Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

26
I agree, much depends on what's happening in November but it looks right now like a win for Newsom. Cox is a winger and he lost big to Newsom in 2018, he wants to piss more money away. Faulconer was going to run against Newsom in 2022, he's a former San Diego mayor and appears to have worked well with a Democratic city council in SD. Don't know much about Doug Ose except he's a former congressman.

Newsom is suppose to announce his candidate for CA AG on Monday.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

28
Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday warned Democrats against running in California’s likely gubernatorial recall election, aligning herself with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for party unity. “I think it’s an unnecessary notion,” Pelosi said at a press conference. “I don’t think it even rises to the level of an idea.”

Pelosi’s comments offer powerful reinforcement to Newsom’s early efforts to prevent fellow Democrats from running in a recall that’s all but certain to go before voters later this year. The governor’s team has moved aggressively to squelch intraparty strife. Pelosi threw her substantial political clout behind Newsom, suggesting national Democrats will continue mobilizing support, and predicted he would prevail. “I think the governor will beat this quite decisively, and we’ll all help him do that,” Pelosi said.

The gubernatorial recall would put put two questions to voters: whether Newsom should be recalled, and who should replace him. If Newsom musters a majority on the first question, the menu of backup candidates becomes moot. But if voters recall Newsom and there is no fallback Democrat, a Republican could claim the governor’s office with a plurality of the vote.

That possibility has divided California Democrats. Some believe that the party must have a backup candidate in case Newsom does not prevail. But the governor and his team have taken the opposite approach, believing that the emergence of another Democrat would undercut party unity and erode Newsom’s political standing.
https://www.politico.com/states/califor ... ll-1369616
__________________________________________________________________________________

A first, possible Democratic candidate is emerging amid the effort to recall Governor Gavin Newsom. Former Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer is the latest name to surface as the governor’s recall election looms. Steyer is reportedly polling and offering himself as a potential fall back candidate, according to Politico. Steyer’s team Wednesday would not confirm or deny the report.

Steyer gave us a statement saying, “the recall efforts in California are a clear attempt by the GOP to take back control of the state and squelch the progressive momentum that swept through 2020 and will carry forward. That is why I oppose the recall.” Governor Newsom side stepped the question when asked about Steyer’s actions Wednesday.

“I’ve been candidly overwhelmed with the incredible support the Democratic party has shown in opposition of this recall… very proud to have their almost unanimous opposition to this recall, I look forward to working with those who will soon join the cause and I have confidence in our cause and capacity to truly unite the Democratic party against this Republican recall.”

In the beginning of the pandemic, Newsom tapped Steyer to lead California’s business and jobs recovery task force. Which disbanded in November. Democratic strategist Steven Maviglio was press secretary for recalled governor Gray Davis. “I think everybody is testing the waters here to see if the governor is vulnerable from a challenge, not only among the general electorate but if there’s any Democratic support for that, so far the numbers are looking very good for the governor,” Maviglio said.

With about 1.5 million verified signatures, elections officials continue to work to verify signatures collected in the recall petitioning process. The final tally is expected to be released at the end of April, with experts saying the election likely in November.

“That is a lifetime away in politics, anything can happen between now and then,” Maviglio said.
https://www.kron4.com/news/california/f ... 71895.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

29
n the wake of a pandemic that has devastated Latino communities in California, a new statewide poll finds that Latino voters are more likely to vote to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom than white, Asian and Black voters.

The Probolsky Research poll released this week found that 44.5% of Latino voters said they would vote for Newsom to be recalled from office, while 41% said they would vote no. About 14% were undecided.

The poll results offer a glimpse of Latino voters’ attitudes toward the Democratic governor amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“It really just speaks to the current state of affairs of Latinos being disproportionately impacted health-wise and economically by this pandemic,” said Adam Probolsky, president of the nonpartisan opinion research firm.

Additionally, the poll showed about 49% of white voters, 49% of Asian voters and 72% of Black voters said they would vote no on the recall. Overall, about 52.5% of California voters surveyed said they would vote no on the recall, compared to 34.6% who would vote yes.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-go ... 71895.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

30
Propelled by growing voter frustration over California’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a Republican-led drive to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom from office collected enough voter signatures to qualify for the ballot, state officials reported Monday, triggering for only the second time in the state’s history a rapid-fire campaign to decide whether to oust a sitting governor.

