Recall team blasted for ‘Chinese’ virus rhetoric
SACRAMENTO — Organizers of the campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom have repeatedly called the coronavirus a “Chinese” virus over the past year, echoing rhetoric that Asian American leaders say has fueled racist attitudes and violence.
On its website, the recall campaign referred to the virus as the “Communist Chinese Party (CCP) Virus,” and some political operatives who have worked on the effort have used similar language.
The language appeared among a list of reasons to recall Newsom, along with an apparent reference to immigrantowned businesses that have received stimulus money during the pandemic.
“Funding Illegal Alien owned businesses in the amount of $50 Million because CA received federal funding for the Communist Chinese Party (CCP) Virus [Covid19/Corona],” the website said.
Recall organizers said Sunday night that they planned to remove the reference. Randy Economy, a spokesperson for the recall committee, said the campaign apologizes “if anybody was offended” by it.
“Our campaign is not about dividing Californians, it’s about uniting California by removing this divisive governor,” Economy said. “The people will not tolerate nasty divisive manufactured personal attacks by Gov. Newsom.”
Asian American leaders say the surge of violence and harassment targeting their community in the Bay Area and across the country has been exacerbated by references by former President Donald Trump and others to COVID19 as the “China virus.”
“This is the racist rhetoric that is directly responsible for the surge in antiAsian harassment, verbal harassment and physical attacks,” said Cynthia Choi, cofounder of Stop AAPI Hate, an advocacy group. “It’s deeply painful, and especially in the wake of the Atlanta murders where six of the eight victims were Asian women.”
Stop AAPI Hate has documented nearly 3,800 hate incidents against Asian Americans since the start of the pandemic, including beatings and killings.
Courtni Pugh, political director for Newsom’s campaign to oppose the recall, said the recall group’s “vile and racist attacks endanger AAPI Californians.”
Orrin Heatlie, the retired Yolo County sheriff ’s sergeant who initiated the recall drive, said he understands why the reference triggered concerns.
“In light of those attacks and that violence, we’re just as concerned as they are,” Heatlie said of Asian Americans.
The reference to China isn’t the only one that has appeared on the recall campaign’s website. As recently as June, the same page about reasons to recall Newsom said California had the “highest Gas Tax in our Nation BEFORE the Chinese Corona Virus.” That reference was later scrubbed, according to an archived version of the site.
Stephen Frank, a conservative consultant and blogger who was a media relations coordinator for the recall, called the virus the “Wuhan flu” in several tweets. Last summer, Frank posted an article about the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans in which he wrote, “Yes, it is wrong to bully or abuse anyone. But what is being done is small potatoes, a little here, a little there.”
Frank said he stands by his comments. “The reality is the coronavirus did come from China, it did come from Wuhan. It’s just being accurate,” he said.
Frank is no longer listed on the recall campaign’s website, and Economy said the recall effort has “no association” with him now.
Robin Emerson McCrea, the recall’s chief financial officer, has also made references to the “Chinese flu” and “Chinese virus” in Facebook posts. Economy said “personal comments that people make on Facebook posts are not a direct reflection” of the campaign’s stance.
Tom Del Beccaro, former chair of the California Republican Party, called the coronavirus the “CCP virus,” an apparent reference to the Chinese Community
Party, in opinion pieces posted last year on the Epoch Times, a conservative website. Del Beccaro chairs two political committees, Rescue California and California Revival, that have bankrolled the recall, though he is no longer part of the official campaign.
Del Beccaro’s said he was referring to the Chinese government’s lack of transparency during the first COVID19 outbreak in Wuhan in late 2019, which critics say contributed to the disease’s spread around the world.
“My reference was to a particular government not a race or other category people,” Del Beccaro said in a text message. “Therefore, it avoids attributing anything to a race or other category of people.”