy building a national profile, selling a memoir, courting national media and laying the groundwork for an expected presidential campaign. Book-tour calls, donor conversations, political strategy sessions and presidential networking would not necessarily appear on his official governor’s schedule.

Perhaps The Post should have requested his presidential calendar. That one might tell Californians far more about where Gavin Newsom’s time, attention and ambition are going.

Anyone who followed Newsom’s handling of his tax returns has seen this routine before.

Newsom promised for years that he would release them. When he finally acted, a small group of reporters was allowed to inspect them under tightly controlled conditions. No cameras. No smartphones. No copies. Only a few minutes to review complicated financial documents.

It was enough to let Newsom claim transparency without giving anyone much opportunity to examine the records.

Now we have the same approach with his official calendars: Delay the release, limit what can be seen, black out what might be interesting and then claim transparency.

Newsom acts as though Californians are entitled to see only what he decides is safe to show them.

That secrecy matters more given The Post’s separate reporting: Newsom’s sister, who administers his blind trust, has sat in on meetings with billionaires.

A blind trust is supposed to reassure the public that an officeholder is separated from his own financial interests. That assurance gets weaker when the trustee is a close family member sitting in meetings with some of the richest and most influential people in the country.

Those meetings do not establish improper conduct by themselves. But they make genuine transparency more important, not less.

Newsom wants the public to trust that his finances are properly separated from his office, that his meetings are appropriate, that his workday is fuller than it appears and that the redacted portions of his calendar contain nothing worth seeing.

That is a lot of trust to demand from someone who provides so little information in return.

The real question is not whether Gavin Newsom worked seven hours on a particular Tuesday. It is whether governing California still commands his full attention.

Newsom clearly wants to advance his presidential ambitions while he remains governor of California. There are few more prominent perches from which to do it. The title is powerful. The platform is enormous. The national media are interested.

But beyond retaining the title, Newsom appears to have less and less interest in the job itself.

California governor has become the office he occupies while he auditions for the next one.

Jon Fleischman, a longtime strategist in California politics, writes at SoDoesItMatter.com.

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