Recall backers submitted more than 1,495,709 verified voter signatures — equal to 12% of all ballots cast in the last gubernatorial election — meeting the minimum threshold to force a special recall election, according to a tally released by Secretary of State Shirley Weber. Barring intervention by the courts, Newsom will face a statewide vote of confidence by year’s end.

Though recent opinion polls showed that only 40% of California voters support recalling Newsom, an indication that the effort might fail, the success of the recall campaign in gathering enough valid signatures for a special election delivers a blow to Newsom as one of the nation’s most prominent and politically ambitious Democrats, who raised his national profile as a liberal foil to former President Trump.

In all, Newsom’s critics gathered 1,626,042 valid voter signatures on recall petitions, according to the report issued on Monday that contains information collected from elections officials in California’s 58 counties as of April 19. A few signatures remained unexamined and the final report will be issued by Friday.

Before the recall petition can be certified by Weber, voters who signed the petitions will be given time to withdraw their signatures and state officials will crunch the numbers on the cost to conduct the election, steps that could take up to three months to complete. Only then can Weber issue her official certification, triggering action by Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis to call an election within 60 to 80 days.

Voters will then decide whether or not to recall Newsom and, if he is removed from office, who should replace him. Newsom is barred from being listed among the candidates who can be considered if the recall passes.

Two and a half years ago, Newsom won the governor’s office by the largest vote margin in modern history, capping the telegenic Democrat’s steady rise to the pinnacle of California politics that began in 1996 when San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown appointed him to the city’s Parking and Traffic Commission.

The son of an appellate court judge with deep ties to San Francisco’s most affluent residents, Newsom’s ascension quickly led to a seat on the city’s Board of Supervisors, two terms as San Francisco mayor and, after abandoning a fledgling run for governor in 2010, eight years as California’s lieutenant governor.
Enveloped in an air of inevitability, Newsom dominated the 2018 governor’s race by trouncing a field of Democratic rivals that included former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former state Treasurer John Chiang and former state schools chief Delaine Eastin, and a little-known Republican challenger, businessman John Cox. Newsom’s campaign stoked whispers and persistent speculation of a future White House run.

But Newsom’s star dimmed this summer as criticism of his response to the deadly COVID-19 pandemic intensified, and he now finds himself fighting for survival.
https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... l-election


It will go way beyond the pandemic, Newsom's role in the PG&E bankruptcy and settlement, wildfires, blackouts and brown outs and much more.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

31
It's hard to argue against the fifth largest economy on the planet with the lowest COVID infection rate in the US--when you compare it to a reality TV star with neither management nor political experience. If Newsom keeps managing this way, the recall will fail.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

32
I agree, it looks like he's going to win but it's a long way to November and a lot can happen. If we have a long blisteringly hot summer full of smoke from wildfires, utility companies turning off power and our a/c to prevent fires and the grid failing on the hottest days, that would change some minds.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

33
CDFingers wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 7:42 pm It's hard to argue against the fifth largest economy on the planet with the lowest COVID infection rate in the US--when you compare it to a reality TV star with neither management nor political experience. If Newsom keeps managing this way, the recall will fail.

CDFingers
I haven't read thru the entire thread but here in CO, Polis was 'recalled' on some right wing, political BS. It was always destined to fail but what it DID do was pump up the GOP's coffers of individual data. That they could use in the future. Didn't help Gardner, who was a swine..

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

34
Support for the petition to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom is highest in conservative, sparsely populated California counties in parts of the Sierra Nevada and the state’s rural, remote northeast, newly released data shows.

The California secretary of state’s office released its final report Wednesday, verifying more than 1.7 million signatures have been certified as valid in the effort to recall the Democratic governor.

The numbers show counties to the north and east of Sacramento — including along the Sierra foothills — had the highest percentage of registered voters who signed the petition.

Amador County in the Sierra Nevada had the highest rate in the state, where 19.1% of the some 26,000 registered voters signed the petition.

Just to the south of Amador, Calaveras and Tuolumne were among the other counties with the highest proportion of registered voters who gave their support for the recall effort, along with Sierra and Lassen counties, which are farther north.

