Tag Archive for: Recall Gavin 2020

Questions for California’s Next Governor

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The Recall Gavin campaign announced on February 25 that they have now collected 1,825,000 signed recall petitions. This means that if 82 percent of these signed petitions are validated by the county registrars, there will be a special election to see if Gavin Newsom remains in office as California’s governor. The proponents aren’t slowing down, however, nor should they. Lead proponent Orrin Heatlie, reached for comment on this latest milestone, was unequivocal. “The work isn’t done,” he said, “we need to secure greater numbers than are required in order to beat the rejection rate and we are still looking for two million signed petitions. If we can keep up the pace we’re at, we’ll make it.”

Heatlie, a man of extraordinary determination that has surprised every political expert in the state, now commands a statewide volunteer army of over 5,000 seasoned activists. His committee is joined by a parallel committee led by Anne Dunsmore, a veteran political consultant whose grit equals Heatlie. Dunsmore threw her energy and experience fully into the recall effort when nobody else would. The synergy generated by these two committees, with complementary strategies and skill sets, has made political history. With the finish line in sight, neither of them is about to slow down.

If there is a special election, the recall ballot will have two questions. The first will be “do you support removing Newsom from office, yes or no?” The second question, on the same ballot, will be “if voters remove Newsom from office, who do you vote for to replace him?”

Who steps up to run as Newsom’s replacement is the biggest political question in California today. How that slate of candidates is constituted will influence Newsom’s chances of surviving question one, as well as who ends up running California if Newsom is rejected by voters.

California’s Democrats are split on how to handle this, with a narrow consensus holding so far that considers the best strategy is to not support any Democratic candidates on the ballot under question two, and emphasize instead their support for Newsom. Their rationale is based on a concern that if an alternative Democrat is on the ballot, it will harm Newsom’s chances of surviving the recall since it will give California’s disaffected Democrats – and they are plentiful – a reason to vote to recall Newsom.

That may or may not stop some Democrat from throwing their hat into the ring, and for Republicans, that is a double-edged sword. On one hand, having a Democrat alternative to Newsom will make it more likely that Newsom does not survive the recall. But on the other hand, if there is only one prominent Democrat offered as a replacement for Newsom on question two, facing two or more prominent Republicans, the Republican candidates will split the vote and the Democrat will win.

The nightmare scenario for Republicans goes something like this: The declared Republican candidates, John Cox and Kevin Faulconer, are joined by one or two other prominent Republican candidates, then Lorena Gonzalez, currently one of the most radical members of the California State Assembly, jumps onto the ballot to run as the sole Democratic alternative. Gonzalez then becomes the next Governor of California because the Republicans have split the anti-Gonzalez vote three ways. Gonzalez could never win state office in a normal election. But she could win the jungle recall.

Then again, the metaphor “jungle” is appropriate. Under current California election law, almost anyone can get their name on a recall ballot. Who will jump in? In 2003, there were 135 candidates. Will Larry Elder run? Will Richard Grenell run? What about another celebrity like Schwarzenegger? Why not? There are a lot of animals in the California jungle.

If there are a lot of candidates in the recall, there is still a way that one candidate can excite the electorate to stand out from the pack and beat the odds. That is not by attacking the other candidates, or even by emphasizing the failed leadership of Gavin Newsom and by extension, the entire Democratic party in California. It is by emphasizing solutions to the challenges Californians are facing. To that end, here are some questions for candidates that aspire to become the next governor of California:

Are you willing to direct California’s attorney general to fight to overturn Jones v. the City of Los Angeles, the flawed court ruling that requires homeless people be offered free “permanent supportive housing” before they can be removed from their public encampments?

Are you willing to build state-run encampments where able-bodied drug addicts can be hauled off and given the help they need for pennies on the dollar, or are you going to allow the Homeless Industrial Complex to keep on raping taxpayers and solving nothing?

Are you willing to tell the truth, that we ought to drill for more natural gas here in resource-rich California to create jobs since we import so much of it anyway? Will you prevent the destruction of California’s natural gas distribution infrastructure?

Are you willing to keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant open? Will you support mining California’s abundant lithium deposits so California’s EV battery suppliers don’t have to import these raw materials from slave states?

Are you willing to stand up to the teachers’ unions and fight for school choice via universal vouchers where the money follows the student, and/or massive improvement in the ability to open and keep open independent charter schools?

Are you going to fight to bring back logging to 1990 levels (triple what it is today) so we can thin the overgrown forests and at the same time the timber companies will clear around the power lines and maintain firebreaks and fire roads like they used to, at no charge?

Will you tell the truth about open space, that we are not running out of it, and will you fight to bring back streamlined permitting for subdivisions on open land along the major freeway corridors up and down the state?

Will you spend public money on water infrastructure—reservoirs, aquifer storage, desalination, sewage reuse—instead of putting Californians onto water rationing?

Will you invest in widening and extending California’s roads and freeways instead of wasting money on high-speed rail? Do you understand that smart cars and passenger drones are just around the corner, making roads the most versatile transportation investment?

Will you tell the identity politics warriors and social justice warriors they’re barking up the wrong tree, that California is not “racist,” and that if they truly want to help they can encourage individuals to take responsibility for their lives?

These are bold positions that, if translated into policies, would make a positive difference in the lives of ordinary Californians. Explaining the compelling rationale for these policies will build consensus among voters. This means an articulate, uncompromising new governor could bypass California’s corrupt state legislature and take every one of these positions to the voters in the form of state ballot initiatives.

Forcing Newsom to defend himself in a recall election is going to be a tremendous accomplishment, but it is only half the battle. Offering a coherent alternative to what Newsom and the Democrats he represents have done to Californians is the vital other half of this struggle.

Even in the event of a nightmare outcome, the replacement of Newsom with someone like the even more extreme Lorena Gonzalez, there is a silver lining. Californians will experience, to the extent they haven’t already experienced it, the full weight of one-party rule by leftist fanatics, environmentalist extremists, social justice “woke” warriors, public sector unions, corrupt business special interests, and the billionaire oligarchs that pull the strings. It will be a clarifying experience.

