Gov. Gavin Newsom’s days as California’s governor seem to be numbered as a recall election looms.
The last time California held a recall was in 2003 when Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced Gray Davis.
In the United States, only 20 states allow a gubernatorial recall, and California is among them, with the lowest recall vote threshold of just 1,497,709 million signatures needed, and there are currently over 2 million signatures calling for Newsom’s recall. The petition, which was introduced February 2020, has reached its goal. The next step is to validate the signatures.
According to the petition, “People in this state suffer the highest taxes in the nation, the highest homelessness rates, and the lowest quality of life.”
The homeless problem isn’t just a California problem—it’s a national problem. Pre-COVID, California had the fourth-highest homeless rate in that nation. Many cities bus its homeless citizens out of state, and unfortunately, California seems to be the most popular of destinations.
“He has imposed sanctuary state status and fails to enforce immigration laws,” is another complaint stated in the petition.
The immigration laws that petitioners refer to weren’t issued by Newsom, it was signed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017. If anything, Newsom only upheld it. So much for, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”
According to the petition, “[Newsom] unilaterally over-ruled the will of the people regarding the death penalty.”
The death penalty is an archaic law that should’ve been abolished a long time ago. As we evolve as a society, so should our rules. If not, we might as well burn people at the stake or bring back stoning.
In April of 2020, CNN praised Newsom’s handling of the pandemic.
Newsom had an approval rating of 64%, according to a Sept. 2020 survey conducted by UC Berkeley. Since then, his approval rating dropped by 20%.
Things took a turn for the worst in November when photos emerged of Newsom without a mask at the French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley. This incident was highly controversial because, at the time, Newsom was urging Californians to refrain from socializing and wanted us to adhere to social distancing guidelines.
Californians were already upset over the stay-at-home restrictions that were in place and to see him contradict his orders was a significant misstep in an already tumultuous tenure.
Though the optics of this incident were terrible, in my opinion, it was not enough to remove the man from office.
A recall would cost taxpayers an estimated $81 million, considering he is nearing the end of his term, the prudent thing would be to wait.
Newsom faced an impossible task, the equivalent of putting out a forest fire with a water pistol.
Californians need to stop acting like petulant children and getting upset. The governor set rules to keep us safe. Folks didn’t adhere to those rules, and consequently, he put us in timeout with stricter guidelines to keep us safe.
If the recall goes through, the question remaining is: Who will replace him, and is that person a better option?
“Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know,” as R. Taverner.