Walgreens CEO Brewer Hired Gov. Newsom's Former Chief of Staff to Negotiate Abortion Pills Fight

Politico did what good journalists do on an important story. They dug deeply and late Monday, Christopher Cadelago sprung a humdinger of a piece of news about events surrounding California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ire at and staff negotiations with Walgreens over their front of the pack capitulation to the demands of red state AGs around the distribution of abortion pills.

Now the governor may be a forgiving kind of guy, but the first thought that went through my mind reading the post was “that’s one hell of a bridge to burn”, especially as the darling not only of Governor Newsom but also as a senior policy adviser to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Meet Ann O’Leary, Former Chief of Staff to Gavin Newsom

I speak of the lawyer on the phone with Newsom’s inner circle staff, as a lead representative for Walgreens: Ann O’Leary, the governor’s first chief of staff and now a partner in the law firm Jenner & Block.

When Walgreen’s — including CEO Roz Brewer herself —realized that Newsom was deadly serious about his lack of respect for Walgreens in their Little Goody Two Shoes dealings with red state AGs, they knew backup was required.

Admittedly, I don’t understand for one moment how Walgreens CEO Rosalind Brewer’s mind works, but she had two choices. 1) One was the route she took — a corner office powerplay with a man in charge of his state’s fourth largest economy in the world. 2) She could have retained O’Leary as her behind-the-scenes, one-on-one private adviser.

Brewer Needs to Take Charge

I would have taken this route, at least on the short-term. I would have done the negotiating after O’Leary prepped me and practiced with me all night if necessary. She would have corrected me and critiqued me. “Don’t do that. The governor hates that approach.”

She would have been in my office writing notes during the convos. If the call was video, O’Leary would have been sitting on the floor next to me but out of sight. Under all circumstances, she would have remained my private adviser, not the person in the cockpit.

Brewer may be a Fortune #18 honcho but she also pays her people $7.25 an hour wherever possible and multiple stores are having to stop selling food due to rodent infestation. Walgreens is not Starbucks in the prestige department.

Brewer was not going into this meeting with the governor strong from the start. But she made it a lot worse for herself. Was she afraid Newsom would outmaneuver her? Probably.

No one was willing to go on the record with Politico, but three top advisers to the governor “were alarmed to learn that O’Leary, a national authority on expanding abortion access, was trying to convince them to soften their approach on behalf of Walgreens.”

Newsom eventually spoke with Walgreens chief executive Rosalind Brewer about the situation and was disappointed not only in the pharmacy company’s vague response to his concerns, but also the fact they came mostly from O’Leary.

“It didn’t sit particularly well with the governor that he had a former top aide of his administration now trying to push back on the policy he’s making,” said one of the people briefed on the calls.

Walgreens Strategy Is “Fire, Ready, Aim”

I am shaking my head that this Walgreens strategy continues to be “fire, ready, aim” on such a critical policy issue that has massive impact on the lives of American women and their families, including husbands and partners. And why would you take an ace in the hole like Ann O’Leary and “fire” without a clear expectation of winning?

A smart mid-level manager could have advised her “Ma’am, you are really going to piss off the governor bad . . . real bad, with this move.”

And why didn’t O’Leary tell Brewer that this might not be the best way to go in seeking a happy place with the state of California? Because now we’re all even more pissed off and unimpressed with Walgreens and Ann O’Leary might as well become a Republican.

Update 3/14/23: As AOC commented at midnight, O’Leary has her own headaches. The top of Google headline from Fox News is Former chief of staff to Gavin Newsom siding with Walgreens in abortion fight amid rising tensions.

Oh great!O’Leary is on Breitbart now! Hillary Clinton will love that her former chief adviser is a darling in the Breitbart crowd.

Politico writes that people are so shocked over the Brewer-O’Leary alliance, they don’t know what to say. But everyone agrees that O’Leary is one of the most competent tacticians on navigating abortion laws in America.

Walgreens Sounds Like Trump With Their Whining

This entire Walgreens situation is becoming a soap opera. And the stakes are crucially high for all parties — including all women of childbearing age in America. Is that enough pressure Walgreens?

How about stop playing the victim — it’s so MAGA and you are constantly quoted in the press as being the misunderstood victim, unfairly treated. Get some backbone and some real strategy, while you’re at it. Because this is not going well at all.

I heard CEO Brewer giving a talk about how she always has to handle every situation 10x as good as a man. She might want to lighten up on that assertion, given the massive mess we are looking at here. ~ Anne