If things go from bad to worse in California, and voters have to endure a doubling down of failed leadership from Democrats, they will be ready to vote for ballot initiatives and reform candidates that offer new policies to an electorate that is finally paying attention.

This article originally appeared on the website California Globe.

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Newsom Recall Moves Relentlessly Towards Qualifying

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With exactly one month left to gather signatures, the effort to force California Governor Newsom to fight for his political life in a special election appears on the verge of success.

Back in June 2020, against the advice of every political expert in the state, a group of volunteers began circulating a recall petition. The chances they would gather 1.5 million verifiable signatures were considered negligible. But they had several advantages previous volunteer efforts lacked.

For starters, the recall committee had access to thousands of volunteers who had already participated in an earlier effort to recall the governor. Before running out of time in February 2020, that recall campaign, while unsuccessful, had gathered over 350,000 signed petitions. That may not have been anywhere close to the number required, but was nonetheless an impressive achievement that required a well coordinated statewide effort.

When the new recall petition was approved for circulation in June, this army of volunteers was not only trained, but reenergized by Newsom’s response to the pandemic. His heavy handed approach, of dubious benefit, was added to a litany of preexisting complaints about his governance.

Another advantage this recall effort had was its skillful use of online resources. Even ten years ago, when smartphones were just beginning to become ubiquitous, these tactics could not have had the same impact. But by June 2020, it was possible to immediately offer virtually any registered voter a downloadable petition along with written and video information on how to print it and fill it out. It was also possible to coordinate volunteer efforts on social media groups, aggregate and map locations to get petitions or turn them in, and publicize rallies and signing events. The campaign did all of these things.

Another break came in mid-summer when Orrin Heatlie’s volunteer committee began working with Anne Dunsmore, a veteran political consultant. Dunsmore, who was involved in the successful Gray Davis recall in 2003, has a reputation for taking on campaigns against the odds. She quickly established momentum with her parallel committee.

Since then the synergy between these committees has put them on the brink of complete success. Using the same firm to process and verify signed petitions, but employing different strategies, Heatlie’s Recall Gavin 2020 committee of volunteers and Dunsmore’s Rescue California committee of professionals are on track to have gathered 1.4 million signed petitions as they enter the second week of February and the final month of collection. Because it is impossible to eliminate every petition that may be improperly completed or otherwise ineligible, the goal of the campaign is to collect 1.8 million signatures in order to be certain that at least 1.5 million will be verified.

How these signed petitions break down by source reveals unprecedented success with not one, but two unconventional means of signature gathering. Typically ballot initiatives must employ paid signature gatherers. In today’s market these paid petition circulation firms can charge as much as $10 per signature, although the price can vary considerably. It isn’t unusual for a campaign to enter into an agreement that starts at a lower price, but as time runs out and – as is often the case – harassment by operatives hired by the opposition becomes more intense, the price shoots up into the $10 per signature range. For powerful special interests like Uber or Lyft, or the California Teachers Association, or various industry groups, paying this much for signed petitions is not a problem. But for a grassroots recall campaign, it is unthinkable.

Instead, to-date the Recall Gavin 2020 volunteers have gathered over 1.1 million signatures. It is difficult to overstate the significance of this achievement. Prior to this, the most productive volunteer signature gathering efforts in history would include the 2014 attempt to force a referendum on AB 1266 (transgender bathrooms), where despite narrowly failing to qualify, about a half-million signatures were gathered by volunteers. To find anything of similar scale before that requires going all the way back to 1978, where estimates of the volunteer share of signatures to qualify the famous Prop. 13 (limiting property taxes) are also around a half-million.

The Recall Gavin 2020 volunteers have collected more than twice as many signatures as the previous records. And they have over 5,000 volunteers working every weekend to collect more.

The other unconventional method to gather signatures is being employed by Dunsmore’s Rescue California committee. Using targeted direct mail, they are sending recall petitions and reply envelopes to millions of Californians. Results so far indicate this is a cost-effective alternative to paid signature gathering. According to Rescue California, they will complete the direct mail objective of mailing 3.5 million households by February 7, and that so far they have received over 270,000 signed recall petitions thru these direct mail efforts. Based on the timing of the mailings, with half of them still to be delivered and a significant proportion of the rest just received, the committee expects to collect additional hundreds of thousands of signed petitions over the next few weeks. According to Dunsmore, these direct mail petitions are validating at an extraordinary rate of 98 percent.

Success catalyzes success. If there was a tipping point in this recall campaign, it would probably be in early November, when two things happened. On November 6 the campaign was granted a 120 day extension to gather signatures, based on their appeal that COVID-19 restrictions hampered the ability for volunteers to circulate petitions. Also around that time, the campaign announced they had gathered over 700,000 signed petitions. With more time, and an already impressive total of signed recall petitions, money and support began to pour in.

Reports just filed with the California Secretary of State, combined with disclosures from committee spokespersons indicate the two committees together have already raised over $3.4 million. Rescue California has raised $2.3 million from over 13,000 contributors, and the Recall Gavin 2020 committee has raised over $900,000 from several thousand donors as well.

Leaving nothing to chance, Rescue California has just added a paid signature gathering effort for the final 4-5 weeks, using funds provided by a group of Silicon Valley donors. For those observers who felt relying merely on volunteers and direct mail was a risky approach, this decision – made possible by the recent surge in donations – further increases the probability of success.

It appears inevitable that a very public trial of Gavin Newsom’s conduct as governor is about to begin. By extension, this recall election will put on trial the entire ruling class and super-majority party Newsom is part of, and the failed policies they have perpetrated on ordinary working Californians. This recall election will also, of course, be an opportunity for new candidates with new ideas to challenge Newsom and everything he represents.

The nation, and the world, will be watching.

This article originally appeared on the website California Globe.

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Newsom Recall Gathers Momentum

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With over 1.2 million signed petitions already collected, and tens of thousands more arriving daily, the chances that Gavin Newsom will have to fight for his political life in a special recall election have never been higher. How the proponents have built a powerful coalition of committees is an example of innovation that offers a new model for qualifying initiatives, recalls and referendums, one that will not be restricted to billionaire corporations or one-party legislatures.

