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California Governor Gavin Newsom has continued to face criticism over his state’s handling of the deadly Los Angeles wildfires and his latest appeal for donations has angered many.

The Democrat governor has ignited fury with his appeal for donations for California wildfire victims which reportedly takes donors to his super PAC’s fundraising page. With the devastating loss of life and thousands of homes and buildings reduced to ash and rubble, many looked for ways to help the victims. But Newsom’s link to californiafirefacts.com angered would-be donors as the website was created by his campaign committee.

According to the Daily Mail, “critics quickly noticed that while the site encourages donations to the California Fire Foundation, it funnels all contributions through ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s fundraising platform, via Newsom’s Campaign for Democracy super PAC.”

“Donors who provide phone numbers are also automatically enrolled to receive text messages from Newsom’s political organization,” the outlet added.

“A lot of misinformation out there. Just launched a new site to ensure the public has access to fact-based data around the Southern CA wildfires,” Newsom posted on X.

“The TRUTH:- CA did NOT cut our firefighting budget. We have nearly doubled the size of our firefighting army and built the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet,” the post continued. “CA has INCREASED forest management ten-fold since we took office. California will NOT allow for looting. Get the facts: http://californiafirefacts.com.”

(Image: Campaign for Democracy)

“Your donation will go directly towards supporting firefighters and the communities they serve, including direct financial support to impacted residents,” the website says.

But, as many observers noted, the California Fire Foundation accepts donations directly without anyone having to go through a service like ActBlue or have their data harvested by the Democrat governor’s super PAC.

Social media users blasted Newsom but a spokesperson pushed back in a statement.

“Not a cent of these donations go to Gavin Newsom or his PAC. Gov. Newsom is proud to have raised $450,000 for the Fire Foundation in small-dollar contributions during these fires and is grateful for the people across the nation who have come together to help Californians in their time of need,” the spokesperson told the New York Post.

Newsom also made an appearance on the “Pod Save America” podcast where would-be donors were directed to a site called “votesaveamerica.com,” reportedly also connected to ActBlue.

Frieda Powers
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