Newsom sends prepaid phones, aka ‘burners’, to tech CEOs
SACRAMENTO, California — Gov. Gavin Newsom is making sure California’s business elite can call him, maybe.
Roughly 100 leaders of state-headquartered companies have received a curious package in recent months: a prepaid, inexpensive cell phone (commonly known as a burner, for those of you who haven’t seen “The Wire” or “Better Call Saul”), programmed with Newsom’s digits and accompanied by notes from the governor himself.
“If you ever need anything, I’m a phone call away,” read one note to a prominent tech firm’s CEO printed on official letterhead, along with a hand-scrawled addendum urging the executive to reach out. (We agreed to withhold the executive’s identity to protect our tipster.)
It was Newsom’s idea, a representative said, and has already yielded some “valuable interactions.”
That arrangement surprised some people POLITICO spoke with, largely because Newsom is already known as an inveterate texter whose digits live in many business titans’ contacts. He’s also long been seen as more aligned with business interests than the Legislature, the proverbial adult in the room when private pillars like Silicon Valley need a sympathetic ear or a veto.
But Newsom wanted to convey that he’s intent on maintaining California’s competitive edge. Phones are still going out.
The California Protocol Foundation picked up the tab. That organization gets money from businesses and nonprofits for gubernatorial expenses like trips abroad — or, evidently, burner phones — so taxpayers aren’t on the hook. It also drew leftover funds from Newsom’s inauguration account, which itself drew business, so in a roundabout way California’s private sector helped fund phones nurturing ties with the private sector.
