San Diego Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, then-Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Made Bank Off Pandemic Stock Trades, Purchased $400K Vacation Home – Opinion

The morally fluid and corrupted pair Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, former Democrat Assemblywoman and current California Labor Federation Evil Harridan, and San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher are under more intense scrutiny, and it’s long overdue.

Conflict Watch, an arm of The Transparency Foundation that monitors conflict, responded to a San Diego County resident’s complaint. Whaddaya know? These guys actually make it pay.

Conflict Watch received in 2021 a complaint by a San Diego County resident alleging that Nathan Fletcher had profited financially from Covid-19 policies.

The Transparency Foundation’s Conflict Watch initiated an investigation in late 2021 to examine the allegations against Fletcher, which included filing a demand for records from Fletcher’s county supervisorial office in November 2021. Fletcher refused to cooperate with us under the California Public Records Act. We retained legal counsel in order to pursue the matter.

Notwithstanding Fletcher’s illegal refusal to cooperate with the investigation, we have been able to utilize records already in the public domain to determine one potential conflict of interest by Nathan Fletcher on this matter.

Based on a simple review of news coverage, Board meeting minutes, and press materials distributed by Fletcher’s office, we determined that Nathan Fletcher backed some of the most extreme views and policies on Covid-19 lockdowns in the country.

That’s putting it mildly. Next to Governor Hair Gel, Fletcher put the “Idiot” in CoVIdiot. Fletcher and Gonzalez Fletcher both insist that lockdowns must be implemented since the mid-2020s when San Diegans began pushing back against closures of small businesses.

Fletcher took to Twitter to complain that San Diego police had allowed protestors to break the ban on public gatherings. Sheriffs had previously issued citations for protesters who left their vehicles. His complaint was echoed by his wife, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher, who on April 23 tweeted, “The push to ignore stay-at-home orders are a minority. And a death wish.” On May 3 she complained about supervisor Kristin Gaspar going on “a right wing radio station” and “calling [her husband] a dictator.”

The COVID-19 information crisis is a matter of public health.

— Nathan Fletcher (@nathanfletcher) August 30, 2021

Fletcher promoted substantial limits on freedoms, broad lockdowns of large swathes of the economy and harsh condemnations for violators Covid restrictions in his county. Fletcher used San Diego County’s policy decisions as a platform to support a national narrative that favors more restrictive Covid-19 policies.

Despite Governor Newsom’s shift on the indoor mask mandates in California, and increased easing of restrictions across the state, the people of San Diego are looking to rid themselves of Nathan Fletcher, and The Transparency Foundation findings may well help that along.

Supervisor is being defeated by the PAC ‘Fed Up With Fletcher. @NathanFletcherIn the 2022 elections.

Many Democrats were present at the meeting. Some even voted in Fletcher for 2018, however, they are angry with Fletcher’s COVID-19 leadership.

More info: https://t.co/2fe44Y4QIN pic.twitter.com/2BGRKtHhUl

— KUSI News (@KUSINews) November 18, 2021

California law stipulates that all elected officials and employees of the public who have an influence on government decision-making must submit every year a Form 700 Statement to Economic Interest. It details their personal financial information, stock and real estate holdings, as well as income.

The Transparency Foundation obtained a copy of Fletcher’s Form 700 from 2020, which details Fletcher’s investment in multiple stocks in March and April 2020 — at the beginning of the pandemic.

Our investigation has uncovered evidence that Fletcher seems to have engaged in suspicious stock trades during the early period of the pandemic in companies that would benefit from Covid-19 lockdowns — and then aggressively supported such lockdowns as a matter of public policy.

Fletcher is a good soldier for the Newsom and Biden administrations, massaging the lie of “Pandemic of the unvaccinated,” and pushing vaccines and masking of children as righteously as he pushed the lockdowns.

In San Diego, 99% of COVID cases/hospitalizations/deaths are now from the unvaccinated.
The solution is simple—trust your doctor—get a vaccine. https://t.co/pe9Vw8nD8Y

— Nathan Fletcher (@nathanfletcher) July 23, 2021

We are not only a CoVIdiot but also have access to another world. What is the point?. The COVID lockdowns saw the Fletchers reap handsome profits from stock investments. The Transparency Project reported that in the early days of the pandemic, Nathan and Lorena had invested $32,000 to $160,000 in stocks of companies that might be affected by the pandemic. These included Zoom, CVS Health, Chemed, Apple, Cisco, Ball Corporation, Hormel, and LHC Group, Inc. LHC Group, however, was not cashed in until a few months later.

Zoom:Teleconferencing services that benefit from remote working.

Fletcher bought the stock for $113.63 in 4/6/2020. This stock was purchased by Fletcher on 4/6/2020 for $113.63. 97% profit.

