In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order calling for the creation of a Master Plan for Aging. The plan was issued last year but the daughter of an elderly woman who is under the thumb of a court-appointed guardianship wants him to address existing conservator issues allegedly plaguing senior citizens and people with mental challenges like celebrities Britney Spears, Wendy Williams, and Amanda Bynes.
“I would like to see him stop everything until he fixes the system and stops running a presidential campaign like it's going to help somebody,” alleges Cecelia Towner who lives with her mother in the Crenshaw area of Los Angeles. “What are you doing about the corruption in probate court? What are you doing about the conservator doing nothing except gaining access to people’s money?”
The California Department of Aging did not reply to requests for comment.
Although her 79-year-old mother, Marian Hazel Towner, has a conservator of the person and estate who was appointed by a judge at the Stanly Mosk Courthouse, Towner, herself, has been acting as the sole caregiver for more than a year without pay.
“He doesn't do anything,” Towner said of her mother’s conservator. “He charges a lot of money. He's never done an inventory of the estate or appraisal of non-cash assets. His accounting missed two properties and he lies. He says he has a relationship with my mother, but he doesn't.”
Mrs. Towner inherited her husband, Cecil Towner Jr's $3 million fortune, which he had amassed fixing diesel trucks and investing in real estate before he died in 1984.
"The conservator won't say how much money is left and there are other people who have had these court cases where they haven't seen their loved ones for seven years and nobody cares," Towner told the Southern California Record.
"My mother doesn't want a conservatorship. It's known to be a pipeline summed up in four words: isolate, medicate, liquidate, and cremate."
By 2030, California will be home to 10.8 million people aged 60 and older, according to Newsom, which means one in four will be over 60 years old in just 8 short years.
“My generation is next,” said Towner who is 55 years old. “Anybody who’s older knows they’re making an industry of this exploitation. People speak about teens being stolen for sex trafficking. It’s the same thing with the elderly for their money.”
The Master Plan for Aging aims to create a safety net but Towner foresees the plan leading to an increase in seniors being placed under court supervision.
“It's him running his presidential campaign at the expense of California and Californians and the nation because quite often we're a pilot program place,” Towner said of Gov. Newsom. "Nothing I’ve seen indicates Newsom is truly addressing these systemic issues. Vulnerable elders are in danger."
The master plan, which vows to expand home-based healthcare services, create an Elder Justice Council to address elder abuse, build more low-income senior housing, and redesign nursing homes so that they are more home-like, will ultimately be used to victimize people, according to Towner.
“The governor isn’t doing anything with the foundation, which is corrupt, they’re layering more on top of it so that it feels good to read, but wait til you realize it’s just fluff,” Towner added. “It's just covering up the corruption with different layers to make people that don't know about this horrible thing believe it's okay.”