Ex-aide to California governor indicted for alleged theft of campaign funds from ex-health secretary

AP ^ | 12 Nov 2025 | TRÂN NGUYỄN and JAIMIE DING

[blueplum]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A former top aide to California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been indicted on federal charges alleging her involvement in a scheme to steal campaign money from former federal Health Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Dana Williamson was arrested and appeared in court Wednesday in Sacramento. She pleaded not guilty to all charges, and a judge ordered her released from custody.

The federal indictment lists four other co-conspirators. It alleges that Williamson developed a plan with Sean McCluskie, a longtime Becerra aide, to siphon money from one of Becerra’s dormant state campaign accounts to give to McCluskie to pad his salary after he accepted a job as his chief of staff in Washington....

Williamson faces 23 charges including some involving the falsification of business contracts related to Paycheck Protection Program loans ... so she would be eligible for the loans and loan forgiveness.

The indictment accuses Williamson of filing fraudulent tax forms for her business from 2021 to 2023 claiming more than $1 million in business deductions for personal expenses, including luxury handbags and jewelry; private jet travel; vacations in Mexico; installation of a home HVAC system; and several hundred thousand dollars paid to various relatives for fake jobs....

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: becerra; danawilliamson; gregcampbell; newsom; ppp; pppfraud; seanmccluskie

[blueplum]

1. What failsafes are or should be in place so politicians can police their staff? Submit tax returns annually to their political employer, maybe? Or bar them from owning private companies while employed as state political employees? How about annual lie detector exams?
2. Why do politicians have one or more 'dormant' campaign accounts and what can be done about them?
3. What was Williamson's income stream that she could claim over $1 million in tax deductions?

[ronnie raygun]

Blue state corruption is beyond the pale