Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed his former spokesman, Nathan Ballard, to a seat on California’s State Historical Resources Commission, five years after Ballard pleaded no contest to domestic violence and child endangerment charges.
Ballard, appointed Friday, served as Newsom’s mayoral communications director in San Francisco from 2007 to 2010. He was charged with multiple crimes following a 2020 incident during a family trip to Napa, in which he was accused of shoving his wife’s head into a glass door and holding a pillow over his four-year-old daughter.
He pleaded no contest in 2021 to misdemeanor child endangerment and corporal injury to an intimate partner, and was sentenced to four years of probation. Ballard has maintained his innocence, saying he accepted the plea to avoid having his daughter testify against her mother, and has accused his ex-wife of lying.
A spokesperson for Newsom’s office, Tara Gallegos, defended the appointment.
“The governor considers the experience, qualifications, and suitability for each post in making appointments,” Gallegos said. “He believes that abuse of any individual is unacceptable, and that those who commit such conduct should face accountability. He also believes in second chances.”
Ballard said he was “grateful” for the appointment and did not dispute that it would draw criticism.
“During my years in the political arena, I often made the most of an opponent’s worst moment, so I can hardly ask anyone to overlook mine,” Ballard said.
He said he has remained sober since 2020 and completed his four years of supervised probation in 2025 “with zero violations.” Before his prosecution, his clients included the Golden State Warriors and San Francisco’s police union.
“I fully accept the consequences of my mistakes. I was arrested once in my life, in 2020, at age 51,” Ballard said. “Since then, I have worked hard to move forward with optimism and lead a productive and meaningful life that my children can be proud of.”
Ballard, who has known Newsom for about 30 years, said he has spent the last six years working with correctional officers on implementing the governor’s rehabilitation-focused corrections policies.
The appointment came a day after Newsom named former San Francisco Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier — one of dozens of people who wrote letters defending Ballard during his criminal case — to the California Citizens Compensation Commission, which sets salaries for elected officials. Neither appointment requires Senate confirmation. Ballard’s new post pays $100 per day of service.
In an interview with the San Francisco Standard, Ballard said he applied for the commission seat within the past month and did not know Alioto-Pier was also seeking an appointment. He said the two never discussed applying together and that he had no idea whether anyone had recommended him to the governor’s office.
During his 2021 prosecution, Ballard solicited at least 45 letters of support from political figures, including former San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr and former acting Mayor Mark Farrell, who wrote on stationery identifying himself as the city’s 44th mayor and called Ballard a friend who “values family above all else.” That letter became a flashpoint during Farrell’s unsuccessful 2024 mayoral run.
Alioto-Pier’s support for Ballard also drew backlash in 2024, prompting her to resign from a local Democratic Party committee focused on sexual assault allegations. She later told the Standard she would not have written the letter in hindsight.
Chelsey Frank, co-president of the San Francisco Women’s Political Committee, criticized both appointments.
“We can’t treat these appointments as oversights,” Frank told the San Francisco Standard. “The state commission seats are public honors, and handing these leadership positions to people with this type of record really tells survivors that proximity to power outweighs accountability.”
Ballard’s commission term runs through June 2030. The body reviews nominations to the state’s historic register and preservation standards.
“Every single issue before the commission, and everyone it affects, deserves a fair hearing before commissioners who keep an open mind and decide each matter on the record and the law alone,” Ballard said. “That’s what I aim to do.”
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