California Democrats are so concerned the campaign to oust Governor Gavin Newsom may work that they’re going straight to the political tricknology playbook we saw in the November election and scheming to defeat the recall by nearly any means necessary. The Sacramento Bee reports there are several ways they’re considering putting a monkey wrench into the works.
The recall movement has amassed 1.7 million signatures and is on track to turn in as many as two million signatures on deadline day, March 10.
Politico reports that getting Democrats to close ranks behind Newsom is a tough sell.
“Every credible leader should be speaking out loudly and forcefully — now,’’ said state Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda), a former senior adviser to [Democrat] Gov. Jerry Brown.
The message must be “about why even unhappy Californians should not sign these poisonous petitions,” he said in an interview. “Our collective action should be all about reducing signatures that would create this political chaos.”
Good luck with that whole “poisonous petition” sales job. Recall supporter Tom Del Beccaro, who’s the former GOP head in California, says 30% of the recall supporters are Democrats.
There’s no candy-coating Newsom’s horrible record:
- California is last in getting kids back to school – most are still on lockdown due to the Democrats’ love affair with teachers’ unions instead of following the science and getting kids back in class. Private schools, like the one Newsom’s kids go to, are open.
- Newsom’s rollout of the COVID vaccine based on political affiliations and “equity” instead of scientific need, has ticked off people of all political stripes.
- The EDD Newsom administration unflinchingly sent $31 BILLION in COVID unemployment relief funds to scammers. Among the in-state people receiving the money were the California-based prisoners, some of whom received $20,000 each from Newsom.
- The EDD scandal makes his $1 billion mask scandal look tame.
- Newsom, like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, ordered COVID patients into California nursing homes.
- His latest scandal concerns no-bid contracts to people who gave money to his campaign.
- And don’t discount the corrosive effect on the locked-down public from Newsom’s double-standard dinner at the French Laundry
- Newsom is sending more COVID stimulus checks to people who are illegally in the country.
Del Beccaro told PJ Media that Democrats have gone from laughing at the recall to trying to kill it.
The Democrats went from saying it’ll never happen, to it’s a long shot, to attempting to smear us and then to saying it might happen but Gavin will never be thrown out. Now they’re trying to change the rules to keep us from throwing Gavin out.
Sound familiar?
Here’s a list of the ways in which Democrats plan to make rule changes or do what they can to benefit their political party:
- The Bee reports that Democrats are considering trying to change the date of the recall to the “next regularly scheduled primary election, when Democrats are more likely to vote,” instead of November of 2021. They played the calendar game with the recall of State Senator Josh Newman in 2018.
- They’re considering sending absentee ballots to every voter whether they’ve asked for one or not to swamp the system.
- They will attempt to convince people who signed the petition to remove their names in a 30-day period after the signatures are turned in.
- Their strategy is to “reduce signatures.” As many signatures as possible will be thrown out keep the recall from qualifying for the ballot.
- Using COVID shutdowns to slow down the signature-gathering such that recall backers went to court to get more time.
- Believe they’ll use the extended lockdowns to keep people from voting.
- They’ve begun spinning the recall as a “distraction.”
- Tried to convince Californians that with all the money being wasted by Democrats (see EDD scandal) spending more on a recall for a new governor is wasteful.
Every aspect of California family life has been touched by Newsom’s moves. His Soviet Union-like rolling blackouts have not been popular. Many kids can’t go to school because his very job is dependent on the teachers’ union. Even if parents can work from home, they can’t go out to eat inside a restaurant. They can’t go to the gym.
For a while there, even state parks and beaches were closed or open only to a mask-wearing public.
Masks. On the beach. On a trail. What science dictates this? His own special secret-sauce science, apparently.
As Newsom has felt the political heat he has attempted to get the schools open, but Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, a Republican, told PJ Media that a diverse group of people has seen too much and they won’t forget.
California’s been here before. In 2003, Republican actor Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected to office after Governor Gray Davis mismanaged California’s previous energy disaster, which included rolling outages. Davis’s negatives were high and as Hoover Institution scholar Bill Whalen notes, worst of all, Davis restored a car tax, which was like a dagger to the heart of freedom-loving Californians.
He was cooked.
Nearly 20 years later, Newsom’s position may be worse because of the current governor’s negatives. Cal-Matters reports that Newsom’s approval numbers have dropped precipitously.
About 52% of likely voters gave Newsom high marks, compared to 43% who disapproved of his performance. That still puts Newsom above water with the public, but it marks a significant and consistent decline in popular support from past polls. In October, Newsom’s approval came in at 57%; in May, it was an even higher 63%.
MSN reports that the recall supporters must get their signatures in by March 17 and verified by April 29.
[A]fter which the Secretary of State’s office will have 10 calendar days to determine if the effort met the 1.45 million signature threshold.
Then, people who signed the petition would have 30 business days to remove their signatures. Counties have 10 business days after that to report any signature removals to the Secretary of State.
At that point, the California Department of Finance would have 30 business days to develop a cost estimate for the recall election, which the Legislature would have 30 days to review.
Finally, the clock starts for the lieutenant governor to schedule a recall election within 60-80 days.
The recall and the new governor would be on the same ballot. If the recall gets 50% of the vote, voters will cast their ballots to name the successor.
Democrats say they would never put themselves on the ballot to replace Newsom, should the recall succeed. We’ll see about that. But Republicans are lining up. Former candidate John Cox, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Germany and interim head of the DNI Ric Grenell have been mentioned as candidates. Faulconer is the only one of them who has officially entered the race … whenever that election happens.
If Californians vote to get rid of a Leftist in a liberal state, Democrats everywhere are in trouble.
Victoria Taft is the host of “The Adult in the Room Podcast With Victoria Taft” where you can hear her series on “Antifa Versus Mike Strickland.” Find it here. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Parler, MeWe, Minds @VictoriaTaft