CALIFORNIA
FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2020, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS “NEWSOM STICKS TO HIS GUNS DESPITE RECALL EFFORT”
FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2020, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS “NEWSOM STICKS TO HIS GUNS DESPITE RECALL EFFORT”
Give
Gov. Gavin Newsom credit for being gutsy about trying to shepherd almost 40
million Californians through the coronavirus crisis of disease and economic
disaster.
He
knows there’s an active drive to recall him; he sees rallies resisting his
orders; he’s seen demonstrators chain themselves to his fence, and he knows
that out of so many Californians, at least one-eighth, or 5 million, are likely
infuriated with his beach closings, school closures and other attempts to spur
behavior that might crimp viral contagion.
This
means there are more than enough angry voters to provide the 1.495 million
valid voter signatures needed to set up a special recall election sometime next
year. The deadline for gathering those signatures is Nov. 17, but it’s not
likely to happen because the drive is too poorly funded to put enough petition
carriers in the field – even if contact-shy Californians were willing to get
close and sign a petition on someone’s clipboard.
Still,
Newsom was a close observer 17 years ago when former Gov. Gray Davis was
recalled and replaced by movie muscleman Arnold Schwarzenegger. He knows it’s
possible.
Now
Newsom confronts data glitches and case undercounts, plus resistance and
lawsuits. His most vocal opposition comes from folks who don’t like wearing
face masks because they’re inconvenient and from religious congregations
feeling they have the right to meet without restrictions or social distancing,
indoors or out. Some churches also resent rules curbing public singing, said to
be a prime spreader of the virus.
Several
churches have sued, some claiming it’s discriminatory to allow protest rallies
and marches but not indoor religious services. Not that protest marches are
“allowed;” most don’t bother with permits and many are unplanned despite claims
from some conservatives that all are masterminded by the loosely-organized
anarchist Antifa movement – even though organized anarchism is an oxymoron.
“Singing
in church is our right, a Biblical mandate,” said Kevin Green, pastor of
Calvary Chapel in Fort Bragg, asserting there are higher laws than Newsom’s
emergency orders. He blasts what he and others call Newsom’s “inconsistency” in
treatment of churchgoers and protesters.
Pastor
Greg Fairrington (cq) of Rocklin in conservative Placer County told online
viewers in early July, as the coronavirus rampaged around California, that it
was “time to come back” to church, bashing “fake media” for exaggerating the
pandemic. Fairrington also has said he intends to run for governor, meaning
that if a recall should reach a statewide ballot, he would likely try to
replace Newsom.
A
news release from his Destiny Christian Church said it will continue following
federal guidelines on “social distancing, masking, taking temperatures,
hand-washing and other sanitation,” all while holding services indoors. The
release encouraged “at-risk, sick or uncomfortable” individuals to stay home.
Of course, with half the virus cases this summer reportedly among people aged
18 to 45, almost all adults are plainly at risk.
The
Newsom recall is also about more than his emergency decrees limiting personal
freedom of movement and contacts. One recall donor emailed that “this man is
pressing a socialist agenda. This state will be destroyed under the
(Democratic) supermajority. His gun control agenda threatens lives and
businesses…”
The
actual recall petition says Newsom has “implemented laws…detrimental to our way
of life. Laws he endorsed favor foreign nationals in our country illegally
over…our own citizens.” It continues with a litany of complaints including
alleged Newsom failures on homelessness and “restricting parental rights.”
Newsom
has not commented on this effort against him. He has not rescinded an iota of
his priorities or his latest emergency orders, either, even as he admits making
mistakes like reopening much of the state too soon in the spring, before most
counties had met standards he set.
Perhaps
this seeming confidence comes because Newsom’s overall job approval ratings
remain consistently favorable, despite massive unemployment and other problems
inflicted on Californians by the pandemic and his responses to it.
The
bottom line: Whether or not you like all he’s done, there is no doubt Newsom is
sticking to the mission and the duty he’s said he must carry out: trying to
save as many California lives as possible from a very deadly and contagious
disease.
-30-
Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It" is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
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