Support for the recall was lowest in San Francisco, with just 1.8% of registered voters supporting the effort. Its neighbor across the bay, Alameda County, was the next least supportive, with 2.7% of registered voters signing the petition.

Going by signatures alone, Los Angeles County — home to more than one-quarter of the state’s registered voters — contributed the most to the recall petition, turning in 264,495 valid signatures. But that only accounted for 4.6% of the county’s registered voters, putting L.A. County among the areas with the lowest rates of participation.

Runners-up include Orange with 215,714 (12% of registered voters), San Diego with 179,039 (9.1%) and Riverside with 146,803 signatures (11.5%).

The requisite number of valid signatures to force a recall election was reported to the state on April 26, but it wasn’t until Wednesday afternoon that a final report was made available with all 58 counties’ final numbers.

In the end, more than 1.7 million valid signatures from registered voters were counted. That’s nearly 7.8% of the state’s more than 22 million voters.

Recall organizers needed nearly 1.5 million signatures, or 12% of the ballots cast when Newsom was elected in 2018. They submitted more than 2.1 million, and nearly 80% of them were counted as valid.

As far as the rest of the California recall process goes, the state is in the period in which it allows more than a month — 30 business days — for voters who signed the petition to withdraw their support by contacting their county elections office.

Then, those county offices have 10 days to report the withdrawn signatures, and the state does another count to see if the recall still hits that 12% threshold to qualify for the ballot.

After that, the state does a cost estimate, then there’s a review. After a few more steps, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis would be required to call for an election.
https://ktla.com/news/california/highes ... bers-show/

Map of counties signing petition:
https://www.datawrapper.de/_/Y4O0S/

Secretary of State's data link:
https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/recall ... -final.pdf
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

35
Newsome’s problem from my point of view is that Democrats don’t really care about him, except that he’s a Dem. That’s about the extent of his wowing the electorate. The rabid true believers will extol his virtues, but most voters don’t care and a lot find him distasteful and vaguely corrupt.

He’s managed the pandemic fairly well, but a lot of that is handled at the city/country level. And his getting caught having a fancy dinner when the rest of the state was in hard lockdown did him zero favors.

Figure it this way, if anyone not Republican, but mildly charismatic shows up, he could be put out by the side of the road really quickly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

36
jbjh wrote: Sun May 09, 2021 3:23 am Newsome’s problem from my point of view is that Democrats don’t really care about him, except that he’s a Dem. That’s about the extent of his wowing the electorate. The rabid true believers will extol his virtues, but most voters don’t care and a lot find him distasteful and vaguely corrupt.

He’s managed the pandemic fairly well, but a lot of that is handled at the city/country level. And his getting caught having a fancy dinner when the rest of the state was in hard lockdown did him zero favors.

Figure it this way, if anyone not Republican, but mildly charismatic shows up, he could be put out by the side of the road really quickly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That's the stuff of a lost election, not a 'recall', IMHO. The Denver mayor did the same thing..'stay at home, don't travel', then flew to Alabama or someplace to visit his daughter. No recall but pretty sure this will end his Mayoral career next election.

One thing for sure...Caitlin Jenner won't unseat ANY Dem governor.

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

37
Whether or not Newsom is directly responsible for the INCREDIBLE drop in Covid infections and deaths, he's the guy at the helm, so he gets the credit. That's how it works. It will be interesting to see what OTHER candidates, particularly the the ReThugs propose to control wildfires. Somehow, I think Trump's "rake the forest floor", if proposed, is SO stupid I can't see even ReThugs voting for it. BTW, a lifelong friend, a man I've known all my life, since we were toddlers living next door to each other, lost his home in Malibu 2 years ago, that he had had custom built. He escaped with the clothes on his back, his dog, and his horse.

I've fought a couple of brushfires--it's scary as shit.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

38
YankeeTarheel wrote: Sun May 09, 2021 9:09 am BTW, a lifelong friend, a man I've known all my life, since we were toddlers living next door to each other, lost his home in Malibu 2 years ago, that he had had custom built. He escaped with the clothes on his back, his dog, and his horse.

I've fought a couple of brushfires--it's scary as shit.

And Malibu is right on the ocean with higher humidity, but the ongoing drought makes every place in CA vulnerable to wildfires. Yup, the winds can flip directions so fast especially when the Santa Ana winds are blowing that it's almost impossible to control the fires.

