California’s retail theft problem got personal for Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday when he shared a story about confronting a Target store clerk who didn’t stop a man from taking merchandise without paying. Turns out the clerk — who didn’t recognize Newsom at first — blamed her hands-off stance on the governor as he stood unbeknownst to her in her check-out line.
Newsom this month announced a host of new law enforcement measures to crack down on a growing retail theft problem that stops short of changes to Proposition 47, the 2014 criminal justice reform measure that lowers penalties for drug and property crimes. Critics have blamed Prop 47 and other such measures for a rash in retail thefts.
Newsom shared the off-the-cuff story in the moments before the start of a Zoom meeting about a mental health bond measure he’s supporting. Video of Newsom’s story had been viewed hundreds of thousands of times by mid-afternoon.
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
The governor said he was shopping at a Target store — he didn’t say where — and waiting in line with his shopping cart when he witnessed another shopper walk right out without bothering to pay.
“As we’re checking out, the woman says, ‘Oh he’s just walking out, he didn’t pay for that,’ I said, ‘Why didn’t you stop him?’” Newsom said in the video. “She goes, ‘Oh, the governor.’ Swear to God, true story, on my mom’s grave. ‘The governor lowered the threshold, there’s no accountability.’ I said, ‘That’s just not true.’”
Newsom said he explained to the clerk that while Prop 47 raised the threshold at which property theft becomes a felony to $950, that amount remains lower than it is in all but nine other states.
“By the way, it’s the 10th toughest in America. Look it up,” Newsom said. “No one gives a damn about that.”
But he said that the clerk was unmoved.
“She said, ‘Well, we still don’t stop them because of the governor,’” Newsom said. Only then did she recognize her customer. “And then she goes — she looks at me twice and then she freaks out — she calls everyone over, wants to take photos.”
But the governor wasn’t feeling the love.
“I’m like, ‘No, we’re not taking a photo, we’re having a conversation,’” Newsom said. “‘Where’s your manager? How are you blaming the governor?’ And it was $380 later, and I was like, ‘Why am I spending $380, everyone can walk the hell right out?’ “
Target had no immediate response Wednesday.
The apparent rise in retail theft has been difficult to quantify. Retailers complain that they feel helpless to report the crimes because police aren’t eager to respond to misdemeanor-level thefts, and store staff don’t want to endanger themselves confronting criminals. Many retail companies instruct their staff to not try to stop the thieves over worries about safety. Law enforcement officials acknowledge low-level thefts aren’t a top priority but say they can’t respond if no one makes a report.
The state’s Little Hoover Commission, a state watchdog agency, has been taking testimony about the state’s retail theft problem.
Newsom’s office had nothing more to add about his personal story Wednesday and would not say when or where the encounter occurred. But his office said last year the governor announced the largest-ever investment to combat organized retail crime in the state’s history, a 310% annual increase in spending on operations targeting organized retail crime.
Newsom has defended his support of Prop 47, arguing that the state’s raised threshold for felony theft is lower than the $2,500 threshold in Texas. His office also pointed to a CapitalOne report out last month that said retail theft in California is 17% lower than the average among states. But the report noted that the cities most affected by organized retail theft in the U.S. are Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland, while Sacramento is tied for eighth with Chicago.
Prop. 47 critics said the clerk was right to blame the governor.
Jessica Millan Patterson, chairwoman of the California Republican Party, gave a “shoutout to this store clerk who told the governor to his face that he and his pro-criminal policies are to blame for surging crime in California.”
“Criminals don’t fear consequences for their actions,” Patterson said, “and faced with that reality when visiting Target, Newsom chose to lash out at a store clerk for not stopping retail theft instead of taking accountability for his own failures.”
