SHOULD GAVIN NEWSOM BE RECALLED?
Yes: Defeat the political machine, remove Newsom to reset the system.
It has been evident for years that voters in California were not happy with their government.
Although the majority Democrats grew stronger in number with each election, now dominating all branches of state government, voter discontent was apparent in the approval of ballot measures establishing term limits, citizen redistricting and the top-two primary. All three reforms speak to a desire to have new choices on the ballot.
The sure sign of a late-stage political machine is the contradiction between the overwhelming electoral success of one party’s candidates and simultaneous voter unhappiness with them. In a city or state under machine control, voters receive ballots that don’t offer much of a choice. All the determinative choices were made long before the ballots were even printed, when powerful pols cleared the field for a favored candidate in every race, and the minority party effectively conceded at the filing deadline.
The San Francisco political machine that controls California was the subject of an article in Town & Country magazine last October chronicling the machine’s latest success, soon-to-be vice president Kamala Harris. “The machine—which operates around a fulcrum of big money, high so
“Regardless of your party registration, you are well within your rights to be fed up with this governor’s actions.”
ciety and socially progressive ideas—has molded such Democratic politicians as governors Pat Brown and Jerry Brown (father and son); Willie Brown (former San Francisco mayor, machine boss, and no relation); Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi; U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein; former U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer; San Francisco mayors Ed Lee and London Breed; and San Francisco mayor, lieutenant governor, and now governor Gavin Newsom,” writer Amy Wilentz reported.
Political machines eventually meet their end, usually destroyed by epic incompetence, scandal or disgusted voters adopting radical reforms. In early 20th century California, fed-up voters amended the state constitution to add tools of direct democracy: the initiative, the referendum and the recall.
And here we are again. A machine politician of epic incompetence, who arrogantly lolled around with lobbyist pals at a luxury restaurant at the same time he was ordering California residents to cancel Thanksgiving dinner with their families, has so angered voters that for only the second time in the state’s history a gubernatorial recall has qualified for the ballot. At one time, this recall effort was laughed off by the wise wizards of state capitol politics. Nobody’s laughing now. The “yes on recall” side has gained in strength with each succeeding poll, and the governor admitted himself that it could go either way.
He should go, either way.
It is surreal to watch Newsom in interviews and news conferences, citing his homelessness policy as a model for the nation, ordering water cut-offs to the state’s critically important farms, misleading the public about his wildfire prevention efforts even as
vast areas of the state are devastated by fires, refusing to answer questions about his backroom deals to shield investor-owned PG&E from the financial consequences of its criminal actions, defending the waste of billions of dollars on the nonsensical bullet train, and stubbornly concealing “the data” he cites to justify the mandates, dictates, orders, prohibitions and rules that have wrecked a horrific number of the state’s small businesses.
Newsom has normalized electricity blackouts, homeless encampments, and union-dictated school closures replaced with previously illegal “distance learning.” He has engaged in name-calling against Californians who protest his policies. He swore at opinion writers from another news organization, complaining that what he called the “home-grown” team of California journalists was failing to report positive stories about his record in office.
Under his “leadership,”
California has lost population and a congressional seat for the first time in its history. The state has the highest poverty rate in the nation when the cost of living is taken into account, a direct result of state policies that have raised the cost of utilities, transportation, food and housing.
Newsom signed the union-dictated Assembly Bill 5, wiping out the ability of millions of Californians to support themselves by working freelance in their chosen field. AB 5 essentially made it illegal for companies in California to hire independent contractors, except for the exceptions that were granted through machine-style favors and lobbying deals.
Political corruption is legal in California, so there’s nothing criminal about Gov. Newsom collecting unlimited donations totaling tens of millions of dollars for his anti-recall campaign from businesses that can be helped, or badly hurt, by
his official actions. There’s nothing illegal about the shakedown known as “behested payments,” a type of extorted donation that politicians request from people who can be helped, or badly hurt, by an office-holder’s decisions. Newsom has raised $253,305,885, a quarter of a billion dollars, in reported behested payments since 2011. That includes $4.5 million in tickets to Six Flags Magic Mountain that he asked the theme park company to donate for his vaccine lottery, $25,000 that Disney was asked to give to help stage his 2019 inaugural gala, and $25 million that Facebook was requested to provide to pay for gift cards that Newsom wanted to hand out to COVID-19 front-line workers.
It’s all legal, but it reeks of corruption. Regardless of your party registration or political ideology, you are well within your rights to be fed up with this governor’s actions.
And you don’t have to take it anymore.
The recall empowers the people of California to remove a public official with a simple yes or no vote, separate from the choice of a replacement candidate. “The machine” cleared the field and no other prominent Democrat is running, but still, Newsom may not survive.
If a Republican is elected governor, he will have one year to convince voters to pick up his option. The Democrats will certainly regroup ahead of the June 2022 primary, but the weakened San Francisco political machine may be eclipsed by other Democrats with other alliances. In both parties, more people will have leverage as new coalitions are forged. Voters will no longer feel unheard.
This is exactly what California needs. Vote yes on the recall and let’s start fresh.