During drought trees and bushes are looking for water so their roots get into water, sewer and septic systems. A neighbor has been fighting them.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

39
Though in-person service came and went at the Paso Robles winery Paix Sur Terre during the pandemic, alcohol consumption skyrocketed, making for winemaker Ryan Pease’s “best year ever.”

But despite personal gains, Pease couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt when talking to neighbors who struggled to run restaurants and small businesses throughout San Luis Obispo County. When the opportunity came to back a recall petition to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom, the lifelong Democrat signed his name.

“Our mindset here is, because we’re so isolated from other metropolitan areas, we take care of each other. We create our own economy,” said Pease, 37. “Even though I’m a Democrat and blue, we don’t like to be told what to do here.”

In a county where Democrats slightly outnumber Republicans — by about 6,000 voters, according to state data — residents delivered a sizable chunk of signatures to the statewide recall effort to oust the Democratic governor. Out of every 1,000 voters in San Luis Obispo County, 139 signed their names on the recall petition — for a total of 25,653 valid signatures, according to the secretary of state’s office. Recall backers gathered, in all, about 1.6 million signatures.

“I considered San Luis Obispo to be kind of a liberal stronghold. … But when you look at the population that signed the recall, you have to realize it wasn’t all Republicans who came out to sign the recall,” said Orrin Heatlie, leader of the statewide recall effort. “We have people from all walks of life, the entire political spectrum. … We have lifelong Democrats who voted for Newsom actually go the extra mile to get this.”

San Luis Obispo is a political mixed bag, with roughly 70,000 registered Democrats, 64,000 Republicans and 38,000 unaffiliated voters. In the 2020 election, voters in the county favored Joe Biden by 13 points over President Trump, but previous presidential race margins were decidedly slimmer for Democrats. The county last voted for a Republican president in 2004, when then-President George W. Bush won by 7 points.

Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham (R-Templeton) called his district “purple,” noting that Newsom eked out a 3-percentage-point win in the county over his Republican opponent, John Cox, in the 2018 gubernatorial election.

“SLO County voters, they’re educated. … They’re very smart voters; they’re going to figure it out and do the research,” he said, pointing to Newsom’s handling of the pandemic. “I think a lot of people just lost faith that this governor was making decisions actually based on science and with due regard to local circumstances. Once they lost faith in that, it’s very hard to go back.”

The recall effort, led by a trio of political novices, sprung from grass-roots origins. In San Luis Obispo County, a network of volunteers spread across more than 3,600 square miles banded together to round up signatures.
Newsom’s campaign has called recall proponents right-wing extremists, anti-vaxxers and Trump supporters. Signature rates show the recall’s most ardent supporters are clustered mostly in California’s northeastern corner, a rural, right-leaning region that voted heavily for Trump in the 2020 election cycle.

But a quieter, more moderate group of people makes up a portion of the movement’s ranks.

A self-described “right-leaning centrist,” Aaron Bergh watched previous recall attempts targeting Newsom but said he considered them extreme. The owner of Calwise Spirits Co. reluctantly complied with the March 2020 shutdown, thinking it would be temporary. When the pandemic continued, he adapted by setting up outdoor service.

Then, one day in late summer, as smoke from nearby wildfires and oppressive heat cloaked the county, Bergh received an email from the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health recommending not to work outside.

“I can’t be inside either — this is lunacy!” Bergh said. “I can’t keep my business fully closed.”

When a volunteer came by with a recall petition, he decided: “Now’s the time.” After signing it, he kept a stack of petitions behind the counter to hand to any customer who complained about being unable to sit inside.

“I always think, ‘What’s the solution?’” Bergh said. “If the customer’s not happy, what’s the solution…? Being open. How do we do that? Well, we recall the governor who is making decisions that don’t make sense.”

Several openings and closures later, Bergh had collected a couple of hundred signatures.

A turning point for many San Luis Obispo County residents came in December, when the state replaced the color-coded tier system for closures with a regional stay-at-home order, which was triggered when an area’s ICU bed availability dipped below 15%. The previous system allowed for counties to reopen based on their coronavirus case rates.

San Luis Obispo County was placed in the same region as 10 other counties, including more densely populated areas with higher case rates such as Los Angeles and Orange counties. Though Los Angeles hospitals quickly filled intensive care unit beds, there was only one COVID-19 patient in a San Luis Obispo ICU on Dec. 1.