According to lead proponent Orrin Heatlie, the volunteer signature gathering army that has been growing all summer is now deploying over 5,000 people every weekend to gather signatures. “They’re tired but they keep plugging along like they always have,” said Heatlie, adding that “more and more people volunteer as they learn about the progress of the movement.”

The latest counts, confirmed by representatives at both of the main committees, indicate over 200,000 signatures have already been collected via a direct mail effort, and over 1,000,000 signatures have now been gathered by volunteers. The original volunteer committee, the California Patriot Coalition led by Heatlie, has been active since June 2020. The committee running the direct mail campaign, Rescue California led by Anne Dunsmore, has only been doing mass mailings for a few weeks.

Using direct mail instead of professional signature gatherers is a risk that appears to be paying off. Paid signature gathering campaigns currently face the multiple obstacles of COVID restrictions on where they can set up, as well as the impact of AB 5 which destroys the traditional business model of hiring signature gatherers as independent contractors. Even before these new hurdles were added, the costs for signature gathering had already gone up because the number of firms able to do statewide campaigns consolidated at the same time as the number of well-funded special interests willing to pay whatever it takes increased. For example, Uber, or the real estate industry, or the association representing dialysis clinics, and others, can easily spend tens of millions of dollars on a signature campaign. But activist groups rarely have unlimited funds.

This is why the synergy generated by the original committee, the California Patriot Coalition, which successfully recruited a grassroots army, combined with the innovative approach of direct mail being used by Rescue California, may become a precedent setting breakthrough to be emulated in future initiative qualification campaigns.

“It is exciting to see the response to our effort,” said Anne Dunsmore when reached for comment. “We are way ahead of our projections, and we absolutely expect to reach our goal of 700,000 signed petitions via direct mail. The signed petitions we receive are validating at the astonishing rate of 98 percent, each response averages over two signatures, and we also have received donations from over 8,000 people, including over 500 in the past week.”

Dunsmore also recognized the tremendous contributions of the original recall committee, saying “We are enormously pleased with our partnership with the California Patriot Coalition and their volunteer effort.”

A key member of the California Patriot Coalition is Robin McCrae, who echoed Dunsmore’s sentiments about the synergy between the two committees, saying “we are all well intentioned, passionate people who care about making change for the better and we all have a common goal and common purpose and our parallel efforts will get the job done.”

With thousands of active volunteers, managing the logistics and messaging of the group is a challenge. Heatlie explained how that challenge was recently complicated by Facebook. “We have 75 local Recall Gavin groups on Facebook with over 200,000 members,” said Heatlie, “and in the days following the events on January 6 in Washington DC, all of our administrators were locked out of posting or commenting on posts. Over 150 of our administrators and regional managers were locked out of their Facebook groups. The ban won’t lift until January 23rd.”

The irony of Facebook leaving these group pages up but locking out the administrators is that the group leaders lost the ability to screen user posts and comments. This meant the risk of non-administrators leaving posts or comments that might offend Facebook went up, not down, by virtue of their ban. “If violations were entered on our Facebook pages,” said Heatlie, “we couldn’t remove them anymore.”

Opponents of the recall point to incendiary comments online, attributable to a few people and often posted in the heat of the moment. But a few objectionable comments only represent a minute fraction of the vast movement behind the recall. It is worth wondering who is helped when Facebook prevents recall organizers from even moderating their online forums.

McCrae offered additional thoughts that might summarize the motivations of the vast majority of recall supporters when she said “The heart and soul of this recall are hard working volunteers who are dedicated to saving California. They are fighting for the right to work, to save their businesses, and protect their freedom from government overreach. They recognize that California is no longer thriving. Our beautiful state is deteriorating and we are trying to save it.”

Dunsmore summed up the opportunity represented by tapping tremendous grassroots energy and supplementing that with traditional professional campaigning. “We are working together with passion, but not reckless passion. That’s hard when people are coming up with policies that are so atrocious and polarizing. When something is really important and it’s bad, you can’t just get mad, you have to fix the problem with a level head.”

What Newsom faces with this recall is a new coalition. A populist movement that is growing in political and logistical savvy every day, allied with a group of seasoned professionals who dove in against the odds to support them. There are many politicians in California that have, at least in the minds of millions of voters, failed to recognize and correct the challenges facing Californians. As they watch the “walls close in” on Newsom, they may rest assured they will be next.

This article originally appeared on the website California Globe.

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Harmeet Dhillon: THIS Recall Gavin Campaign Has Over 800,000 Petitions

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Harmeet Dhillon doesn’t need national publicity. She’s frequently invited onto the national stage by conservative television hosts. By the time you’ve been on television as many times as Harmeet Dhillon has, you’re not appearing for the thrill of the experience, you’re appearing because you have a duty to spread the truth and motivate millions of people to fight the good fight.

So why would Harmeet Dhillon, one of the finest and most eloquent conservatives California’s got, make an epic misstatement of fact, one that throws cold water into the faces of thousands of activists who have worked tirelessly since June to recall Governor Newsom?

In an appearance on Fox’s The Ingraham Angle last week, Harmeet Dhillon was asked about the signature gathering campaign which could very well force Gavin Newsom into a special recall election, and a fight for his political life by the spring of 2021. Ingraham mentioned that according to one of the leaders of the effort, Tom Del Beccaro, the effort to recall Newsom has gathered over 700,000 signatures so far.

Ingraham asked Dhillon, “how would this work, if the signature number, 1.5 million was actually reached?”

To which Dhillon answered, “first of all this is the third such recall effort, there are two prior efforts, so I think the signatures you are mentioning are with some other recall efforts.”

Where is Dhillon getting her information? If she had talked with anyone connected with the recall campaign, she would know that 700,000 is actually an outdated number, and that the latest estimate has total signed recall petitions at well over 800,000. Not including the “two prior efforts.”

Last week, a few days prior to Dhillon’s appearance on Fox, I spoke with Paul Olson, principal at GoCo Consulting. Olson’s firm, which has years of experience in this business, are verifying that the signed petitions are valid. They are checking signatures, names, and addresses against a file of California’s registered voters. They are making sure signatures match, names are correct, that there aren’t duplicates, and the forms are filled out correctly.

