[ad_1]
I received my sample ballot in the mail the other day and began to browse the list of candidates hoping to become governor if Gov. Gavin Newsom is recalled on September 14.
The list occupies three full print columns. Forty-six people are in the race, most of whom I have never heard of. I don’t know what the idea is there. Maybe one day you tell your grandchildren that you are running for governor? Maybe you put “gubernatorial candidate” on your business cards, or do you think you can take advantage of a leap in name recognition?
The list includes 24 Republicans, nine Democrats, two Greens, one Libertarian and 10 candidates with no party preference, all chasing Newsom, a Democrat. There is a farmer, a barber, two artists, a couple of pastors and a retired homicide detective. If you don’t like what you see, there is room for a written candidate.
In May, I wrote about the recall and expressed my sympathy for the poor bear who was being used as a prop by Republican candidate John Cox, who said Newsom was a pretty boy and it was “time to set the beast free. “. It didn’t seem fair to the bear, and I dismissed the recall as a circus that wouldn’t fly in California.
We all have to admit our mistakes, and I’m here to say I had it all wrong.
According to a poll late last month, the governor could in fact be dumped in a state dominated by Democrats. That’s because Democrats and independent voters may be much less likely to vote than Republicans, 90% of whom expressed a high level of interest in the recall. The poll found that among likely voters, 50% opposed Newsom’s ouster while 47% supported it.
As if that wasn’t a big enough headache for Newsom, a late entry into the race immediately rose to the top of the field of recall contenders – talk show host Larry Elder. A poll found the conservative Republican was favored by 18% of likely voters, topping his two closest rivals by eight points. The Sage of South-Central, as Elder calls himself, is also well-funded and has a built-in following of longtime fans.
At a Zoom press conference on Friday, Elder made his standard conservative views clear, accusing Newsom and leftist politics of crime, homelessness and high cost of housing, among other issues. And he said that as governor he would immediately suspend the mask and vaccination warrants.
Elder didn’t answer a question I asked about his candidacy, and I’ll get to that in a minute. But first, a few words about Newsom’s shortcomings, as well as my trip to a callback event Wednesday in Burbank and a walk in Venice the next day with contestant Caitlyn Jenner.
As I said before, Newsom has opened up to criticism on many fronts, including those mentioned by Elder. The unemployment benefits scandal is another big weakness for Newsom, whose blunders included his dull and hypocritical dinner at a time when he was telling us to use our heads and be safe.
But in a difficult time, given the pandemic, I would say Newsom was adequate enough that he should have been allowed to serve a term he was elected to by a landslide. He only has a little over a year left, and if we don’t like him, it would be soon enough to give him the boot. We’re not talking about New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who should have been kicked out of his office if he hadn’t ultimately resigned.
On Wednesday in Burbank, I expected to see the forks come out at an event scheduled by Rescue California. But I got to the steps of the county courthouse and found no one.
I went for a walk and checked my emails to make sure I was in the right place. After a while, a car pulled up and four people came out with recall documents and a “indictment” from Newsom for increased crime rates, homelessness, prison releases and pardons, forest fires and other crimes.
That was it. Four people. Plus me, the only journalist. Is it possible that the polls were wrong about recall support?
The four included Anne Hyde Dunsmore, chief of Rescue California, as well as a reporter and two fathers who lost their children to brutal murders many years ago. One was Marc Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter Polly was kidnapped and murdered in 1993 in northern California, and the other was Steve Herr, whose 26-year-old son Sam and a friend were murdered in Orange County in 2010.
The convicted murderers were sentenced to death, and Klaas and Herr – both Democrats – support the recall largely because they believe Newsom ignored the will of voters in 2018, when he issued an executive order imposing a moratorium on the death penalty. Newsom said at the time that the death penalty is “applied unevenly and unfairly to people of color, people with intellectual disabilities and people who cannot afford expensive legal representation.”
I agree with Newsom, but I fully respect Klaas and Herr’s position.
On my way to Venice the next day, I encountered a huge traffic jam on Highway 10 and thought about turning back. Former reality TV star and gold medalist Olympian Caitlyn Jenner has had no traction in the polls and has done little to stand out as a candidate. But she was going to talk about homelessness, and I wanted to see if there were any new ideas or strategies.
The short answer is no. I heard observations, not plans.
“We have to help people and we have to do it with compassion,” Jenner said, walking past homeless settlements during a walk and conversation. She said the town needed to be cleaned up and the LA County Sheriff’s controversial outreach should be expanded. If Newsom budgeted billions to meet the challenge, Jenner said, “For a billion dollars, do you know how many RVs you could buy? How many containers could you buy? “
Yes in fact. Nowhere near enough to make a big dent.
It’s no surprise that in this realm of supporting roles as aspiring governors, Elder has made a leap. The lawyer and media personality is a provocateur with a sharp tongue, that’s for sure. It’s just that his politics make him more apt to run a Red State, not California.
As the Times reported, Elder has sometimes called global warming a “pot” and a “myth.” He took issue with the reality of a glass ceiling for women called Roe vs. Wade, one of the worst Supreme Court decisions ever, believes there shouldn’t be a minimum wage and promises to suspend the California Environmental Quality Act.
The icing on the cake is that Elder, who is black, has been a staunch supporter and apologist for Donald Trump, who, among other accomplishments, has been a hero to the nation’s white supremacists.
Elder spoke at a church in San Jose on Thursday that was fined for defying coronavirus ordinances against gatherings. He said on Friday he visited a cafe in Palm Desert and was served by a young woman without a mask who said her boss did not need one. The eldest asked if she was vaccinated and said no. He asked why and she replied, “I don’t feel like I need to explain why.
Shame on her? No. In Larry’s world, it’s hurray for her. There is an infringement on freedom, so let’s all respect the rights of others to contract and spread a virus that has so far killed an estimated 4 million people around the world.
If this election does not go well for Elder, he should consider a future nomination for governor of Texas or Florida. There is a lot of opposition to masks and vaccines out there, and these two states are both hit by rising infection rates while California remains below the national average.
At Friday’s virtual press conference, I sent a question to Elder, asking how a guy so out of step with the California majority and the sitting legislature could expect to do anything if he got elected. . Except, of course, to increase his grades, which might be all Elder is looking for.
I didn’t get an answer, but I’m sure for a GOP that has made it anything but relevant in California, bringing down a Democrat would be victory enough. And it could happen, as this recall raises California’s mad bar to new heights.
As argued in a New York Times editorial co-written by the Dean of UC Berkeley Law School
Erwin Chemerinsky, if 10 million people vote for the recall, 5 million plus one could drop Newsom. If Elder maintains his current 18% support among the replacement candidates and wins, he could be elected governor with 1.8 million votes, despite 4,999,999 votes against Newsom’s recall. Chemerinsky says it would be unconstitutional.
I’m not making any predictions. It’s California, and there’s a month left.
Nothing can surprise.
window.fbAsyncInit = function()
FB.init(
appId : ‘134435029966155’,
xfbml : true,
version : ‘v2.9’
);
;
(function(d, s, id)
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
[ad_2]
Source Link