“Why are we getting punished?” Bergh said. “We live three hours north of Los Angeles; this doesn’t seem fair.”

The decision frustrated so many business owners, Bergh said, that more than 100 organized in an attempt to reopen Paso Robles.

Central Coast coronavirus numbers eventually rose during the holiday surge — at its peak on Jan. 31, 19 COVID-19 patients were in county ICUs — but not before elected representatives from San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties begged the state for their own, separate region.

“There was a very urban county focus on the statewide orders, and there wasn’t enough consideration given by the state public health [department] and by Gov. Newsom of what the local conditions were in the more rural, remote counties,” said Cunningham, who introduced legislation to limit the governor’s ability to enact laws during a state of emergency. “We just weren’t facing the same kind of problems.”

After months of distancing himself from the recall effort, Cunningham publicly threw his support behind it in December. He has since endorsed Republican Kevin Faulconer, the former San Diego mayor who is running to replace Newsom.

“I get it; people are overwhelmed,” San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon said. “I see this a lot at the local level too. People just want to be mad. That’s just COVID.”

Harmon, who has received a torrent of personal attacks and sexist criticism since being elected in 2016, said it was easier to blame the person in charge than to understand complex underlying issues driving policy decisions.

Though Harmon said she sympathized with voter frustrations over Newsom’s attendance at a birthday party held at the tony French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley amid COVID-19 restrictions, she listed what she considered Newsom’s accomplishments: a budget surplus that could give some Californians tax rebates and California’s position as a state with one of the country’s lowest coronavirus case rates.
https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... all-effort
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

41
Good luck on recalling the Gov of one of the 12 states to hit the vaccination target, and good luck on recalling the manager of a $70B surplus.

Doofuses. Imagine how many homeless could be sheltered for the money they spend on this shit. Imagine the beer it could buy. The mind reels.

Get out the vote.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

42
senorgrand wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 2:57 pm elections are decided by those who show up...we shall see

Exactly, turn out for Newsom will be critical. The head of CA's largest state employee union isn't supporting Newsom, we'll see if his board agrees with him. They are still smarting from concessions they took when Newsom was saying the state had a $54 billion budget deficit.

The presidential election polls were off in 2016 and weren't exactly on point in 2020, so this election could be closer to a tossup.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

43
A Politico article about Newsom's maniac run around the state giving away money and trying to build support to defeat the recall.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political career has long been something of a white-knuckle roller coaster ride.

So it was fitting that the Democratic governor, in his latest fist-pumping lap around the state, hit the front seat of the New Revolution roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain this week, hands in the air, relishing the stomach-churning jaunt.

It was just the latest example of how Newsom is using a bully pulpit on steroids as he tries to defeat a Republican-driven recall.

The governor announced free tickets to Six Flags and taco giveaways for anyone getting a Covid-19 shot. He channeled his inner game show host persona and delivered massive checks to vaccine lottery winners, backed by a "Big Spin" wheel and appropriately kitschy music. He celebrated the end of pandemic restrictions with Minions and Trolls under confetti at Universal Studios. Between it all, he was on Instagram with musician John Legend and in studio with James Corden on "The Late Late Show."

His dizzying schedule has made the scope — and optics — of Newsom’s victory tour unrivaled in the annals of modern state politics. Fueled by record tax revenues, business connections and celebrity friends, the governor is demonstrating how he'll use his official perch this summer to drive his campaign narrative.

“Imagine being in politics and giving away money — that’s about as good as it gets,’’ Newsom told Corden. "Oprah Winfrey, eat your heart out!"

No other governor has duplicated the level of Newsom's giveaways, most under the auspices of convincing hesitant residents to get vaccinated. But no other governor is facing a recall, either.

His appearances have gotten so over-the-top that longtime political reporters can hardly believe what they're seeing. "Am I on drugs?" said San Francisco Chronicle reporter Alexei Koseff, marveling at Newsom celebrating with characters in costume. Another, CalMatters' Laurel Rosenhall, dubbed a Newsom event "today's episode of Governor Gives Out Money."

