California Governor Gavin Newsom just launched a $20 million taxpayer-funded diaper giveaway called "Golden State Start," and wouldn't you know it, the nonprofit running the whole operation has deep personal ties to the governor's wife. Because in California, even baby wipes come with a side of corruption.
But sure, nothing to see here. Just a governor funneling millions to his wife's nonprofit bestie while the state stares down a $35 billion structural deficit. Totally normal governance.
Here's the setup. The program promises 400 free diapers to every newborn discharged from participating hospitals, starting this summer. The initial rollout covers 65 to 75 hospitals handling roughly one-quarter of California births, with a focus on facilities serving low-income Medi-Cal patients. Newsom, being Newsom, called it "a first-in-the-nation effort to ease the high cost of raising a child" and declared that "every baby born in California deserves a healthy start in life."
Heartwarming. Truly. Now let's talk about who's actually getting paid.
The nonprofit handling the manufacturing and logistics is Baby2Baby, a Los Angeles-based outfit co-run by Norah Weinstein and Kelly Sawyer Patricof. According to Breitbart, Weinstein doesn't just run Baby2Baby — she also sits on the board of the California Partners Project, the nonprofit co-founded by none other than Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the governor's wife. Weinstein and Patricof called the deal "historic" and said it supports families "at their most vulnerable time." What they didn't mention is that they're sitting at the intersection of the governor's personal network and a $20 million taxpayer pipeline.
And it gets better. Kelly Sawyer Patricof is married to film producer Jamie Patricof, whose father Alan Patricof is a longtime Democratic mega-donor with ties going all the way back to the Clinton era. So the money flows from California taxpayers to a nonprofit run by the governor's wife's board member, whose co-CEO is married into a family of Democratic royalty. If this were a Republican governor, CNN would already have a documentary crew in the parking lot.
The numbers themselves are insulting. Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton did the math and it's not pretty. "If you take the number of diapers they're planning to send out and the amount of money that he's spending on it, it's 50 cents for each one, which is like 100 times more expensive if you just bought them in Costco," Hilton said. "But where's the money coming from? Us."
Fifty cents a diaper. You could walk into any Costco in America and buy a box of Huggies for a fraction of that. But this isn't about efficiency. It never was. The state already approved $7.4 million for the program and Newsom is now pushing for another $12.5 million in the 2026-2027 budget.
All of this while the California Legislative Analyst's Office has warned the state "faces structural deficits ranging from $20 billion to $35 billion annually over the coming years." The official projected deficit for 2026-27 is $2.9 billion, but the LAO says the real picture is far worse. The state is hemorrhaging money and Newsom's answer is to light $20 million on fire buying diapers at luxury pricing from a nonprofit connected to his wife.
For context, Tennessee and Delaware both launched free diaper programs for Medicaid-enrolled families back in 2024. Tennessee offers 100 diapers monthly. Delaware provides up to 80 diapers weekly. Neither state needed to funnel millions through politically connected nonprofits to pull it off.
This is Gavin Newsom's California in a single story. A state that can't keep the lights on, can't put out its own fires, can't keep its streets safe, and can't balance a budget — but can absolutely find $20 million to buy diapers at five times the market rate from the governor's wife's inner circle. And he timed the announcement for Mother's Day, because of course he did.
Happy Mother's Day, California taxpayers. Gavin Newsom just changed your kid's diaper — and charged you fifty cents a pop to do it.