The FBI was secretly listening last year when a high-ranking advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom unleashed a stream of profanities as she vented about a public records request from an unnamed individual. <\/p>\n
\u201cDouble f\u2014 her!\u201d said Dana Williamson, Newsom\u2019s chief of staff, repeating the F word throughout the conversation. She also called another person an \u201ca\u2014,\u201d according to federal court documents made public this week. <\/p>\n
Before Wednesday, few people outside of California\u2019s political bubble likely knew Williamson\u2019s name. <\/p>\n
Now she\u2019s engulfed in a scandal involving political consultants and illicit payments that threatens to haunt her former boss, Newsom, as he challenges President Trump and looks toward the 2028 presidential race. <\/p>\n
A smart and savvy negotiator who bridged Sacramento\u2019s overlapping worlds of government, business and labor, Williamson is also someone who picked unnecessary fights and launched cruel missives, political consultants and friends said this week.<\/p>\n
Federal agents arrested Williamson, 53, Wednesday at her home in Carmichael, a Sacramento suburb. Her lawyer, former U.S. Atty. McGregor Scott, was furious about how the arrest was handled, saying she was seriously ill and in need of a liver transplant. <\/p>\n
Federal prosecutors allege that she conspired to funnel money out of one of her onetime client\u2019s state campaign accounts for bogus services, and falsified documents related to her COVID loan. <\/p>\n
She also is accused of lying on her tax returns about luxury items and services, including a $150,000 birthday trip to Mexico, that she allegedly sought to pass off as business expenses, according to the government.<\/p>\n
Williamson, who pleaded not guilty to the charges this week, appeared in a courtroom in Sacramento. She appeared solemn during the hearing, at one point reportedly lifting her cuffed hand to wipe away a tear, and left without talking to reporters.<\/p>\n
Court documents filed this week paint an image of both a conniving player and a fragile individual. \u201cI\u2019m scared,\u201d she wrote in a February 2022 text message to a colleague as they discussed the alleged money-laundering scheme, which was allegedly in the early planning stages.<\/p>\n
Public affairs consultant Steven Maviglio has known her since the two worked in President Clinton\u2019s administration \u2014 and then later the administration of Gov. Gray Davis. He is now trying to put together a legal defense fund for her.<\/p>\n
He described Williamson as a \u201cno nonsense, no BS, get it done\u201d person who was \u201cstraight-talking, sometimes to the point of offensive to people.\u201d<\/p>\n
She regularly dropped f-bombs, he added.<\/p>\n
In another recording captured by the FBI, Williamson joined two colleagues last year in a restaurant near the state Capitol in Sacramento. The government was asking questions about money she received through her COVID loan. <\/p>\n
She complained about the \u201cf\u2014\u201d drama and said her Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan got \u201cpopped\u201d \u2014 before adding another swear word. According to federal officials, she created false contracts in an attempt to show the COVID money was appropriately used.<\/p>\n
There is little sympathy from her detractors. Gil Duran, the former press secretary to Gov. Jerry Brown, who worked alongside Williamson, likened her to a \u201cmafia boss\u201d in an interview with CNN. She also has numerous defenders in Sacramento, many of them women, who view her as a tough and inspiring figure.<\/p>\n
The details in the federal filings sent shock waves beyond Sacramento and the state Capitol this week. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m stunned about the allegation and find it hard to believe,\u201d said Alison Gaulden, who supervised Williamson when she worked as an associate vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte from 2002 to 2004. <\/p>\n
Gaulden described her as \u201cincredibly bright and well versed in policy. I\u2019ve admired how she grew in her career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williamson, who grew up in Santa Rosa, moved between the private and public sectors, and was employed by three governors, Davis, Jerry Brown and Newsom.<\/p>\n
At Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), she worked alongside two other women who would be remarkably influential in her life: Nancy McFadden, the late advisor to Brown and Alexis Podesta, a longtime California political insider who also appears in the federal court documents filed this week.<\/p>\n
Podesta is the person identified as \u201cCo-Conspirator 2,\u201d but has not been charged and is cooperating with investigators, according to her attorney. <\/p>\n
Williamson was hired as a senior advisor for Brown and was later promoted to Cabinet secretary.<\/p>\n
While working for Brown, Williamson publicly advocated for children\u2019s health, testifying in favor of legislation that would eliminate the state\u2019s personal-belief exemption for childhood vaccines. She said the issue was meaningful to her because she was a mother of four.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually, staff doesn\u2019t speak on bills, the great thing about the governor is that he respects that we are people first,\u201d Williamson told the San Francisco Chronicle. \u201cThis was important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Business advocates appreciated her direct approach when she worked for Brown. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe was very straightforward, she was a good person to work with,\u201d said Stuart Waldman, president of Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. He said he hadn\u2019t dealt with her in years. <\/p>\n
She flip-flopped between private and government work, drawing criticism from groups like Consumer Watchdog for her \u201crevolving door\u201d career. <\/p>\n
In one episode, she was allegedly seen negotiating for her energy clients in Brown\u2019s office as the state hammered out details over a grid deal, drawing outrage<\/a> from the watchdog group.<\/p>\n She started her own government relations firm, Grace Public Affairs, which handled an array of campaigns, including the online sports betting initiative Proposition 27, which appeared on the 2022 ballot, but failed to pass. <\/p>\n Her clients included California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, and former Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, whose campaign fund was allegedly raided by Williamson, and others.<\/p>\n By 2017, she had a close group of female friends, who had also risen to the top of their professions. But to those who weren\u2019t in her inner circle, she was all elbows, one political insider said this week.<\/p>\n At the California Democratic Party headquarters in downtown Sacramento, a bronze statue of Williamson\u2019s then-5-year-old daughter was installed as part of a campaign to promote female empowerment following Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 loss.<\/p>\n Those behind the statue included Williamson\u2019s friends Robin Swanson, a Democratic communications consultant, and Angie Tate, then a chief fundraiser for the California Democratic Party. <\/p>\n The installation was intended to mimic the \u201cFearless Girl\u201d statue at New York\u2019s Wall Street, which shows a 4-foot young woman looking defiantly at the famous charging bull statue.<\/p>\n In 2022, Newsom\u2019s office announced Williamson was joining his office as chief of staff. Though the two weren\u2019t particularly close when she joined, she quickly became part of his inner circle, Politico reported at the time.<\/p>\n Anthony York, Newsom\u2019s former communications director and a former L.A. Times reporter, told Politico at the time that Williamson was not intimidated by the governor\u2019s celebrity status. \u201cShe gives zero f\u2014s, which is part of what makes her so great,\u201d York said.<\/p>\n During her time in Newsom\u2019s office, she worked with former Senate leader Darrell Steinberg<\/a> on the successful passage of Proposition 1, which borrows billions of dollars for mental health services, and was a personal issue for her family.<\/p>\n