Ed and I discussed last Friday in the VIP section’s Week In Review the choice facing California Governor Gavin Newsom with the passing of longtime Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Conventional wisdom was that he would either pick one of the primary candidates for 2024 – Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Congresswoman Katie ‘Batgirl’ Porter, or Congressman Adam Schiff. Each pick is fraught with all kinds of political headaches for Newsom, so there was another choice that we discussed – nominating himself.

After signing the highest minimum wage bill in the world into law on Friday, guaranteeing that entry level food service workers and other selected low-wage jobs get $20 dollars an hour to start, it was hard to see what Newsom would want to do next, being that California might be a tad on the expensive side once this latest inflationary move filters through the Golden State and into your $25 combo meal. He might want to nationalize his profile even more by fleeing the state before suffering from the repercussions of his actions and become a senator, giving him a potential backdrop from which to launch a presidential campaign, were one necessary to be launched.

But alas, that’s not happening, either. According to a scoop from Politico, Newsom will apparently appoint Emily’s List President Laphonza Butler to represent California, or at least the Californians that actually make it to birth.

This is a stunning pick for a lot of reasons. First, Emily’s List has one job, and one job only – raise money and spend it on Democratic candidates that support abortion on demand with no restrictions. That’s what they do. It would be like the governor of Texas appointing the head of the American Petroleum Institute to be the senator of the Lone Star State. The outrage over a pick like that would be off the charts.

There’s another reason why this is such an egregious choice by Newsom. Senator-designee Butler doesn’t live in California. She’s a Marylander. I’m sure she’s probably neighbors with Matt Rosendale, who is thinking about running for Senate in Montana.

Check out the location of the newest senator from California. pic.twitter.com/dg1bQvm8z0

— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) October 2, 2023

Her Twitter/X bio showed her living in Maryland as of Sunday when the Politico story broke. It now has no location listed.

Emily’s List, of which she was president until this evening, showed her living in Maryland with her partner and daughter. Matthew Foldi of the Spectator caught it before it got scrubbed Sunday night.

🚨 Emily’s List literally says that new #CASEN Laphonza Butler LIVES IN MARYLANDhttps://t.co/6njWwlFuqI https://t.co/tQETeB0AW4 pic.twitter.com/o3qdW5Ml2U

— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) October 2, 2023

The site now just says where she went to college. Any statement of her status or residence has been deleted from the site.

But that’s not all. She is registered to vote, at least until Sunday night, in her residence state of Maryland. Again, Foldi with the screen capture while the Newsom/Butler camp continues to erase the controversy from existence.

California’s newest Senator Laphonza Butler literally lives in Maryland and registered to vote here LAST YEAR https://t.co/0Ps00L3Nuq pic.twitter.com/YImmk48n5y

— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) October 2, 2023

Her most recent actual residence, at least as of 31 days ago? Silver Spring, Maryland.

FEC filings from EMILY's List record Laphonza Butler's residence as Silver Springs, Maryland as recently as 31 days ago. https://t.co/FjZkJ9Ugf0 pic.twitter.com/2FzA8MVqfU

— Rob Pyers (@rpyers) October 2, 2023

Is it legal? Sure. We don’t have a border to our south anymore, so I guess it would be silly to expect that we have borders for little things like states and who represents them. But just know that when someone is a carpetbagger, they at least theoretically move to that state and run a campaign for that office. Hillary Clinton at least bought a house in Chappaqua that was equipped with enough internet and electricity to run an illegal mail server to handle her secretary of State communications outside of federal law. Ms. Butler? She doesn’t live here. Neither does her partner, nor her daughter. The only ties she has to this state are financial ones to the political ruling class.

There are something like 39 million people living in California, though that number seems to be falling steadily as of late, for some strange reason. 39 million. None of them worthy enough to be appointed senator by the governor here. Instead, we will apparently have our interests handled by, checks notes again for accuracy, Maryland’s Laphonza Butler. I’m sure she’ll represent California just fine, though…from 2,645 miles away.