California’s attempt to recall Newsom is no joke
SAN DIEGO » You cover politics long enough as a journalist, and you think you’ve had a look at the worst of human nature. Then some party hack comes along who can’t wait to exploit a national tragedy for the sake of political expediency, and you realize that — in terms of awfulness — you ain’t seen nothing.
That’s what happened in the Golden State this week when California Democratic Party Chairman Rusty Hicks located the bottom of the barrel — and scraped it. Hicks apparently couldn’t bear the thought of letting the recent crisis at the U.S. Capitol go to waste. Instead, he co-opted this violent act of sedition that shocked the world and tried to use it to save the career of beleaguered California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
As if. A petition for a recall election is making the rounds in the state. It needs 1.5 million signatures by mid-March to put Newsom’s fate on the ballot. It has more than 1 million.
The recall effort started last summer, in relative tranquility. While much of the country was on fire with Black Lives Matter protests, California seemed to be faring better than other states.
The majority of political tension in the state had to do with the lockdown of restaurants and other businesses over COVID-19. And that’s what fueled the recall.
During the first three months, the effort was considered a joke by political observers. Many saw it as nothing more than sour grapes by disgruntled Republicans who never wanted Newsom as governor in the first place. They couldn’t beat him at the ballot box when he ran in 1998, because the state GOP — which has an identity crisis and flips between moderation and extremism — is dreadful at picking its own candidates.
Now, no one is laughing. Especially not Democrats, who are finally taking seriously the possibility that Newsom could be recalled — even with an approval rating that tops 60%.
Enter Hicks, who said: “This recall effort, which really ought to be called ‘the California coup,’ is being led by right-wing conspiracy theorists, white nationalists, anti-vaxxers and groups who encourage violence on our democratic institutions.”
Well, that about covers the waterfront. Trouble is, it’s not true, not fair, and not good for the democratic process here in California. Unlike the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the FBI will probably not be involving itself with the recall election. It’s perfectly legal. In fact, for more than a century, the California constitution has allowed voters to use the recall process to remove local or state officials before the end of their terms for any reason.
Newsom is in the fight of his life, but not because of partisanship or political extremists. It’s because he was extremely incompetent, reckless, arrogant and tone-deaf in combating the real villain and a much more dangerous adversary: COVID-19.
Like most governors, Newsom totally underestimated and mismanaged the global pandemic.
He took the virus lightly, and the nasty little sucker took him apart piece by piece. Newsom thought daily televised pep talks could substitute for cracking down on businesses that defied lockdown orders and following through on threats to withhold funds from counties that flouted public health laws. Then, in November, he himself was photographed flouting mask-wearing protocol while attending a birthday party at a posh Napa restaurant.
After closing eateries and other businesses, and putting the proprietors on bread lines, California’s Marie Antoinette seemed to be telling the peasants: “Let them eat at the French Laundry.”