California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed Wednesday during a meeting that he had an argument with a Target employee after witnessing an alleged shoplifter, stating his state policies don’t allow theft before asking for a manager, video footage posted to Twitter by Gabriel Lorenz Greschler of Mercury News showed.
A Zoom call meeting apparently about a mental health proposition was recorded and posted to X (formerly known as Twitter) appearing to show Newsom discussing a story about a recent encounter at Target. Although it is unclear what triggered the California governor to discuss the matter, Newsom claimed that while he was at a Target retail store, he witnessed an alleged shoplifter walking out. (RELATED: ‘We Can’t Survive’: Small Business Loses Hundreds Of Thousands To Theft In Crime-Ridden California)
The governor claimed that he had been confused as to why employees weren’t stopping the alleged theft, arguing with a worker who blamed the governor’s policies. As the employee allegedly said the governor had “lowered the threshold” resulting in the allowance of crime, Newsom doubled down, claiming California has the “10th toughest” shoplifting policy in America.
“Sir, you dropped this, and he comes back, picks it up, and he’s walking out. As we’re checking out, the woman says, ‘Oh, he’s just walking out, he didn’t pay for that.’ I said, ‘Well, why don’t you stop him?’ And she goes, ‘Oh, the governor’’– swear to God, true story. On my mom’s grave – ‘the governor lowered the threshold, there’s no, there’s no accountability,’” Newsom stated.
In a Zoom call about a mental health proposition, Gov. Gavin Newsom says he was at a Target and saw someone walk out without paying.
He asked a worker why the person steals and they blamed the Governor before looking at him twice and recognizing him.
“I was like, why I am… pic.twitter.com/zpLFtNwiSZ
— Gabriel Lorenzo Greschler (@ggreschler) January 31, 2024
“I said, ‘That’s just not true.’ I said we have the 10th toughest in America — $950 — the 10th toughest in America. She didn’t even know what I was talking about. By the way, we have the 10th toughest in America. Look it up. No one gives a damn about that.”
Newsom continued to allegedly push back on the worker before he claimed that she had recognized him, leading her to ask for photos with the California governor. Newsom questioned why he had been paying “$380” at the store when he could “walk the hell right out” like “everyone.”(RELATED: ‘Enough Is Enough’: Retailers Back California Initiative To Raise Penalties For Property Crime)
“And I said ‘That’s just not true. There’s still stopping them.’ She said ‘Well, we don’t stop them because [of] the governor.’ And then, she goes — she looks at me twice, and then she freaks out. She calls everyone over, wants to take photos. I’m like, ‘No, I’m not taking a photo. We’re having a conversation. Where’s your manager? How are you blaming the governor?’ And it was, you know, $380 later, and I was like, why am I spending $380? Everyone can walk the hell right out?” Newsom questioned.
California’s Proposition 47 was approved by voters in 2014 which reclassified some non-violent offenses which includes shoplifting and grand theft under $950 as misdemeanors versus being charged as felonies, according to Magnus Lofstrom, Policy Director for the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). While shoplifting in the blue state went up 29% from 2021 to 2022 which is 8% under pre-pandemic levels and 15% higher than it was the year Proposition 47 was passed, Lofstrom added.
“It is important not to limit analyses of retail theft to shoplifting, especially given that Proposition 47 (passed in November 2014) reclassified a number of property and drug offenses from felonies to misdemeanors,” economist Magnus Lofstrom said, according to the PPIC. “Under Prop 47, shoplifting is defined as theft below $950, a misdemeanor. Higher value retail theft that falls under second degree burglary (which can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony) can be captured in the crime data as commercial burglary.”
With PPIC data stating that commercial thefts have risen by 16% in California from 2019 to 2022, sitting 15% above rates from 2014, according to Lofstrom, retailers have begun to advocate for raising penalties for property crime. Due to the onslaught of crime, Target shut down three stores in California’s Bay Area, blaming “theft and organized retail crime” which allegedly threatened the “safety” of their teams and guests, according to a company press release.
California lawmakers have additionally requested support for a new bill, AB 1772, seeking to require jail time if a person were to be convicted of a third theft crime, according to ABC7. Depending on the particulars of the criminal act, penalties according to the bill would range between one and three years, the outlet reported.