In a telephone conversation with Paul Olson on 11/18, he confirmed that his firm has already processed 494,000 signed petitions which have either just been turned in or are now being delivered to the county clerks around the state. Olson also confirmed that his firm is currently processing another 230,000 signatures. That’s 724,000, Ms. Dhillon. All gathered for this effort, and not including previous efforts.

When combined with the 55,000 – for this effort – that were turned in earlier in the year, and the ones signed but still on their way to GoCo, conservatively estimated at 60,000, this campaign has already collected an estimated 839,000 signed recall petitions.

Lead proponent for the recall, Orrin Heatlie, reached for comment on 11/23, was enthusiastic. “There are many good developments over the last few days. We are talking with people who have just now decided to support and endorse the campaign. On all fronts, signature gathering, web traffic, and donations, our momentum continues to build.”

To force a recall election, the campaign will need to turn in not quite 2.0 million signatures, in order to be certain to yield a net quantity of approved petitions numbering at least 1,495,709. They have 114 days left to gather another 1.0 million signed petitions. When one considers the fact that two weeks ago, 5.9 million Californians voted to reelect President Trump (a number set to increase since they’re still counting votes), and every one of those voters would probably sign a petition to recall Newsom, finding people to sign is not the problem.

What will challenge the recall campaign is earning additional publicity and managing logistics. The volunteers who have gathered over 800,000 signatures can continue gathering signatures at an accelerating rate, but they need help. Some of that help will come from a new committee formed to assist on the recall, headed up by former California State GOP chairman Tom Del Beccaro. But where are the rest of the troops?

Where is the California State GOP, which endorsed the recall effort early in the summer? Now that the November elections are over, why aren’t they putting their resources in every county into the recall? Almost every email the CAGOP blasts to their list disparages Newsom. Do they really mean it? Because the state party, fully committed to the recall, could make a big difference.

As for Harmeet Dhillon, she is invited to call Laura Ingraham’s senior producer (his name is Roman Cofini), and request a new interview where she can tell America – most certainly including Californians – the true measure of the recall campaign’s accomplishments so far.

That one gesture would go a very long way towards motivating volunteers who have already made history. It would also attract national attention to a movement that strikes at the heart of the progressive fraud in America, King Newsom, California’s endangered governor.

This article originally appeared on the website California Globe.

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Recall Campaign Gets Powerful New Ally

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The Recall Gavin 2020 campaign, which took on new life when a judge granted them a 120 day extension, till March 17, 2021, has just acquired the support of a new committee, Rescue California. Headed up by former California GOP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro, this new PAC brings a powerful group of experienced politicians, political professionals, and donors to the front lines of the Recall Gavin movement, bringing help to what is already one of the most impressive grassroots efforts in California history.

Reached for comment on this new development was Rescue California Co-Chair Tony Krvaric, long-time chairman of the San Diego County Republican Party and one of the most formidable political strategists in the state. He said “This new PAC is built with the right people to recall Governor Gavin Newsom, holding him accountable for his erratic leadership and stunning hypocrisy in this crisis. Californians deserve better and we invite everyone to join in this effort.”

The coalition that has now formed is a unique opportunity, long overdue, for establishment Republicans in California to merge their talents and resources with what has become a massive, bipartisan collection of volunteers. Having this new player involved does not change anything with the petition. There is still only one official recall petition, which can be downloaded by anyone with an internet connection and a printer. To ensure there is no wasted effort, both organizations are working with the same firm to collect signed petitions and verify their validity.

In a telephone conversation with Paul Olson on November 18, whose company, GoCo Consulting, is doing the petition verification for the recall, he confirmed that his firm has already processed 494,000 signed petitions which have either just been turned in or are now being delivered to the county clerks around the state. Olson also confirmed that his firm is currently processing another 230,000 signatures.

When combined with the 55,000 that were turned in earlier in the year, and the ones already signed but still being delivered, conservatively estimated at 60,000, this campaign has already collected over 800,000 signed recall petitions.

“From the beginning I have been impressed with the efforts of the original petitioners,” said veteran fundraiser Ann Dunsmore, who assisted the all-volunteer recall campaign through the summer. Dunsmore is now working with the new committee, explaining that “I was pleased to be asked to continue supporting the cause by Republican elected officials and Republican party leaders throughout the state. I hope we will be able to support the recall in a fashion that respects the passion and the efforts of the volunteers which has gotten us this far.”

When reached for comment on this new development, the lead proponent of the recall, Orrin Heatlie, was enthusiastic. “This is happening at exactly the right time,” he said, “we have just gotten the 120 day extension. This new committee, supported by dozens of prominent elected officials and seasoned professionals, is a perfect complement to our volunteers. We are the army, and they are the cavalry. I could not be more pleased.”

It remains to be seen how much energy the California State Republican Party will put into the recall effort. The post-election counting, at least in California, is winding down. The California GOP is riding on the heels of some important victories including picking up two seats in the US Congress. They’re also dealing with a few heartbreaking defeats such as Senator Moorlach, who lost his bid for reelection after being targeted by the prison guards’ union. Right now, with the election over, is a perfect time for California’s GOP, which continues to regularly blast emails sharply critical of “King Newsom,” to get directly involved in this increasingly credible attempt to kick the King off his throne.

Getting the requisite 1,495,709 signatures to force a recall, with over half of them already collected, ought to be easy if a determined and adequately funded coalition steps up. Prospects to sign the recall petition are not in short supply. In 2016, candidate Trump got 4,483,810 votes in California, 31.6 percent. In 2018, with more ballots left to count, Trump has already received 5,884,058 votes in California, 34.2 percent. He not only earned the support of nearly 1.5 million more voters than he’d attracted in 2016, he improved his percentages in what was an election with record turnout. Finding a Trump voter in this state who would be unwilling to sign a recall petition would be a tough job. But that’s only part of this opportunity, because getting rid of this governor is a wholly bipartisan cause, backed not only by Republicans, but by Democrats, Libertarians, and independents.

