Target Clerk Unwittingly Tells Newsom Retail Theft Is His Fault, Not Recognizing Governor

California Gov. Gavin Newsom got some unexpected feedback about the state’s shoplifting laws during a trip to Target.

The governor recounted the incident on a Zoom call about mental health that was recorded and shared Wednesday on X by Gabriel Lorenzo Greschler of The Mercury News. Newsom described his conversation with a clerk who saw a person walk out of the store with an item, noting the worker didn’t recognize the governor at first.

“As we’re checking out, the woman says, ‘Oh, he’s just walking out, he didn’t pay for that,’” the governor recalled. “I said, ‘Well why didn’t you stop him?’

“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 then referenced that, at $950, California has the 10th-lowest threshold nationally for prosecutors to charge alleged offenders with a felony, before expressing frustration about his own transaction total.

“It was, you know, $380 later, and I was like, ‘Why am I spending $380? Everyone can walk the hell right out,'” he said.

Target did not immediately respond to Newsom’s story, according to The Mercury News.

The anecdote comes after the governor earlier in January called for legislation to increase felony penalties and prison time for people involved in the sale of stolen goods and to ensure police can arrest retail theft suspects even if law enforcement doesn't witness a crime in progress.

A 2023 security study from the National Retail Federation found that Los Angeles was the city or metropolitan area most affected by organized retail crime nationwide in 2022. The San Francisco/Oakland area was second and Sacramento tied for seventh with Chicago.