Newsom’s Grueling Final Gauntlet
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California’s recall election is getting ugly.
There are plenty of Democrats, in California and out, who believe Governor Gavin Newsom brought the narrow recall he is currently facing on himself.
He failed to file his paperwork properly- and so won’t be listed as a Democrat on the ballot. He dined maskless at the ultra-exclusive $350 per plate minimum French Laundry for a political event during the worst of COVID- after lecturing Californians to avoid doing the same.
Under his leadership, over $11 billion dollars of COVID-19 unemployment aid, and possibly as much as twice that, was stolen by organized crime rings in foreign countries. Though he blamed the Trump Administration, the fact remains that Newsom’s administration failed to take appropriate measures to prevent theft on this scale, as others states did.
Homelessness has gotten worse under Newsom’s watch; much, much worse. The news this week that the state of California under Newsom also mismanaged $316 million dollars earmarked by the Federal Government to assist with homelessness can’t be welcome either.
“After collecting $316 million from the federal CARES Act to house homeless people during the Covid-19 pandemic, California simply held onto the funds instead of distributing it,” concluded Adam Andrzejewski for RealClear Policy. “The state may now lose it.”
There are a laundry list of other Newsom infractions, some of which aren’t entirely Newsom’s fault- like inflation and rising crime- and some which are- like worsening California’s energy crisis, forestry mismanagement and keeping public schools shuttered while his own children attended in-person private schools.
A referendum on COVID-19 closure policies and mitigation measures was bound to show up at the ballot box sooner or later. After an election cycle or two, we will know what mitigation strategies worked best in a constitutional democracy, at least as it pertains to incumbents keeping their office.
Newsom and his team initially didn’t take the recall effort seriously, which explains why things have gotten so desperate now. Anyone can see the situation has become dire when “vote for me or die,” is the closing campaign message and former-President Barack Obama cuts a campaign…