The strategic value of making Governor Newsom fight to stay in office cannot be overstated. Newsom is more than just an incompetent, hypocritical, corrupt governor. He exemplifies the entire fraud that constitutes the Democratic Party in California. Governor Newsom, and his party, have ran California for decades, and the legacy of their rule is the highest income inequality and the highest cost-of-living in the United States, crumbling infrastructure, failing schools, devastating wildfires caused by negligence, avoidable shortages of water and energy, a housing industry destroyed by overregulation, and an invasion of homeless that could be helped if it weren’t for the toxic progressive combination of misguided compassion and rampant corruption.

A special election that forces Newsom to defend his office would be an opportunity for California’s GOP to redefine itself not just by being anti-Democrat, but by offering real solutions: education vouchers to guarantee universal school choice, reform of crippling environmentalist overreach such as the California Environmental Quality Act, great new infrastructure projects to build new roads, repair the aqueducts, and invest in more water storage, keeping Diablo Canyon open, and reviving the timber industry which could thin California’s overgrown forests.

Several organizations working cooperatively to ensure this recall effort qualifies for the ballot is not easy. But it is not unusual for initiatives and recalls to be promoted by more than one campaign. The Davis recall in 2003 had several independent committees working to gather petitions, and that result is history. Will history repeat itself?

This article originally appeared on the website California Globe.

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Recall Gavin Effort Booms Despite Media Blackout

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When the history of the 2020 election in California is written, the prevailing question will be why didn’t the California Republican Party take advantage of one of the biggest populist movements in modern history, the ongoing campaign to recall Governor Gavin Newsom. The period this recall effort has been allocated for signature gathering overlaps neatly with the peak political season, hence there is a tremendous opportunity for CAGOP to capitalize on its momentum.

It’s easy enough to understand why, despite gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures, and being on track to gather more signed petitions than any volunteer effort, ever, there is virtually zero media coverage. California’s establishment radio, press, and television networks are determined to ignore the Recall Gavin 2020 campaign for the same reasons the CAGOP ought to embrace – it is a rebellion that has attracted millions of disillusioned Californian voters and it has the potential to fundamentally transform the political landscape of the state.

For California’s media, this blackout is merely malpractice. Their partisan bias – expressed in how they frame issues, what issues they choose to cover, what facts they choose to emphasize over others, and their many sins of omission – is well established and comes as no surprise. In the case of CAGOP, their lack of support is, to be charitable, due to an excess of caution.

To appreciate the weight of the populist uprising sweeping California, the media, and CAGOP, might choose to attend the next large event organized by the Recall Gavin 2020 campaign, a rally to be held on the north steps of the State Capitol on Saturday 9/19 from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m. They will witness not hundreds, but thousands of supporters, showing up in a “Rolling Thunder” vehicle caravan as well as congregating on the north lawn. Smaller crowds at the Capitol, often comprised mostly of people who were paid to attend, consistently manage to attract television cameras and reporters. But to be newsworthy, you have to further the Democrat narrative.

The ingenuity displayed by the Recall Gavin 2020 campaign could teach a lot to the CAGOP consultants and their donors, a tight-knit network that has displayed remarkable continuity while presiding over an unrelenting decline that has lasted for three decades. It comes down to this: If you support the people, the people will support you.

To support the people, CAGOP three choices: First, they can aggressively promote a visionary platform with a few revolutionary but very concrete objectives. Things have gotten so bad, this ought to be easy. Thin the forests. Round up the homeless and put them in supervised tent cities (saving billions). Permit expansion of suburbs on the perimeter of cities which is the only way home prices will ever come down. Keep Diablo Canyon open, along with clean natural gas power plants (saving billions). Widen the freeways. Fix the aqueducts. Build more reservoirs and underground water storage. Enact school choice, preferably by issuing vouchers (saving billions). Start prosecuting criminals and get drug addicts off the streets. Quit harassing businesses (adding billions).

To the naysayers: Stop relying on polling, which is merely a good way for legacy consulting firms to collect, say, $900,000 to compile increasingly unreliable data on voter sentiment. Voter sentiment changes. Leadership and vision change the minds of voters. Get out there, and listen to people. You will be astonished at how close California’s entire population is to embracing a completely new agenda. But not one powerful CAGOP politician or donor has the guts to not just promote a revolutionary agenda, but demand it.

Choice two for CAGOP is even easier. Fire a shot that will be heard around the world by supporting the Recall Gavin 2020 campaign, unequivocally and without reservations. This will serve notice to voters that the party means business, and it’s gone onto offense. Have every CAGOP candidate express their support for the recall, and make it the centerpiece of a statewide slate declaring the CAGOP position on the many ballot initiatives facing voters in November.

Opposing Gavin Newsom gives much needed coherence and excitement to everything else  CAGOP is fighting for in this state. For example, there is not one significant state ballot initiative Newsom is for, that CAGOP is not against, nor is there one that he is against, that CAGOP is not supporting. The votes on many of these initiatives will be close. Enlisting the support of the recall volunteers could make the difference.

Choice three is the strategy that CAGOP is currently pursuing. Their strategy is thus: “Vote for us because we are not Democrats, and therefore you should support us.” That strategy is adequate – not good, but adequate – with the 24 percent of voters who are still registered Republican in California. For the rest, not so much.

Reluctance on the part of CAGOP to support the Recall Gavin 2020 campaign is understandable only if you view grassroots activism as a zero sum game. There are literally tens of thousands of Californians currently circulating petitions to recall the governor. These are people who could be, to mention perhaps the most important variable, walking precincts to recapture battleground seats in the U.S. Congress. But it is not a zero sum game.

The field directors for those candidates in tight races should be delivering their campaign material to the volunteers who are coordinating the recall efforts in their counties. Supporters of the recall are not exclusively Republicans, in fact, in many counties they may not even be majority Republican. But Newsom personifies Democrats, and they’re already fighting Newsom. If CAGOP endorses the recall, these recall volunteers become ripe prospects for conversion.

This bears reflection. Consider this revealing map, prepared by the Public Policy Institute of California (below), that depicts the political geography of the state as if the number of voters in each county drove the size of the space in which they resided. See that tiny, tiny little red patch up in the great white north? That’s your base. Get real. Take a chance. Swing for the fences.

