Gavin Newsom handed UnitedHealth hundreds of millions in no-bid pandemic contracts after the company donated tens of thousands to his campaign.
Now he's running the same play with diapers.
What a government ethics watchdog just found in California's own contract database is the last thing Newsom needs with 2028 on the horizon.
Newsom No-Bid Diaper Contract Stamped NON-COMPETITIVELY BID by His Own Government
In May, Gavin Newsom announced California's "Golden State Start" program – 400 “free” diapers to every newborn at participating hospitals, paid for by taxpayers, and delivered through Baby2Baby, a nonprofit he called the product of a "competitive bidding process."
The announcement rolled out just before Mother's Day – a calculated PR move for a man already positioning for the 2028 presidential race.
California's official contract database labels the Baby2Baby deal "NON-COMPETITIVELY BID" – and caught him in the lie.
The contract is worth $6.2 million on paper, but the total program commitment runs closer to $20 million – and the state has no firm plan to cover the gap.
CBS California Investigates filed a public records request on May 12 asking for the executed contract, procurement documents, and bid scoring. The Newsom administration waited 24 days just to decide whether the public was allowed to see the records at all.
The records sat hidden for 66 days.
When they finally surfaced – hours after CBS published its investigation – they confirmed what critics suspected from day one.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom's Nonprofit Network Is at the Center of the Deal
Baby2Baby is not some random California nonprofit.
Co-CEO Norah Weinstein sits on the board of the California Partners Project – the nonprofit founded by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the governor's wife.
Co-CEO Kelly Sawyer Patricof is married to Hollywood producer Jamie Patricof, whose father Alan Patricof is a longtime Democrat mega-donor with deep ties to the Clinton fundraising network.
The state buried the no-bid exemption inside hundreds of pages of the budget – not through the normal process, which requires public justification and open posting in the Department of General Services database.
CBS California Investigates dug through the full 893-page 2026 Budget Act and found more than two dozen matching exemption clauses across seven state departments – contracts worth over $1 billion in appropriations, all shielded from independent oversight and public posting.
This is at least Baby2Baby's third no-bid state contract. California is never identified in the nonprofit's public tax filings.
Newsom's public announcement of the program is what triggered the scrutiny that exposed it.
Ethics Watchdog Demands Diapergate Audit as Newsom Stonewalls
Washington D.C.-based Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) has formally asked California State Auditor Grant Parks to investigate.
"Immediately after the contract was announced, there were public concerns over whether the contract was awarded in a fair and impartial manner and whether the state was overpaying for the diapers," FACT executive director Kendra Arnold wrote in her letter to Parks.
Arnold added that the Newsom administration "has been misleading about whether the contract was awarded in a competitive process and has mired the entire situation with a complete lack of transparency."
Meanwhile, California lawmakers are advancing legislation that would give state agencies even more time to respond to public records requests – the same law the Newsom administration used to stonewall CBS for two months.
Sacramento's answer to public records law is to hide the records until the scrutiny fades – then change the law so it takes even longer next time.
Newsom Ran the Same No-Bid Play During COVID and Collected Billions
During COVID, a CapRadio investigation found at least half a dozen companies that made substantial contributions to Newsom and received no-bid contracts from the state in return. UnitedHealth alone collected contracts worth hundreds of millions across multiple pandemic programs.
Blue Shield and McKinsey got the vaccine rollout. First-time vendors with no state track record collected hundreds of millions in mask and supply contracts – no competition required.
Baby2Baby fits the same mold at a fraction of the price.
Newsom runs California like a toll booth. His wife's network gets the contracts, and anyone who asks questions gets stonewalled until the story dies or the law changes.
The DOJ opened a separate investigation into Newsom and Jennifer Siebel Newsom in June 2026, focused specifically on her nonprofit organizations – including the California Partners Project, the same group whose board includes Baby2Baby co-CEO Norah Weinstein.
Federal prosecutors are examining behested payments Newsom solicited for his wife's nonprofits from special interests doing business with the state. The Baby2Baby contract fits squarely inside that investigation's scope.
Newsom has publicly called the Trump administration corrupt. His own contract database just stamped the word on his legacy.
Sources:
- CBS California Investigates, "Newsom's 'competitive bid' diaper deal wasn't. California's budget includes dozens of similar no-bid exemptions," CBS News, July 17, 2026.
- Jennifer Van Laar, "Shocker: Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Hide Contract and Bids for His Diaper Boondoggle," RedState, July 9, 2026.
- Jennifer Van Laar, "Surprise, Surprise: Company Handling Gavin Newsom's Diaper Boondoggle Has Link to First Partner Jennifer," RedState, May 9, 2026.
- Brianna Lyman, "Ethics Watchdog Urges State to Audit Newsom's Stinky Free Diaper Deal," Bizpac Review, July 14, 2026.
- Daily Wire Staff, "The Controversial Connection Between Newsom's 'Free Diapers' Plan and His Wife," The Daily Wire, May 10, 2026.
- Mary Rooke, "There's Something Smelly About Gavin Newsom's Free Diaper Giveaway," Daily Caller, May 11, 2026.
- CapRadio Investigative Team, "Investigation: Big Newsom Donors – Including Blue Shield – Received No-Bid Contracts During COVID-19 Response," CapRadio, February 16, 2021.
- Just The News Staff, "While Claiming to Fight Corruption, Newsom Solicited $340M from Special Interests for Allies," Just The News, June 16, 2026.
