Governor hopeful Faulconer joins recall rally in Chico
CHICO >> The movement to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom hosted a new Republican Party candidate hoping to replace him Tuesday afternoon.
Recall Gavin Newsom held a drive-thru rally from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Chico Mall parking lot to gather signatures for a petition to remove the governor. The petition movement has resulted in the California Republican Party investing over half a million in the campaign to replace Newsom.
Gubernatorial hopeful and former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, the frontrunner for a potential Republican candidacy to replace Newsom, joined the crowd at 4 p.m.
“There’s no bigger issue right now than getting our kids back to school,” Faulconer told a group of about three dozen. He said he wants to open public schools as well as private schools around the state.
“A computer screen is no substitute for a classroom. And yet as we have seen schools from across the country open to in-person education California has not done that … because Gavin Newsom has not made this a priority.”
Faulconer said while he was mayor, San Diego was the only city that reduced homelessness — by double
digits — in the past two years, and in December 2020 Voice of San Diego reported under his leadership, San Diego’s 2020 point-in-time count documented a 4 percent yearover-year overall drop in homelessness in the city and a 12 percent decrease in San Diegans living on the street.
Faulconer added he has confidence in winning over leadership of a majority Democratic-voting state after winning two terms in that city.
“People don’t really care whether there’s an R or a D next to your name, they want someone with experience who’s actually going to work for Californians,” he said.
Butte County Republican Party Treasurer
Braden Pisani said he thinks Faulconer’s interest in opening schools and reducing homelessness are key interests for Butte County. He said that includes making sure all schools have the resources to open and have equity no matter what size they are.
That interest in schools brought Chico Unified School District board member Matt Tennis, who campaigned for getting Butte County schools to reopen for in- person learning.
“I think he wants to get kids back to school … which I think is really admirable,” he said.
Butte County Republican Party Central Committee’s Supervisorial District 2 Second Vice Chair Colleen Waugh said her main focus is to recall
Newsom, as she is hoping to “get rid of some of the mandates to lighten up his perceived authority that he has.”
Butte County Republican Women volunteer Dee Yont said she was born in Butte County and has always been a Republican, and added “I just want to get rid of Newsom.”
“There’s rules for us and rules for him,” she said. “That gets me. I didn’t vote for him, and he hasn’t done anything that’s changed my mind.”
Butte County Republican
Party chair Saulo Londono said the total number of collected signatures in Butte County alone is not yet available, but currently about 1.7 million have been collected statewide with just over 1 million verified. He said collecting signatures by mail has actually been the most effective strategy at getting signatures verified as opposed to drivethru events.
With the March 17 deadline for 1,495,709 valid signatures verified by county election officials looming, Waugh said to be safe they want to collect 2 million signatures.
Recal l Gavin Newsom volunteer and Butte County resident Patty Watson said since July 2020 she has been organizing in Chico to collect signatures herself, as she is most concerned about local homelessness and mental health services, and children returning to in-person learning due to mental health concerns.
“I want this man gone,” Watson said.