CAGOP strategists and donors have to ask themselves some tough questions: “Are the recall volunteers people who would have otherwise volunteered to help us?” Some of them would have, but the vast majority of them would not. With that in mind, the question then becomes “will these recall volunteers support our candidates?” And to that, one can only say why wouldn’t they? If they’ve had it with Newsom, they’ve had it with his party.

The final question to pose to CAGOP strategists and donors at this critical time is simply this: Why are you blasting out millions of emails deriding the governor, if we’re unwilling to support the recall effort? Emails with subject lines such as “King Newsom will stop at nothing” (9/17), “King Newsom’s Reign Must End” (9/16), or “King Newsom Has Gone Too Far,” (9/06)? Are you kidding? Or do you mean it?

When you stand up for what you believe in, people are attracted. When you say one thing, and do another, you don’t matter. This recall campaign was inevitable. It was unstoppable. From the beginning the opportunity for CAGOP was either to embrace the recall effort, which would unify the base and attract new followers, or ignore it, confirming their status as the residual irrelevancy exemplified by the PPIC political map.

The Recall Gavin 2020 campaign’s lead proponent, Orrin Heatlie, is a capable and determined campaigner who has, from scratch, mobilized an army. There is a path forward for this campaign to beat the odds and put this recall onto the ballot. As will be seen, they are likely to surpass any similar sort of volunteer signature gathering effort in the history of California. Should they come tantalizingly close to success, yet fail, CAGOP will have a lot of explaining to do. Or they can have the courage of their declared convictions, and join the fight.

This article originally appeared on the website California Globe.

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A Bold Idea for California’s GOP

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After attempting to energize the grassroots back in January with mass emails declaring “President Trump Needs Your Help!,” and “President Donald Trump vs. 45 CA Democrats,” and “Trump wants to fix California’s homeless problem,” and “Will the Impeachment Sham Ever End?,” this month the California State Republican Party’s emails have a new focus. Instead of defending President Trump, they are attacking Governor Newsom.

Unfortunately, in both cases, this appeal to the grassroots rings hollow. Despite 4.7 million Californians voting for Trump in 2016, and despite the president retaining overwhelming popularity among California’s registered Republicans, the CAGOP establishment knows better than to spread a pro-Trump message to California’s wider electorate. They launched a targeted endorsement of Trump to their base that was designed more to raise money than to convey any sort of sincere appreciation for Trump. It was a hollow gesture, and the base knew it was a hollow gesture.

What the CAGOP leadership did, acting like they support Trump while being terrified of saying so to a broader audience of Californians, might be forgiven as simply an acknowledgement of political reality. That’s debatable, of course, if you believe, as the GOP base obviously does, that Trump’s policies matter more than his personality, and that on policy, Trump has been right again and again. Why not proclaim that, if that’s true? Why not own it? But in any case, Newsom is a completely different story. The CAGOP attacks on Newsom don’t have to ring hollow.

What Gavin Newsom increasingly represents to not just GOP stalwarts, but to independents and even moderate Democrats, is a Governor who has lost touch with his constituency and is driving the state to ruin. And the CAGOP agrees. Their new email blitz has been unrelenting. “Newsom wants his unconstitutional power back” (6/24), “Governor Newsom’s Dimmer Switch” [shutting down the economy] (7/02), “King Newsom?” (7/18), “King Newsom Has Gone Too Far,” (7/20).

The California Republican Party Should Endorse the Newsom Recall Campaign

So the question one may put to the CAGOP leadership is simple: If they truly believe this governor is this bad, why aren’t they supporting the current recall effort? That would put instant substance into their attacks on Newsom.

It seems this would make practical sense for the CAGOP. Unlike the CAGOP’s pro-Trump messages, which were launched in the dark of night and designed to only be seen by their microtargeted cadre of known Trump supporters (i.e., nearly the entire base of registered Republicans in the state), the CAGOP’s anti-Newsom messages ought to be seen and heard everywhere, by everyone. This is CAGOP’s chance to be taken seriously for the first time in years, if not decades. But to accomplish that, they have to endorse the current recall campaign.

There’s no disputing the urgency of the other battles the CAGOP is fighting. They want to recover swing districts in the State Assembly, the State Senate, and the U.S. Congress. These are important fights, as are the defensive fights looming against some absolutely horrible initiatives that Democrats have put onto the state ballot for this November. But it is possible to walk and chew gum at the same time. Imagine the upside.

The mere act of proclaiming support for the Newsom recall would instantly earn the gratitude and loyalty of tens of thousands of volunteer activists who are circulating recall petitions up and down the state. It would earn the gratitude and loyalty of additional hundreds of thousands of registered voters who have already signed the recall petition. Candidates who are running for office in battleground districts could endorse the recall, show up at the many recall events which have attracted tens of thousands of activists, and they could very likely recruit these volunteers to help them with their election campaigns at the same time as they circulated recall petitions.

Why, exactly, would the CAGOP endorsing a Newsom recall fail to galvanize voters, fill them with hope and enthusiasm for their party for the first time in years, drive them to the polls on November 3, and unify them with the seasoned operatives who are fighting to preserve what remains of GOP power in California? Why not do this?

The reason why is twofold, and both are as profoundly depressing as they are curable. First, CAGOP lacks a viable gubernatorial candidate to step up, the way Schwarzenegger did back in 2003. Second, they lack a clear alternative agenda, in order to differentiate themselves from the Democrats. The first problem is harder, because it depends on somebody, somewhere, deciding to run for governor. If the right individual came along and declared their candidacy, right now, the recall campaign’s chances of forcing an election would suddenly go overnight from possible to probable. This person could be a celebrity, or they could be a lesser known elected official with extraordinary charisma and a clear message, or maybe, a known politician who suddenly takes their game to a higher level. Why isn’t CAGOP searching for this person?

