We deserve a change in leadership

I’m voting to recall Gavin Newsom because we need to get this governor out of office and change his policies that have caused misery for so many people.

When Newsom took office he declared the state would clear underbrush and thin forests “with prescribed burns and other techniques.“But Capitol Public Radio found “Newsom overstated, by an astounding 690%, the number of acres treated with fuel breaks and prescribed burns … Newsom has claimed that 35 ‘priority projects’ carried out as a result of his executive order resulted in fire prevention work on 90,000 acres. But the state’s own data show the actual number is 11,399.“

Instead of holding PG&E accountable after the utility was found responsible for the Camp Fire, Newsom announced his office would “broker a deal” to end PG&E’s bankruptcy. Some critics believe Newsom has given the company a gift in the form of this year’s hastily-passed legislation AB 1054, which protects power monopolies from financial accountability when they start future wildfires, after having accepted $208,400 in campaign donations from the utility in 2018.

Newsom has overseen a policy of “containment” — allow fuels to accumulate, and then let fire burn itself out, no matter the calamities it creates, lives, habitat and natural resources lost forever. My vote to recall is purely defensive — I feel like he’s trying to kill us.

Kevin Kiley, with five good years of experience in the legislature, is a good choice to replace Newsom. We need a change in leadership, now.

— Juanita Sumner, Chico