The clock hit zero at 5pm yesterday with over 2.1 million signatures having been collected by Newsom recall organizers. Newsmax reported yesterday that at least 2,117,730 signatures have been received to be verified by all 58 county registrars in the state. The deadline to certify at least 1.5 million signatures in order to trigger a special election is April 29th.
Out of 55 attempts, there has been only one successful recall effort in California’s history. In 2003, Governor Gray Davis was given the boot and replaced by “Republican In Name Only” Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger. The signature count began to skyrocket in November after Gavin Newsom was caught on camera attending a lobbyist friend’s indoor birthday dinner with 12 other unmasked patrons. The Governor was photographed indoors at the ritzy French Laundry enjoying dinner at $325 per plate. This blatant violation of nearly every restriction initially imposed by Newsom turned 50,000 signatures into 500,000 in less than a month.
Newsom took to Jake Tapper’s CNN program dismissing the 2 million supporters of this recall effort as anti-vaxxers, anti-immigrant, and QAnon conspiracy theorists. Even the leftist television host pushed back, criticizing the hypocritical actions of the lockdown czar breaking his own COVID rules:
“I know, Governor, you have apologized for that dinner. You have said it was a mistake to go but what I was wondering at the time, and I don’t think you’ve answered, what were you thinking?”
This scandalous display of elitism acted as a catalyst to garner bipartisan support for the removal of Newsom over the last four months. This is far from Newsom’s first blunder in handling the pandemic while maintaining the integrity of the state’s economy. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, California ranks 50th in unemployment rates for states. The January 2021 unemployment rate in California sat at 9% of the labor force. To provide comparison, number-one ranked South Dakota boasts a 3.1% unemployment rate, greatly attributed to the business-friendly approach to the pandemic taken by Governor Kristi Noem.
While allowing local courts to rule in favor of cutting the power to small businesses, Newsom continues to claim that California is the “best place to do business:”
California’s defective vaccine distribution plan has left millions on the eligibility waitlist. California ranks #38 in percentage of distributed vaccines that have actually been injected into the arms of residents. California enforced the earliest, most stringent mask mandates and lockdowns in March of 2020. The approach to COVID taken by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis offered a stark contrast to draconian lockdowns, yielding better results. Blaze Media’s Daniel Horowitz reported that when looking at COVID deaths among seniors, Florida is outperforming California, ranking 11th lowest in the nation. To DeSantis’ further credit, Florida has the highest percentage of residents over 65 in the U.S. according to Pew Research Center. Florida has been open for business since September.
Newsom has finally begun to cave to the rage of California residents who have been shut in their homes or masked for the last year. The state is now re-opening at a sluggish pace, bringing back indoor dining at 25% capacity and indoor gyms at a feeble 10% capacity. Gavin seems to be painfully aware that these efforts are “too little, too late.” The Governor established a political committee in order to raise money for campaign efforts as a state election this fall seems increasingly likely. If more than 50% of voters choose to recall Newsom, a replacement candidate with the most votes can win – even without a majority.
Visit rescuecalifornia.org for updates on the recall effort.
