Gavin Newsom was right to seek coronavirus mask deals, but wrong to hide contract 

Let’s cut Gov. Gavin Newsom some slack.

In early April, fearing that COVID-19 might overwhelm hospitals and threaten the lives of tens of thousands of Californians, Newsom made bold attempts to procure large amounts of personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect frontline workers from exposure to the coronavirus.

On Wednesday, Newsom finally released the details of the state’s $1.1 billion contract with BYD, a Chinese manufacturer with a Chinese subsidiary. Newsom had stubbornly refused to share the contract with the State Legislature, the press or the public over the past month.

The documents released by Newsom show that the state was planning to pay $3.30 per N95 mask. That’s a higher price than some other manufacturers are charging, but Newsom says it’s lower than what other states have a paid.

The documents also reveal that BYD is refunding a $247.5 million payment to the state due to delays in getting its N95 masks certified by federal authorities. California has already received millions of surgical masks, priced at 55 cents each, from BYD. The company said it expects its masks to eventually get certified.

Other documents released by the California State Treasurer show the “urgency and panic” behind the scenes as state officials scrambled to obtain masks and PPE in a fast-moving, competitive market.

“In at least two cases, high-dollar contracts for medical equipment fell apart after the state cut checks for them,” reported The Sacramento Bee. “One $456 million deal was with a company now under investigation by the Justice Department. Another for $8.75 million went to a Brazilian company that has been selling medical equipment for the past couple of months. In some instances, officials readied money to send before the companies the state contracted with had been fully vetted.”

The $456 million deal with a company called Blue Flame – first reported by Laurel Rosenhall of CalMatters – fell apart with hours. The company is now under federal investigation, according to the Washington Post.

These revelations make two things clear. First, the governor’s office was moving fast in an attempt to save lives. That’s a good thing. Second, the administration made some significant errors but, fortunately, does not appear to have lost any taxpayer money to fraudulent schemes – as far as we know.

“We all took off on a plane that we were building as we were flying,” Newsom said.

During the time when Newsom was trying to make these deals, PPE was in extremely short supply and President Trump had made it clear governors were on their own to protect their citizens. So, Newsom tried urgently to strike the deals necessary to establish the state’s own pipeline of life-saving equipment.

Fortunately, the governor’s early decision to issue a statewide stay-at-home order – and Californians’ commitment to following the rules – has succeeded in flattening the curve of infections. So far, we have avoided a deadly spike in COVID-19 cases that officials had feared might overwhelm our hospitals and lead to mass deaths.

Newsom’s dramatic attempts to obtain equipment show a serious and commendable commitment to saving lives. Though California has so far avoided the worst-case scenario, no one should fault Newsom’s efforts to prepare for it.

But Newsom should also derive some important lessons from this.

First, California’s governor should have worked with his counterparts in the Legislature and the Treasurer’s office to vet these deals before rushing to announce them on the Rachel Maddow Show. Now that the “200 million masks per month” BYD deal appears to have hit a snag, Newsom’s decision to announce it prematurely in a fawning cable news interview looks silly. Next time, he should sweat the details before polishing his national profile.

Second, Newsom should embrace transparency in future deals. Newsom kept the BYD contract’s details secret for a month, undermining the Legislature and raising questions about the lack of transparency. He now claims he only did so on orders from his lawyers, but that’s a weak excuse. Newsom should have let the sunlight shine on the mask deal, at least partially, to keep both legislative leaders and the public informed of how he was spending taxpayer dollars.

“I mean that I’m guilty of wanting to deliver and get this done, and to save lives,” Newsom said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “At the same time, damn it, to be as transparent as I humanly can be to you, because you deserve it.”

In the future, we hope the governor can live up to his words and embrace transparency to the fullest extent possible.

This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 9:55 AM.