Gavin Newsom wants to be president so badly that it is painful to watch. His struggles — and his desperation — flow in part from his many failures as California’s governor. But his biggest challenge could be growing revelations of welfare fraud in his state.

Bogus hospice operations, stolen unemployment insurance, student aid scams, missing housing funds and a host of other lapses have reportedly cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, bringing federal investigations and embarrassing oversight to the Golden State.

Newsom’s administration has responded by ramping up its own policing of the state’s welfare programs. In recent days, state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced he was bringing charges against 14 hospice companies that had billed Medi-Cal and Medicaid for $267 million in nonexistent services.

But that only happened after podcaster Nick Shirley and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz posted incriminating videos about the blatant fraud in his state. In one such video, Oz narrated a drive through the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles, saying, “In this four block area of Los Angeles there are 42 hospices. … So either there are a lot of people dying here, or you got a fraudulent activity that is so good that everyone wants to get in on it.”

Fraud is not California’s only issue, to be sure. Newsom has overseen one financial disaster after another.

Topping the list is the much-touted $126 billion high-speed rail project that is almost 20 years late and nearly 400 percent over-budget. Meanwhile, the rebuilding of fire-ravaged neighborhoods in Los Angeles cannot seem to move forward thanks to unreasonable regulations and permitting requirements. The state’s recurring budget deficits drive taxes higher. Regulatory overreach and unreasonable climate policies make California one of the most expensive places in the country to live — not ideal if you and your party are running on “affordability” promises.

All of this has been pushing businesses and residents to flee the state, as a million have done on net since Newsom took office.

Newsom’s ham-fisted efforts to broaden his appeal to a national audience have also landed him in hot water. A year ago, trying to soften his left-coastal liberalism, the governor tiptoed into the debate about transgender athletes competing in women’s sports. He told the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk that biological men competing against girls was “deeply unfair,” a position shared by a solid majority of Americans but starkly at odds with his woke brethren. Newsom, a longtime advocate for gay and transgender rights, received scathing rebukes from activists, who saw this mainstream view as a betrayal.

Newsom also faced criticism for claiming in his memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry,” that he grew up poor. He told a podcaster, “I was out there kind of raising myself. … I was sitting there with the Wonder bread [and] macaroni and cheese.”  Critics slammed the governor’s tale as a “poor-igin story,” the kind privileged candidates invent to seem more relatable. In reality, his father was a judge and lawyer who worked as “consigliere” for the wealthy Getty family, which sponsored the aspiring politician.

But nothing was more cringeworthy than Newsom’s recent attempt to improve his standing with Black voters at a recent event in Georgia. The governor told Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, “I’m not trying to impress you. I’m just trying to impress upon you I’m like you. I’m no better than you. I’m a 960 SAT guy.” He also revealed that he suffers from dyslexia, which prevents him from reading speeches — a claim met with considerable skepticism.

Opponents pounced, including Trump supporter Niki Minaj, who posted on X: “His way of bonding with Black ppl is to tell them how stupid he is and that he can’t read. This means my first read on him was correct. He’s been handed so many things and put in high positions he never earned or deserved.” Ouch.

These many missteps have not knocked Newsom out of contention. Betting websites put him ahead of the pack of 2028 Democratic presidential candidates by a substantial margin; most voter polls show him in second place, trailing former only Vice President Kamala Harris, whose name recognition is significantly better than his.

But Newsom’s chances could shrivel as accusations of corruption undermining the Golden State grow. A recent article in City Journal claims that the state has lost “at least $180 billion” due to “massive, systematic, brazen fraud” since Newsom took office seven years ago.

Some of the scams mirror those in other states which, like California, dispensed enormous amounts of money in the wake of the pandemic. In Newsom’s state, the authorities facilitated the quick disbursement of unemployment insurance funds by relaxing longstanding oversight measures, almost guaranteeing theft. The state may have paid $1 billion in COVID-era unemployment insurance funds to state prison inmates or scammers using their names.

And the siphoning of funds was not limited to Californians; foreigners also helped themselves, including a Romanian-led fraud ring that orchestrated a $5 million scam.

The thievery, especially of the unemployment insurance, was so widespread that rappers created songs with lines like “You gotta sell cocaine, I just file a claim.” It’s hard to imagine the authorities didn’t have any idea what was afoot.

It wasn’t just unemployment insurance scams, either. City Journal noted that spending on Medi-Cal has risen during Newsom’s term from $94 billion the year before he took office to $197 billion, even as California’s population has declined. And the same magazine also identified one possible reason for this: The program is paying for transgender surgeries for homeless illegal immigrants.

A recent poll conducted in California’s Orange County may indicate a shift in sentiment against the once-popular governor. It shows Newsom’s approval in a purple district at only 38 percent, with 55 percent disapproving — only 1 point better than President Trump’s standing.

Newsom may be in a hurry to become president, but his record as governor will at least be a giant speedbump slowing him down.

Liz Peek is a former partner of major bracket Wall Street firm Wertheim and Company.

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