Just months ago, Newsom was on the ropes, battered by charges of hypocrisy after a tony dinner with lobbyists and other guests at the French Laundry while he told residents to avoid gathering at parties. When California was under siege from the virus in December and January, the situation was so bad that Newsom imposed a curfew and widespread stay-at-home orders.

The state has since seen Covid-19 rates plummet to nation-low levels, and Newsom set June 15 as the state's grand reopening day. He eliminated social distancing restrictions and capacity limits in most businesses and allowed vaccinated residents to remove their masks.

Newsom has also benefited from a high-wage economy that kept humming through the pandemic, delivering a $76 billion surplus, on top of $27 billion in federal coronavirus relief. That money allowed the governor to propose $600 stimulus checks for two-thirds of California residents, $500 checks for families — and $116.5 million in prizes for vaccine-hesitant residents.

He has timed the giveaways with jubilant events to promote the state's reopening. But the governor’s tour is striking some as an unseemly excess of fist-pumping and self-congratulations given what the state has endured. California has an unemployment rate higher than in most other states, a Covid-19 death toll of 62,500, the nation's longest school closures and a host of small business failures under lockdown restrictions.

“Gavin’s traveling circus is offensive to the nearly 4 million Californians who contracted Covid-19, and the nearly 65,000 who died with it,’’ said conservative Jennifer Kerns, a former spokesperson for the California Republican Party and now a national radio talk show host. “It is also offensive to the more than one-third of restaurants that closed forever — owned by hard-working Californians, many of whom lost their life savings due to Newsom’s yearlong lockdown."

Newsom's camp, however, says he's right to celebrate this emergence from 15 months of pandemic isolation. He’s hugged it up with local officials at iconic family bistros like Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco, where he pushed the extension of pandemic-era policies aimed at boosting small businesses — including margaritas-to-go and “parklets” to expand restaurant dining outdoors — as well as grants and tax forgiveness.

On Friday, Newsom boasted that the state is “turning a page” on the pandemic — with the help of small business owners surrounding him. “When we talk about California roaring back, we can’t come roaring back unless small businesses are back,’’ he told them. “The job creators are literally here, in this community.”

Peter Ragone, a longtime outside adviser to Newsom, said the California governor’s tour is a celebration of what the state — and its citizens — have done right in battling back from a deadly pandemic.

With its record budget surplus, jobs rebounding and continued tech sector boom, “there's just no doubt about the fact here that California is the best run state in America, fiscally," he said. “And Gavin Newsom has been reflecting the exuberance of the people, who are now coming out of this together."

That exuberance, he said dryly, “is shared by everybody — except maybe seven people left working the recall.”

Newsom’s recent upbeat demeanor has been a far cry from the grim, and occasionally short-tempered, governor of a few months back.

After being confronted by major wildfires and blackouts that affected millions shortly into his first term, Newsom was slammed in late 2020 with rising panic about pandemic shutdowns. Those difficulties were multiplied by his own ill-timed political mistakes, including the French Laundry dinner with lobbyist friends at the height of the stay-at-home order.

“It’s been humbling," he said to Corden. "There’s been one word, James: humility."

Newsom's most recent poll numbers have been strong, with either a plurality or majority opposed to recalling the governor. A whopping 90 percent of Californians believe the worst of the crisis is behind them.

His opponents have struggled to gain traction, most notably Republican reality TV star and former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner, who regularly goes on national TV but only had 6 percent of voter support in a poll last month. The governor is in strong enough shape that fellow Democrats have suggested California should have the recall election as soon as possible.

And Newsom has wasted no time in parlaying the state's increasingly robust economic numbers into a public campaign he’s touted as “The California Comeback.” Democrats have circulated a Bloomberg piece proclaiming that the state’s economy is leading the nation. The governor has repeatedly jabbed at two large red states, Florida and Texas, which haven’t matched California’s vaccination levels or its lower record for mortality rates per 100,000 residents, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Democrats say Newsom’s undisguised giddiness is not only appropriate — but entirely warranted.

“One of the jobs of leaders is to lead through empathy — to reflect back to people how they've been feeling,’’ said veteran California Democratic organizer and strategist Alex Clemens. “California — and the United States, and the world — all need a victory lap. So I wouldn't begrudge any leader from reminding us that there is joy to be had."

