Making a stand for a 51st state
Backers of a plan to split off 21 Northern California counties rally at the Capitol.
SACRAMENTO — Saying they were fed up with being ignored by lawmakers, hundreds of demonstrators descended on the Capitol on this week, demanding that Northern California be allowed to break away into the separate state of Jefferson.
Supporters argued that the 21 counties in the upper reaches of California have no real voice in state government, where political power rests firmly in the hands of big-city representatives from Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area.
As a result, industries critical to California’s sparsely populated northern counties — timber, mining and energy — have been decimated by laws passed by urban lawmakers who have no interest in the fate of rural residents, said retired pilot Mark Baird of Fort Jones in Siskiyou County, one of the leaders of the state of Jefferson movement.
“We need victory, folks, this is the end of the line if we don’t get it,” Baird told a crowd that braved the rain and wind to rally outside the Capitol. “Our children are leaving, our economies are crashing.”
Baird and others spent Wednesday lobbying state lawmakers to back legislation that would allow the northern counties to break away and form the country’s 51st state, named after founding father Thomas Jefferson.
The festive rally was dominated by demands for liberty and just representation. One supporter broke out an American flag with 51 stars, and those on hand were given a chance to win an AR rifle if they helped lobby legislators.
The push for a breakaway Northern California state has ebbed and flowed for decades.
Majority votes in the state Legislature and U.S. Congress would be needed for separation to occur. The last state to do so was West Virginia, which split from Virginia in 1863.
Sally Rapoza of Redding said the separatists’ grievances centered on fair representation, noting that just one state senator represents 11 Northern California counties, while Los Angeles County is represented by 15 senators.
“Our votes don’t count,” she said.