“Sounds like a win to me. Is it?”
A win would have been a small jail term such as 30 days, a personal fine say $10,000, and an agreement not to run for public office again for the next 10 years. Seems fair.
I agree with you that Newsome knew what he was doing, that it was contrary to court rulings, and he then did it anyway.
For you or me that would have probably landed us in some kind of personal trouble.