Republican leaders urge Newsom to recuse himself from further interference in Silicon Valley Bank bailout; reference media reports detailing governors’ million-dollar ties with the SVB and direct involvement in pushing federal regulators

Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones and Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher issued a joint statement concerning California Governor Gavin Newsom’s financial ties with Silicon Valley Bank and his involvement with securing a bailout for the failed bank.

“For three days now the media has been reporting story after story of Newsom’s personal, family and business ties with the Silicon Valley Bank. The San Francisco Chronicle, California Globe, Business Insider, Newsweek and others have all detailed that the Newsom family business empire and associated non-profits are deeply twined with the SVB.

“As chief executive officer of the State of California, the governor is prohibited from taking administrative or other actions that could benefit his own financial circumstance. Simply putting all your assets in a blind trust a few years ago does not allow Newsom to intercede in a bailout of a bank that he knew he and his family had extensive dealings with.

“There’s the potential for conflict of interest, and the actual perception of conflict of interest – we think the governor’s action in the SVB matter crossed the line into both areas.

“We call upon Newsom to recuse himself and turn over any further state dealings with the SVB bailout to the Lt. Governor. We also encourage Newsom to voluntarily ask that the Fair Political Practices Commission and/or the State Attorney General review the matter to see if any violations of the law actually occurred.”