SACRAMENTO – It has been 365 days since Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a stay-at-home order with the promise that it would be only for a few weeks to fight the pandemic and flatten the curve. Fifty-seven Executive Orders later, an estimated 19,000 businesses have shuttered their doors and others are teetering on the brink of closure, 1.7 million Californians are unemployed, and fraudulent unemployment claims climb to $31 billion dollars, according to information released by Senate Republicans who claimed on Friday that “there is no end in sight with the Governor refusing to relinquish his ‘one-man rule.’”
Jacquie Nguyen, press secretary for the Senate Republican Caucus noted that Senate Republicans introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 5 last December to end the Governor’s state of emergency power, and reestablish the Legislature’s Constitutional co-equal status, but so far, a hearing has not been set for this measure.
“A year ago, Gov. Newsom shut down the state based on the prediction of a worse-case scenario. At the time, the Governor promised us his decisions would be based on sound science and data, but when the predictions did not pan out, he refused to pivot to a new strategy. Instead, he doubled down on his command and control policies,” noted Senate Republican Leader Scott Wilk (Santa Clarita). “When questioned about the data driving his decisions, he claimed people would not understand — that it was ‘too complicated.’ What people do understand Governor is that your policies devastated our businesses, cost millions of jobs and have left our children with mental health problems and learning loss. It is time to end your ‘one-man rule,’” Wilk stated.
“It’s time for the Governor to return power to the people and their representatives in the Legislature. The one-year anniversary of his commandeering of immense emergency powers highlights the arbitrary and haphazard nature of his one-man rule,” noted Senator Patricia Bates (Laguna Niguel) adding that “With many small businesses on life support and in-class school instruction lacking in many communities, having the Governor continue his one-man rule is not working well for many Californians.”
“Governor Newsom’s COVID shutdown took jobs from millions of Californians, shuttered the dreams of small business owners and left a generation of school children with a learning gap and struggling with the mental health effects of isolation. His government programs have been grossly-mismanaged,” chimed Senator Shannon Grove (Bakersfield). “Millions of unemployed Californians had to deal with the bureaucratic EDD nightmare, which denied them timely access to critical benefits, all while the department allowed billions of dollars in fraud and waste. The Governor’s policies lurched from one proposal to another with confusing, conflicting and ever changing guidelines,” noted Grove. “While Californians had to comply with his rules, they did not always apply to the Governor himself who infamously dined indoors, unmasked, with powerful lobbyists and sent his children to an elite private school so they could receive in-person schooling.”
“As I reflect on California’s statewide shutdown anniversary, I am reminded that we are strong and resilient. We have seen many step up to support one another in unprecedented ways,” noted Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (Yucaipa) Our state is slowly reopening, but there is still a lot of work to be done. I remain committed to helping every Californian get back to their everyday lives and will continue to work towards providing the tools necessary for our communities to thrive.”
Democrats close ranks
In a tacit acknowledgment that he will likely face a recall election this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier in the week officially launched a campaign against the effort to remove him from office.
The move came two days before the deadline for organizers to submit the final batch of signatures needed to trigger a recall election. It also breaks the governor’s lengthy silence on the issue: For months, Newsom refused to acknowledge the recall, and although he referred to it obliquely in his “State of the State” speech last week, he appeared to utter the word for the first time in a Monday tweet denouncing “this partisan, Republican recall.” He also granted two exclusive interviews on the subject to friendly national TV shows: MSNBC on Monday and “The View” today.
Newsom on MSNBC: “It’s serious for many different reasons. It’s the uncertainty of being on the ballot … but also the folks behind it. … The principal sponsor of this wants to put microchips in immigrant aliens. We have folks that are literally part of the Three Percent(ers) militia group.”
The governor’s comments underscore the California Democratic Party’s game plan for combating the recall: Portray it as a Trump-inspired movement full of conspiracy theorists, political extremists and anti-vaxxers. But a poll released earlier this week by Emerson College and Nexstar Media Group complicates that narrative, with 39% of independent voters in favor of recalling Newsom. With 86% of Republicans supporting the recall and 66% of Democrats opposing it, Newsom’s fate could very well lie in the hands of independent voters.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is shoring up its flanks. Prominent Black, LGBTQ and Asian-American Democrats have coalesced behind Newsom, who also gained endorsements from U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders in an apparent attempt to stave off potential challengers from the left.
GOP political strategist Rob Stutzman: “If you have a progressive out there who catches fire and then add that to some centrist Republicans … I’m not saying Newsom is toast, but he’s vulnerable.”
—CALMatters’ Emily Hoeven contributed to this report
