Gov. Newsom’s plan to appoint Black woman as caretaker for Feinstein seat is insulting | Opinion

Gov. Gavin Newsom made an ill-advised pledge two years ago when he vowed to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein with a Black woman should Feinstein resign before her term ends. That promise came back to haunt him Sunday in a national television interview.

In a taped exchange with NBC’s Chuck Todd in the downtown Sacramento governor’s mansion, the conversation turned to Feinstein, who is not running for re-election in 2024, prompting a three-way race among Democrats to replace her. Todd asked the obvious question: Would Newsom appoint a replacement if necessary?

Opinion

“If we have to do it, we’ll do it,” Newsom said.

“By your pledge?” asked Todd.

“Yeah,” said Newsom. “Interim appointment. I do not want to get involved in the primary.”

“You would not appoint anybody who has filed?” asked Todd.

“That would be completely unfair to the Democrats that have worked their tail off. That primary is just a matter of months away,” the governor said.

Todd got the memo. “You’re going to abide, it would be essentially a caretaker and an African American.”

“We hope we never have to make this decision, but I abide by what I have said very publicly on a consistent basis,” Newsom said. “Yes.”

Rep. Barbara Lee is one of the three candidates running to replace Feinstein. Lee, who is African American, represents the 12th Congressional District in the East Bay.

Shortly after Newsom’s interview aired, Lee released the following statement:

“I am troubled by the Governor’s remarks. The idea that a Black woman should be appointed only as a caretaker to simply check a box is insulting to countless Black women across this country who have carried the Democratic Party to victory election after election.

“There are currently no Black women serving in the Senate. Since 1789, there have only been two Black woman Senators, who have served a total of 10 years. The perspective of Black women in the U.S. Senate is sorely needed — and needed for more than a few months. Governor Newsom knows this, which is why he made the pledge in the first place.

“If the Governor intends to keep his promise and appoint a Black woman to the Senate, the people of California deserve the best possible person for that job. Not a token appointment. Black women deserve more than a participation trophy. We need a seat at the table.”

Newsom clearly thought he was on the side of one of the Democratic Party’s bedrock constituencies when he announced during a March 2021 interview that a subsequent Senate appointee would be a Black woman. “I have multiple names in mind,” he said at the time.

But that was 2021. Feinstein did not step down. Her cognitive decline has reached the point that she has given her 66-year-old daughter the power of attorney to handle her personal affairs. That only raises more troubling questions about her ability to handle California’s business as our senior senator.

If Newsom had multiple names in mind back in 2021, it’s hard to imagine that the list did not include Lee, a Washington veteran of 25 years.

Lee, a Democrat from Oakland, is trailing in the most recent polls behind two fellow members of Congress, Adam Schiff of Burbank and Katie Porter of Irvine. The governor made it clear on national television Sunday that he would not appoint Lee if given the opportunity.

To vow to appoint a Black woman to the U.S. Senate for only a matter of months makes the Newsom pledge the hollowest of gestures.

This promise was perilous from the start, for the U.S. Senate is one of a very few workplaces in America where a hire can intentionally be made based on religion, or sexual orientation, or race or gender. Making this same pledge in other workplaces would expose a boss to claims of discrimination under both state and federal laws to prevent discrimination and promote equal opportunity. Political appointments, however, are made under a different set of rules that are purely political.

Newsom must have thought he was advancing justice and opportunity when he made the Feinstein replacement pledge back in 2021. Now it has completely backfired. The self-inflicted optics are horrible, the prospect of a privileged white guy appointing a Black woman to sit in the U.S. Senate for a handful of months.

Newsom’s next pledge should be to never make another.