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Home – Political News – ‘Competitive in Nature’? Records Raise New Questions About Newsom’s $6.2 Million California Diaper Deal

‘Competitive in Nature’? Records Raise New Questions About Newsom’s $6.2 Million California Diaper Deal

Newly released records suggest California’s contract with a nonprofit to distribute free diapers involved a noncompetitive bidding process, drawing concerns about favoritism.

The $6.2 million contract has come under scrutiny in part because of the nonprofit Baby2Baby’s connection with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom. One of Baby2Baby’s co-CEOs, Kelly Sawyer Patricof, serves on the board of the California First Partners Project, which was founded by California’s first lady.

“The purpose of the competitive bidding process is to eliminate access to government contracts based on personal relationships, campaign contributions, or conflicts of interest, and get the best deal for the taxpayers,” Kendra Arnold, executive director of the watchdog Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, told the Daily Signal. “When it doesn’t go through the regular competitive bidding process, one of the things you look at is whether there was any favoritism.”

The watchdog asked California’s State Auditor Grant Parks to determine whether California followed proper procedures, why the administration used a noncompetitive contracting process, and whether the state met its public-transparency obligations. The complaint notes that $12.5 million was approved for the overall diaper program known as Golden State Start.

CBS News reported it took California 66 days to release documents on the contract, first announced in May. Neither the watchdog group nor news outlets established outright that the relationship influenced the state’s contract award to Baby2Baby.

“When there is a delay in the release of documents, it........

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