Advertisement
California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom went out of his way Tuesday to defend Prince Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation amid a scandal over the late payment of a $200 filing fee, something that officials say is resolved. Newsom, considered by many to be a shining light in American liberal politics, was speaking at an event in the crime ridden Bay Area promoting a $3.3 billion investment in mental health treatment. But the governor made the unusual decision to go off-script to stand up for the pair after the recent row over the Archewell Foundation calling the charity’s work ‘extraordinary.’
‘I just want folks to know that not only are they in compliance, it was a technical paperwork issue that was wildly overhyped,’ he said. MailOnline earlier reported that the foundation fell into delinquency in the state of California, where it was registered in 2021, over the failure to pay a filing fee. It was later alleged that the check was lost in the mail. However, new records show that the payment was delivered on schedule but was not processed. The reason for this is unclear.
As of Tuesday, the foundation is in ‘good standing’ by the state of California, the attorney general’s office said Tuesday. ‘We have diligently investigated the situation and can confirm that The Archewell Foundation remains fully compliant and in good standing,’ a statement from the charity read. Due payments were made promptly and in accordance with the IRS’s processes and procedures. Furthermore, all necessary paperwork had been filed by the Foundation without error or wrongdoing.’
The governor was supposed to be promoting his new initiative to tackle the mental health crisis in California. Those comments were followed up with a swipe at the media who covered the scandal. ‘With respect, I hope people that ran those headlines, run this headline.’ Many California-residents were outraged with Newsom taking the time the defend the Beverly Hills-charity. ‘Disappointing that as governor, he is wasting his time being a spokesperson for them and highlighting that they have done great work. What great work is that? On the other hand, he didn’t use her title,’ wrote one X user.
‘Someone offered a donation,’ joked another person. ‘He pushes his own administration under the bus while he could just have said “no comment,”‘ noted another person. ‘See how the Democrats protect the “elites,”‘ another pondered adding that Harry and Meghan ‘were clearly upset enough to go to the governor to ask him to defend them.’ ‘I hope the people of California call him out for favoring two ex-Royals who do nothing. Are all his citizens given press conferences like these two?,’ asked another X user.
The X account, Royal News Network, also took aim at Newsom saying that his excuse for the apparent error was that ‘the State of California is wildly inefficient at processing forms and payments, as this kind of thing happens “all the time.'” ‘He also talked about Archewell as a “celebrated” organization, which it is not, and how much great work it does around women, girls and especially mental health, for which scant evidence exists,’ the comments continued. ‘His attempts to shame the news media is pretty pathetic as well since the damage has already been done and no one really cares at this point about the resolution.’
Even Newsom fans were not impressed. ‘I like Newsom and have no idea why he’s going to bat for the Harkles,’ said one person. The former royal couple recently returned from a visit to Nigeria which the Duchess of Sussex described as ‘humbling.’ ‘Never in a million years would I understand it as much as I do now. And what has been echoed so much in the past day is, ‘Oh, we are not so surprised when we found out you are Nigerian,” she said at the event on women in leadership ‘It is a compliment to you because what they define as a Nigerian woman is brave, resilient, courageous, beautiful.’
When the couple stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and moved to the Golden State, they were treated to a secret ‘introductory meeting’ with the governor. The virtual hour-long meeting with the Democratic governor back on October 19, according to a memo obtained by The Sun. It is not clear what was discussed in the meeting with Newsom’s office telling the outlet it does not comment on ‘the content of meetings between the Governor and private parties or his staff.’ At the time, the presidential election was just two weeks away and Newsom was facing mounting calls to line up a woman of color to replace then-California Senator Kamala Harris if she was elected vice president.
Meghan and Harry stood down as senior Royals effective March 2020 but part of their agreement with Buckingham Palace was that ‘everything they do will uphold the values of Her Majesty.’ Hammered by mounting pressure, Newsom announced Tuesday his administration will make $3.3 billion available ahead of schedule for counties and private developers to start building more behavioral health treatment centers as part of his efforts to fund housing and drug use programs. It’s the first pot of money from a ballot measure designed to help cities, counties, tribes and developers build or renovate treatment centers and clinics, among other things.
Voters passed it by a razor-thin margin in March after Newsom threw all of his political weight behind it, touting it as linchpin of the state’s efforts to reduce homelessness. It authorizes the state to borrow nearly $6.4 billion to build 4,350 housing units and require counties to spend two-thirds of the money from a tax on millionaires on housing and programs for homeless people with serious mental illnesses or substance abuse problems. Applications for the money will open in July.
Want more stories like this from the Daily Mail? Hit the follow button above for more of the news you need.