The question of a political agenda is actually easier, because it doesn’t depend on anybody to step up and run for governor, it just depends on courage, vision, and maybe a bit of a gambler’s heart. Here, CAGOP may pick any half-dozen from this list, or make up their own list, but think big:

  • Implement school vouchers so that parents can send their children to any school they want, public, public charter, private, parochial, or home school.
  • Dismantle and repeal legislation such as CEQA that has made housing unaffordable to virtually all Californians, especially the disadvantaged.
  • Keep Diablo Canyon open and commission the construction of additional nuclear power plants.
  • Finance through revenue and general obligation bonds new water infrastructure, including aqueduct upgrades, desalination plants, and surface and aquifer water storage.
  • Streamline permitting to allow natural gas extraction from onshore reserves as well as offshore using slant drilling from onshore wells.
  • Build an LNG terminal on the Ventura County coast.
  • Permit mining in the Mohave Desert to extract lithium and other rare earth resources that are essential for batteries.
  • Expedite expanded sustainable logging whereby timber companies remove flammable understorage in return for the ability to harvest timber.
  • Add lanes to all major freeways; pioneer development of smart lanes and hyper lanes where autonomous cars can travel at high speeds.
  • Reform public employee pensions so California’s government agencies don’t have to continuously raise taxes.
  • Repeal Prop. 47 and Prop. 57 and restore law and order to California’s streets.
  • Relocate homeless people to shelters that are built cost-effectively in less expensive areas; break the Homeless Industrial Complex.
  • Require California’s pension funds to invest at least 10 percent of their assets as equity stakes in infrastructure projects located in California.
  • Permit utilities such as PG&E to clear cut firebreaks around rural powerlines – which other states allow – instead of the hyper-regulated current state mandate to prune around them.
  • Oppose discrimination in all forms, including affirmative action, preferential hiring, mandatory race & gender quotas, etc.

There’s much more, but details can sometimes obscure the message, and the message earns the votes. What is necessary are candidates that are committed to these principles and are willing and able to communicate them persuasively and without equivocation: Competitive abundance is preferable to politically contrived scarcity. Equality of opportunity is preferable to equality of outcome. Practical environmentalism is preferable to environmentalist extremism.

These are positions with moral worth. They justify new ideas and new policies that will transform California. And if they are presented without apology or compromise, but instead represented unequivocally as solutions that will deliver prosperity and freedom, they will appeal to all Californians.

Here’s an idea. Why doesn’t Jessica Patterson announce her candidacy for Governor? Right now? Patterson is, after all, the leader of the California State Republican Party. Grab a handful of bold ideas, endorse the recall campaign, and run.

By taking a chance, the CAGOP leadership have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Endorsing the recall and finding a candidate would attract national and international attention to the CAGOP.

It would let people know, from Sacramento to Washington DC, that the CAGOP means business, that they have some fight in them, that they aren’t just dutiful, diligent, tactical and tepid, going through the motions, fighting for scraps.

And it would let Democratic politicians know, from Gavin Newsom to Joe Biden, that every state, everywhere, is back in play. Even Deep Blue California.

This article originally appeared in the California Globe.

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Why A Newsom Recall Can Succeed

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There isn’t a political professional to be found in California who believes that the current attempt to recall Gavin Newsom will succeed. With petitions approved for circulation and a deadline of November 17, recall campaign volunteers are trying to defy the momentum of history.

To recall a sitting governor in California today, based on the voter turnout in the November 2018 state election, proponents will have to turn in 2.0 million signed petitions in order to yield, after verification of signatures, addresses, registration status, eliminating duplicates, etc., a net total of 1,495,709 validated petitions. Without millions to pay professional signature gatherers, this is considered impossible.

It’s not impossible. Not with the power of the internet and social media. Skeptics must consider only two factors: Are there more than 2.0 million California voters who would sign a recall petition? The answer to that is undoubtedly yes. The second question is more to the point: Can the recall campaign find 2.0 million voters in California willing and able to sign a recall petition?

To this second question, the professionals would have an immediate and unequivocal answer. No. But they are mistaken. In today’s fraught political environment, in this season of heightened political awareness, in this era of internet access, Gavin Newsom is one viral video away from seeing his name on a recall ballot, in a special election to be held in early 2021.

Newsom, to his credit, is taking the Recall Gavin 2020 campaign more seriously than the thousands of members of California’s conservative establishment elite, who remain skeptical. Around the time recall petitions were approved for circulation by the California Secretary of State, Newsom released an official statement in response:

“GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM’S ANSWER TO RECALL STATEMENT: WARNING: THIS UNWARRANTED RECALL EFFORT WILL COST CALIFORNIA TAXPAYERS 81 MILLION DOLLARS! IT IS BEING PUSHED BY POLITICAL EXTREMISTS SUPPORTING PRESIDENT TRUMP’S HATEFUL ATTACKS ON CALIFORNIA. In 2018 California voters elected Governor Gavin Newsom by historic margins. As Governor, Newsom is working to 1) increase funding for public education, 2) protect and secure Californians’ health and health care, 3) improve water, roads, and bridges, 4) address the challenges of housing affordability and homelessness, and 5) prepare for the threats of wildfires. Our budget is balanced. Our fiscal reserves are unprecedented. Our economy and employment are historically strong. Yet a handful of partisan activists supporting President Trump and his dangerous agenda to divide America are trying to overturn the definitive will of California voters and bring Washington’s broken government to California with this recall effort. The last thing California needs is another wasteful special election, supported by those who demonize California’s people and attack California’s values. Do not be fooled – California’s police officers, firefighters, first responders, public school teachers, health providers, and business leaders all STRONGLY OPPOSE this costly recall. DO NOT HAND OVER YOUR SIGNATURE, YOUR SUPPORT OR YOUR PERSONAL, PRIVATE INFORMATION TO THIS DESTRUCTIVE RECALL SCHEME.”

Who is the “Political Extremist?”

To lead off by calling the recall proponents “political extremists” who are “supporting President Trump’s hateful attacks on California” is unfortunately typical of not just Newsom, but all Democrats. They always start by smearing their opponents. But Newsom goes on to defend his record, and every point he makes invites vigorous rebuttal.

Newsom claims to be “working” on the following five big projects, “1) increase funding for public education, 2) protect and secure Californians’ health and health care, 3) improve water, roads, and bridges, 4) address the challenges of housing affordability and homelessness, and 5) prepare for the threats of wildfires.”