CVS Health: a health products retailer and Covid test provider that benefited from increased health product purchases.

Fletcher bought the stock at $56.80, 3/19/2020 For $87.06, this stock was sold on the 6/3/2020. 53% profit.

LHC Group, Inc. a hospice and home healthcare company that benefited from an increased need for at-home healthcare solutions.

Fletcher bought the stock On 3/19/202020, at $113.91 For a possible sale, not yet sold. Profitable 20%.

Chemed: a health center that benefited from increased reliance on health solutions and providers.

Fletcher purchased this stock at $360.50 on the 3/19/2020. This stock was purchased by Fletcher on 3/19/2020 for $360.50. 42% Profit.

Apple: a technology and computer company that benefited from an increased need for reliable at-home personal computers.

Fletcher purchased this stock for $62.72 on 4/6/2020 This stock was purchased by Fletcher on 4/6/2020 for $62.72. 30% profit.

Hormel: a packaged food company that benefited from increased purchases of nonperishables.

Fletcher purchased this stock for $48.68 on 4/6/2020 This stock was purchased by Fletcher at 4/6/2020 $48.68. 2% loss. 

Cisco: a telecommunications and networking technology company that benefited from increased online and digital reliance.

Fletcher purchased this stock at $40.46 on 4/6/2020. For $46.94, this stock was sold on the 6/3/2020 Profit: 16%.

Ball Corp. an aerospace company specializing in packaging and storage solutions that benefited from increased time-spend at home and reliance on packaged foods.

Stock was purchased on 4/6/2020 for $64.10. Purchased stock on 4/6/2020 for $64.10. 15% Profit.

Fletcher served as a subcommittee member on COVID-19 of the Board in 2020. He received private briefings daily from San Diego County employees about the progress of the pandemic and what corporate involvement was involved. We have to ask:

How did Nathan Fletcher find out this information? Fletcher had access to information that would have helped him to trade stock stocks.?

Based on the numbers provided by The Transparency Foundation and the Fletchers’ Form 700 information, it appears that the couple made between $10,000 and $50,000 in profit from their short-term investment.

But, public officials would need to know where they could get the cash needed for investment. Fletcher’s District 4 Board of Supervisors salary in 2020 was $205,471. Gonzalez Fletcher was at that time the District 80 Assemblywoman and earned $114.237.11 in 2020 plus $18,907.80 benefits.

Gonzalez Fletcher, who was the Assembly member she resigned in January 2022 to become the next candidate for Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the California Labor Federation. She is now the head of the largest labor union in California. This same organization partnered with Gonzalez-Fletcher to ensure AB5 was made law, so the relationship is more than a partnership, it’s downright incestuous.

POLITICO published an article in November 2021 that revealed Gonzalez Fletcher was trying to negotiate her way into the position, even though she held her Assembly seat.

Questionable ethics, much?

California Labor Federation officials cast an unbinding vote for Gonzalez Fletcher to be their next leader. This was despite Art Pulaski, the former Executive Secretary-Treasurer of California Labor Federation, not having reached the end his term nor giving any indications that he would be stepping down.

Gonzalez Fletcher pretended to be Surprised—shockedPOLITICO reported such an incident and immediately took the matter to her twitter account. Here she indulges in her worst gaslighting.

I’m not interested in receiving text messages. I have not been offered a job. It’s also what I learned in Politico.

— Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (@LorenaSGonzalez) November 24, 2021

Soon after the POLITICO article broke, RedState reported that Reform California filed an ethics complaint with the  California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) about Gonzalez-Fletcher’s questionable negotiations with the California Labor Federation.

All of these companies directly benefited from Fletcher’s lockdown policies. Fletcher also announced that San Diego County’s lockdowns would be lifted days later, after he had sold his stock position in several of these companies. Did Fletcher’s personal financial positions influence his decision making regarding lockdowns? 

RedState launched off The Transparency Foundation’s investigation and uncovered that soon after the sale of these stocks, Fletcher and Gonzalez-Fletcher made a major purchase – a vacation home in Big Bear, a mountain community in Southern California.

They put down $79,000 to finance the transaction which was completed on August 25, 2020. According to mortgage papers, the loan amount was $316,000 and the public record shows the purchase price of $395,000. (Editor’s Note: We are not revealing the address of the cabin for privacy purposes.)

Both Fletchers routinely post photos from weekends and holidays at the cabin, a 2.5-hour drive from Gonzalez Fletcher’s poverty-stricken Assembly district (the second poorest in the state) on Instagram.

Were you able to find the source of that amount of money, please?

In the next part of this exclusive, we’ll delve deeper into the potential sources.