California Gov. Gavin Newsom is at risk of losing his job as 1.2 million California voters have petitioned for his recall.
Out of 1.5 million petition signatures needed for an official recall, 1.2 million have been verified. However, backers of the recall claim to have 2.1 million votes, but some are still waiting to be verified by state officials. The deadline to sign the petitions was March 17.
According to NBC Los Angeles, the petition stated the following grievances:
“The grounds for this recall are as follows: Governor Newsom has implemented laws which are detrimental to the citizens of this state and our way of life. Laws he endorsed favor foreign nationals, in our country illegally, over that of our own citizens. People in this state suffer the highest taxes in the nation, the highest homelessness rates, and the lowest quality of life as a result. He has imposed sanctuary state status and fails to enforce immigration laws. He unilaterally over-ruled the will of the people regarding the death penalty. He seeks to impose additional burdens on our state by the following; removing the protections of Proposition 13, rationing our water use, increasing taxes and restricting parental rights. Having no other recourse, we the people have come together to take this action, remedy these misdeeds and prevent further injustices.”
Along with the grievances listed in the petition, many people are mad with Newsom’s leadership considering the Covid-19 pandemic. Backers of the recall base some of their anger on Newsom’s lack of reopening schools, restaurants, and sports while other states have done so. This comes as an EdSource analysis proved that 79% of California students were enrolled in schools that only offered distance learning in mid-February. Newsom was also criticized in November for eating inside the French Laundry restaurant in Napa County, CA.
“They must be held accountable to the people they serve, and this rogue Governor has lost sight of that and must be recalled!” said Orrin Heatlie, leader of the Recall Gavin Newsom campaign.
For Newsom, this is the sixth recall attempt against him since he took office in 2019. He has branded this the “Republican Recall” and has gone on a media tour to promote his past actions as governor.
“In just 25 months in office, there’s been six efforts to get a recall on the ballot. This one appears to have the requisite signatures. This started before the pandemic,” said Newsom of the latest recall effort during an interview on ABC’s “The View.” “If you look at the list of grievances from the proponents of this campaign, it goes to our values. It’s less about me; it’s more about California and our values and the Democratic Party values,” Newsom continued.
The last time there was a successful gubernatorial recall in the nation was in 2003 when Democratic Governor Gray Davis was replaced with Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in California.
In California, a recall election will only take action after a series of steps can be passed. First, the verification of petition signatures must be finished by Dr. Shirley Weber, Newsom-appointed Secretary of State. If this total passes 1.5 million votes, Californians will receive a ballot asking them if they would like to move forward with the decision to remove Newsom from office. If the electorate decides to remove the governor, an election will occur to determine his successor. Californians can expect this possibly final step no sooner than the fall.
Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, 2018 gubernatorial candidate, and businessman John Cox, and former state Sen. John Moorlach have all announced that they will run for governor if the recall effort is successful.
Newsom’s supporters are not holding back their outrage over this recall effort, claiming that Republicans are at the root of the problem.
“This is a ragtag crew of pro-Trump, anti-vaccine extremists, along with some ambitious Republican politicians who would like to be governor. I don’t think it’s something anyone wants. I’d be surprised if Californians wanted to spend the extra money and have another election the following year,” said Dan Newman, a spokesperson for Newsom.
Truth Seeker • Mar 22, 2021 at 7:11 pm
Ms. Shohet, thanks for your article. Journalism and writing can be a wonderful career path, so don’t let people discourage you about the “starving artist” myth like I heard growing up. Several of my friends from Northwestern University have become New York Times Best Selling Authors, famous writers for screen and TV, and famous journalists, actors, producers, directors, musicians, and yes even artists – most of them aren’t starving, some have become very, very wealthy as “artists”.
At the heart of journalism is the importance of free speech and debate of ideas to push for “truth” and better understand of the world, and a better understanding of the many perspectives in it, right?
However, the Bay Area can be lacking in enough free speech and debate in my opinion. Often time, the only voice that we hear is just a parroting of what the supermajority political leaders incessantly repeat across their ranks. And, to question them is treated like blasphemy by half the community. However, this type of culture is really unethical, intellectually weak, and often times illegal when slander or worse results.
This is why so many teachers and professors will encourage many secondary and primary resources in good journalism.
I’d like to offer at least one other secondary resource for you and your audience to consider that add a few more points to the analysis. The San Francisco Chronicle.
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Gavin-Newsom-recall-explained-how-rules-California-16036483.php
Some key points that I’d like to offer from the SF Chron:
1) The Recall is Going to Happen
“To force a recall election, organizers must submit 1,495,709 valid signatures that are vetted by county elections officials. Organizers say they submitted 2,117,730, and thus only need 70.6% of submitted signatures to be valid. The last signature review report from the Secretary of State’s office showed that 83.7% of submitted signatures were valid, which puts the recall well on pace.” – SF Chron
2) “Newsom has angered many across the state over his handling of the pandemic.” – SF Chron
“California has enforced some of the toughest restrictions in the country and now has the nation’s second-highest unemployment rate. Despite the stringent measures, California ranks near the middle of the pack in COVID-19 deaths per capita after a devastating winter surge. Some believe the winter surge was self-inflicted.
Newsom has also drawn charges of hypocrisy after violating his own guidelines while dining at the French Laundry, and has kept his kids in private, in-person schools while most of the state’s public schools remain shut down. In addition, there’s a massive unemployment fraud scandal.” – SF Chron
Further, Gavin’s desperate attempt to smear those that might question him and support his recall is made invalid when you look at the make-up of those that have actually signed the recall petition. I recently heard directly from one of its leaders, Tom Del Beccarro (attorney and the former Chairperson of the Republican Party in California, and the chairman of the RescueCalifornia.org political action committee that is supporting the recall of California Gov. Gavin Newsom) that a MAJORITY of the signatures in San Mateo County are actually Democrats and Independents, not Republicans. And, certainly Gavin’s other smears are untrue and irrelevant.
Hey, I like Gavin Newsom’s restaurants in San Francisco and Lake Tahoe as much as anyone, but it’s important for all of us to remember that especially for those politicians with a tremendous amount of power like Governor Newsom, we didn’t elect him to be KING, we elected him to work as a fiduciary for the people of California. “With great power comes great responsibility”.
Whether the People feel that he has done or good job or not will likely be on the ballot this summer. So, I hope that all eligible voters voice their opinion this summer.
Best wishes, TS