An objective examination of Newsom’s performance on each of these five projects yields withering criticisms. His drive to increase funding for public education is a gift to the teachers unions, who have monopolized public education. For over a generation they emphasized leftist indoctrination over genuine education. Their failures have been especially felt in California’s low income inner cities. These unions protect bad teachers and disruptive students, they shut down any attempts to introduce alternatives such as charter schools, and they never saw a tax increase or budget boost they didn’t like. By all means, Gov. Newsom, give them more money.

As for California’s need for “secure” health care, Newsom has not done anything to lift the restrictions on the number of nursing graduates coming out of California’s colleges and universities. He hasn’t even signed a waiver to permit independent contractors to continue to work for clinics and hospitals during the COVID crisis. And he’s willing to spend hundreds of millions to provide free health care to undocumented immigrants, which even if motivated by compassion, ignores the challenges facing millions of working citizens who still cannot afford health care in California.

And then there’s “improve water, roads, and bridges.” Where? Newsom continues to try to fund “High Speed Rail,” wasting billions, instead of improving infrastructure Californians need. Has Newsom ever said a word about reforming CalTrans, the state department responsible for implementing road improvements, where additional billions are squandered? Has he done anything to reform CEQA, California’s disastrous Environmental Quality Act, which ties any attempt to improve roads up in the bureaucracies and courts for years, costing additional billions?

When it comes to “housing affordability and homelessness,” Newsom’s record is a corrupt joke. His solution to housing affordability ought to be to deregulate the process of building new suburbs and enabling infrastructure. Instead, since California’s state government has made it impossible for developers to sell affordable homes and still make a profit, Newsom has conned voters into passing tens of billions in bond financings. These billions are used to pay Newsom’s cronies, who are building “affordable” housing at an average cost well in excess of a half-million per unit.

As for California’s homeless, instead of providing cost-effective shelters in low cost areas of California’s beleaguered counties, Newsom, along with all the Democratic mayors, have allowed the homeless to take over downtown areas and choice neighborhoods throughout the state. By the tens of thousands, these homeless squatters openly consume hard drugs, steal to support their habits, harass working residents, and often cope with terrifying mental illness. Does Newsom challenge any of the laws and court rulings that might allow the state to help these homeless? Of course not. Build “supportive housing” instead, on expensive real estate. Newsom’s performance on California’s homeless crisis epitomizes cowardice and corruption.

Point five in Newsom’s description of his priority projects is to “prepare for wildfires.” This is laughable. Has Newsom ever acknowledged that poor forestry management is the reason California is experiencing catastrophic wildfires, or that droughts just as severe as those in recent years have occurred for centuries? Has Newsom made any credible attempt to allow timber companies to selectively harvest mature trees, many of them dying, in exchange for also clearing away underbrush? That deal would cost taxpayers nothing. Has Newsom admitted that most of the stress on the forests is because the trees have become too dense due to fire suppression, preventing healthy trees from getting enough nutrients? Or will he keep on bellowing “climate change,” and use that mantra to tighten the screws of the regulatory state?

When it comes to political solutions, Newsom is the extremist. He is a puppet of the teachers union, an organization with extremist views that they pass on to California’s captive youth through the public school system. He is a puppet of extreme environmentalists, a powerful lobby that effectively fights any attempts to build cost-effective transportation assets or housing subdivisions. He is a puppet of crony developers who rely on subsidies and tax breaks to build a handful of ridiculously expensive “affordable” or “supportive” housing units, solving nothing. And he is a puppet of the compassion brigades, who think letting people kill themselves on the streets with heroin and methamphetamine is respecting their “lifestyle.”

Newsom’s Comeuppance is Inevitable

While the “projects” Newsom touts as his accomplishments merely reveal him to be a dangerous fraud, what he states next offers clues to his dismal political future. He writes “Our budget is balanced. Our fiscal reserves are unprecedented. Our economy and employment are historically strong.”

Now we know Gavin Newsom isn’t this stupid. He submitted his statement against the latest recall effort in June. Newsom knew perfectly well that California’s 2020-21 budget is now forecast to have a $54 billion deficit. As for “fiscal reserves” that are “unprecedented,” really? How much? At best, $18 billion, much of which will be used up in this fiscal year, and which in any case is nowhere near the $54 billion they’re going to need next year.

More to the point, however, Newsom’s “historically strong” economy was on thin ice before the pandemic wreaked catastrophic damage on it. Has Gavin Newsom ever stuck his neck out and explained that by most credible estimates, the unfunded pension liability for California’s state and local government agencies now tops nearly a half trillion dollars? Where does he think he’s going to find all that money? Has Newsom ever suggested that maybe, just maybe, California’s public sector workers might accept lower pension benefit accruals at least for future work? Of course not. Public sector unions, along with tech billionaires, own Gavin Newsom.

Instead of focusing on these economic challenges, and calling for meaningful reforms to public education, housing polices, environmental regulations, and how we help the homeless, Newsom spouts Black Lives Matter slogans. He says nothing as the legislature decides to remove the statue of Christoper Columbus – on of the bravest human beings the world has ever seen – from the state capitol rotunda. To be exceedingly generous, and at best, this is useless posturing.

If Gavin Newsom weren’t a coward and a puppet, deserving to be recalled, he would tell the truth: People with low incomes in California will be helped, regardless of the color of their skin, if California’s cost-of-living is lowered through regulatory reform, and the schools are improved by standing up to the teachers unions.

Eventually these truths will be understood by the majority of Californians, and Gavin Newsom will be swept into political oblivion. Don’t feel sorry for him. The coiffured aristocrat will merely retire to one of his wine estates, enjoying that life of hereditary privilege and obscene wealth that he so readily condemns in his public statements.

Californians may yet defy the skeptics, and confound the professionals. They may send this embodiment of Democratic party dysfunction to an early retirement.

This article originally appeared on the website American Greatness.

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Why Newsom Can Be Recalled and How to Do It

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AUDIO – How nonprofit developers and their corporate partners are wasting billions of taxpayer money by building affordable housing and homeless housing on some of the most expensive real estate on earth, and destroying established communities in the process – 18 minutes on KABC Los Angeles – Edward Ring on the Larry O’Connor Show