But Newsom's opponents say the governor is prematurely dancing in the end zone. They point to a host of lingering problems — millions of public school parents still nervous about the potential for school closures in the fall; growing homelessness and housing problems; an unemployment system plagued by fraud; and small business struggles.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Kevin Faulconer, the former San Diego mayor, said Newsom and Democratic legislators must still be held to account for mismanagement. He's banking on voters having a long memory this year and not being swayed by a fast-opening economy and various giveaways.

"He can stand up all he wants and do the game show routine, but Californians are angry, they're pissed off and rightfully so," Faulconer told the KFI radio show "John and Ken" after the governor's Universal Studios appearance.

Faulconer also criticized Newsom and lawmakers for recently getting 4.2 percent pay raises from a commission. He called on Newsom to reject the increase; the governor has not said whether he will.

“That's just incredibly tone deaf,’’ Faulconer said in an interview. “At a time when millions of Californians lost their wages and income over the past year, and we still have over a million Californians who can't get their unemployment benefits. We had $30 billion worth of fraud in the Employment Development Department. It just shows how out of touch this governor is.’’

Clemens said Newsom's celebratory week doesn't belie the seriousness of his campaign strategy. California faces regular disaster risks, from wildfires to drought to blackouts. The governor already issued an emergency order allowing more fossil-fuel plants to run Thursday to ensure residents have enough electricity.

“I am certain that nobody on the governor's election team is taking anything for granted," Clemens said, "that they are treating this race like he is down 20 [points].”
https://www.politico.com/states/califor ... es-1386519
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

44
Elections officials across California said last week that the proposed rules written by Democratic lawmakers for the recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom could push the event’s cost far beyond the current estimate of $215 million, creating voter confusion and delaying the counting of ballots.

They have urged Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who will choose the date of the election, not to schedule the contest before mid-September, citing a long list of concerns, including the time needed to print ballots and federal guidelines for when to ship them to military and overseas voters.

“There are so many unknowns right now,” said Cynthia Paes, the interim registrar of voters in San Diego County.

Local elections officials began sounding the alarm soon after Democrats unveiled new legislation June 11 allowing the Newsom recall to be held as early as Aug. 24. The proposal would shorten the timeline by up to two months by eliminating the existing requirement of a lengthy analysis of the election’s costs.

Registrars of voters outlined 18 specific concerns with an early election in a letter sent to Kounalakis on June 14. The list includes items such as the potential conflict with a planned test of election systems across California and the challenge of quickly issuing contracts for outside services.

“We urge the Lieutenant Governor’s office take our concerns seriously which will allow us to conduct a successful election process,” the local officials wrote. “We owe this to our voters.”

Under state law, Kounalakis has some discretion on the timing. She must select a date no sooner than 60 days and no later than 80 days after the recall is certified by Secretary of State Shirley Weber.

The legislation introduced Friday goes much further than just offering a speedy election during which voters could remove Newsom from office. It also would require the recall to be conducted as a “regular election,” a change that is likely to prohibit some counties from implementing voting rules and procedures used in last November’s presidential election.

County officials had assumed no such changes when they estimated the cost of the recall to be $215 million.

The practices include consolidating voting precincts in favor of offering more “vote centers” where any registered voter in the county can cast a ballot, get a replacement ballot or register and vote on election day. Requiring that some counties return to offering a large number of traditional polling places could result in a time-consuming scramble to find enough locations and poll workers for a late summer election, officials said.

In some smaller counties, the mandate would sideline the use of election equipment purchased for use last November. Donna Johnston, registrar of voters in Sutter County, said the county would be required to find seven times as many in-person locations under the Legislature’s plan.

“We’re looking at it as what I would refer to as a ‘technology rollback,’” said Johnston, who serves as president of the state association of elections officials. “Voters would see longer lines.”

Counties with large populations could also struggle. Neal Kelley, Orange County‘s registrar of voters, said the legislation would require his office to go from 63 vote centers, with six workers per site, to 200 vote centers, with eight workers per site. And some of those locations would have to be open and fully staffed for 11 days.

“A lot of people have experience organizing big events like weddings,” Kelley said. “Now, factor that across the entire state of California for one of the biggest events ever, and you can see the problem.”

The proposed law was introduced after several prominent Democrats urged their leaders to speed up the recall election to capitalize on Newsom’s relatively strong job approval ratings as California’s COVID-19 conditions have improved. To do so requires scuttling state rules Democrats pushed through the Legislature in 2017 as part of an unsuccessful attempt to beat back the recall of a Democratic state senator.

