Many Blue State governors used COVID-19 as an excuse to grab power; none more so than Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif.
Via executive order, The Golden State's current chief executive has suspended or modified over 400 laws.
To this day, Newsom continues to implement and exert "emergency" powers.
While litigation has curtailed some of that power, ultimately, California voters have the power to recall Gavin Newsom on Sept.14 and thus end his continual quest for power, and more power.
A stunning 2.2 million signed a petition to recall California’s Gavin Newsom.
The reasons so many did, including more Democrats than Republicans in Los Angeles County, were numerous. They include rising crime (65% of registered voters think it's rising), homelessness, rising cost of living, water restrictions, wildfires, and job losses to other states.
Those "recall reasons" also encompass Newsom’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Newsom shut down his state early and the most harshly, when compared with other U.S. states. Additionally, he promulgated restrictive school regulations that kept students at home. He also shut down churches so much so that he eventually was fined by the Courts for his overreach.
His shutdown also drove countless businesses out of business or out of the state.
Beyond that, for 15 months, Newsom issued a "stay at home," order directing all Californians to stay inside their homes, indefinitely, unless they left to do something the government had deemed "essential."
Newsom employed executive orders to shutter the state because he declared a state of emergency.
He did so under a law providing:
"the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the state caused by conditions such as . . . epidemic . . . which, by reason of their magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of any single county, city and county, or city and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat . . . "
Some have argued that no such emergency ever existed in California let alone in all 58 counties. Regardless of that, as a recent lawsuit, brought by the Orange County Board of Education, and Children's Health Defense - California Chapter, points out, Newsom's lawyers have reportedly argued no such emergency currently exists.
Indeed, in order to dismiss a lawsuit, Newsom recently argued that "Because of widespread vaccinations, infection rates . . . in California have plummeted, and the State no longer faces a threat that the State’s health care system will be overwhelmed."
Nevertheless, Newsom has refused to end the state of emergency in The Golden State.
Purely and simply, that amounts to a power-grab by Newsom.
Newsom also personally benefits from his never-ending state of emergency.
How so? By maintaining the constant state of emergency, Newsom required that his recall election be administered by mailing ballots to every registered voter — including to hundreds of thousands of bad addresses or to voters who have moved or died.
The Democrats and Newsom plainly believe that will help Newsom win.
Newsom also benefits from his power-grab by being able to grant no-bid contracts to companies also donating to Newsom — or his causes.
Recently, it came to light that some of those same companies have donated to a non-profit that employs Newsom’s wife, paying her a handsome salary.
Another reason for the recall, which I wrote about recently, is that Newsom is unlikeable.
Part of that is his purported dishonesty and arrogance, taking the form that he believes he doesn’t have to follow his own rules.
It can conceivably be argued that that he grossly mispresented, if not mishandled, fire prevention efforts in California.
Newsom hasn’t stopped being less than truthful. He cynically claims that the recall election is a GOP grab.
Frankly, that's quite an insult to the hundreds of thousands of Democrats who signed the recall petition.
As for the fate of Newsom’s lust for power, perhaps the courts will rule against him.
It will be the voters of California, however, who have the right to end his autocratic reign by voting "Yes" to his recall.
Tom Del Beccaro is an acclaimed author, speaker and national columnist. As a radio and television commentator. Tom is the Chairman of RescueCalifornia.org, which is raising funds and gathering signatures for the recall of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Read Tom Del Beccaro's Reports — More Here.
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