Although the bill introduced June 11 would require more in-person voting, it does not appear to change existing plans to mail every voter a ballot. In February, Newsom and legislators agreed to extend last year’s rules for mailing every registered voter a ballot for any election held in 2021.

That, registrars said, puts enormous pressure on the vendors that supply the paper used for ballots — especially if those ballots are several pages long to potentially accommodate dozens of possible replacement candidates who have expressed a desire to run.

In 2003, there were 135 replacement candidates on the recall ballot seeking to replace Gov. Gray Davis.

“Vendors have indicated supply chain issues up to 12 weeks to obtain necessary paper supplies for ballots and envelopes,” Johnston and other officers of the state association wrote to Kounalakis on June 14.

Those challenges, added to the proposal’s mandate to return to regular election rules, could easily push costs beyond the $215-million estimate. A review by The Times of the survey filled out by local elections officers confirms state officials asked for estimates of only a special recall election or one consolidated with scheduled elections in 2022. “A lot of us have now told them that earlier cost data would be irrelevant,” Kelley said.
https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... call-rules


The political machinations to keep Newsom in office. The recall election was certified yesterday by the secretary of state.
It’s official: There will be a recall election of California Gov. Gavin Newsom this year.

While it was widely expected, the announcement Wednesday from Secretary of State Shirley Weber affirming that petitioners collected enough signatures to trigger the election — and not enough were withdrawn to stop it — kicks off a series of procedures to set the date.
https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... l-on-track
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

47
featureless wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 10:40 pm Newsom is gross. He has some good ideas, but overall, I think he's a self promoting wind bag looking for more political power.

Totally agree, Newsom feels that he can do no wrong with the Democratic supermajority in the Legislature, they have circled the wagons to protect him. The state is awash with money so they'll pay for whatever election most benefits Newsom. He's up for reelection next year and probably wants the recall done and over, so it doesn't conflict with his coronation to a second term.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: CA Democratic governor Newsom's recall

48
California Gov. Gavin Newsom now faces an additional hurdle in his campaign to defeat a recall bid.

In a state where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans nearly 2 to 1, the Democratic governor’s name may appear on the recall ballot without a party preference, thanks to a paperwork mistake made more than a year ago. The candidates seeking to replace him in the still-unscheduled election will be listed with their stated party preference.

As first reported by Courthouse News, Newsom filed a lawsuit Monday against California Secretary of State Shirley Weber asking the court to require Weber to print Newsom’s party preference on the recall ballots. Weber was confirmed to the post in January after being nominated by Newsom.

In the past, such as in the 2003 recall election targeting then-Gov. Gray Davis, party preference didn’t appear on the ballot next to the names of California elected officials targeted in recall elections. But a 2019 law signed by Newsom changed that.

The California Elections Code now gives officeholders the right to have their party preference listed on the ballot, but only if they file to do so during their initial seven-day window for responding to the recall notice — which in this case would have been in February 2020.

While Newsom responded to that initial filing within the window, he did not include his party preference “due to an inadvertent but good faith mistake made on the part of his elections attorney,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit states that Newsom’s lawyers “promptly” filed a notice of his party preference with Weber on June 19, 2021, after discovering the mistake. Weber declined to accept the notice.

“The Secretary of State’s office has a ministerial duty to accept timely filed documents,” Weber’s chief spokesperson Joe Kocurek said in a statement. “Acceptance of filings beyond a deadline requires judicial resolution.”

In the lawsuit, Newsom’s lawyers argue that there is no evidence in the legislative history of the 2019 law that the deadline set forth in the Elections Code “serves an important purpose.”

They further argue that applying the deadline would actually lead to “absurd results,” because “voters would be deprived of the very information that the Legislature deemed important for them to receive.”

The lawsuit specifies that Newsom still filed his party preference choice “well before the recall election has been called, before the nomination period has opened for replacement candidates, and before the form and length of the ballot has been finalized.”
https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... all-ballot


LOL Newsom appointed Shirley Weber as SOS when Alex Padillas was sworn in as US Senator. Newsom didn't take the recall seriously in 2020. We'll see what a court says.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests