by J. Jennings Moss
Originally published September 3, 2021 in the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
I remember distinctly when and where I was the first time I heard about efforts to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom.
I was walking into a Costco in San Jose when I came across a couple of guys with a table set up, getting people to sign petitions calling for Newsom’s ouster. It was March 2019 and Newsom had been in office for all of two months.
Since Covid-19 was still a year away, any complaints about his response to the pandemic or his now-infamous trip to the French Laundry in Napa, where he was caught socializing without a mask, couldn’t be imagined.
So why kick out a guy who won the 2018 race to succeed former Gov. Jerry Brown with 61.9% of the vote — the largest margin any Democratic gubernatorial candidate had gotten in state history? What was so egregious about his first two months in office that it necessitated the equivalent of a political execution?
In fact, there wasn’t much new being said about Newsom at the time. The arguments being made against Newsom then were the same as those made against him when he ran for governor; that he would raise taxes, increase regulation and generally be a terrible governor. The one new twist was that Newsom, as governor, pulled back National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border in a rebuke to then-President Donald Trump.
To recall backers, many if not most of whom presumably also voted for Republican John Cox over Newsom in November 2018, those were all valid grounds to oust him. They wanted to see Newsom go through the same trauma as former Gov. Gray Davis, a fellow Democrat who became only the second U.S. governor recalled when he was ousted in 2003 and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger about 10 months into Davis’ second term.
The campaign to recall Davis was at least about something he did in office, primarily around how he dealt with an energy crisis. Davis’ recall was the first to go before California voters, but it certainly wasn’t the first time a recall effort had been attempted. Every governor since Edmund G. Brown Sr. in 1960 — Democrat and Republican — has had to deal with calls to get them to leave early, but other than Davis, none got enough signatures to force a vote.
There have been dozens of recall attempts
That long list of recall attempts — 42 between Brown Sr. and Newsom (Republican George Deukmejian holds the record with 11 petition drives against him) — is a sign that the process in California is broken. To make it happen, proponents need to get signatures of only 12% of the people who voted in the last election. In Newsom’s case, that meant that nearly 1.5 million signatures were required; recall proponents ultimately gathered more than 2.1 million signatures.
In the two-step recall process, if a majority of California voters say “yes” to the recall question, then whoever gets the most votes in the second question on the ballot wins. Schwarzenegger, with his name ID as a Hollywood heavyweight, won with 48% — a convincing showing. But this year, in a crowded field like that offered on the Sept. 14 ballot, the state’s next governor would win as long as he or she got one vote more than the next candidate.
And then the cycle starts all over again. First, no doubt, claim a “rigged election” took place. Then, launch a recall petition. Repeat until successful, or try again in the general election.
This is no way for a state to function. Estimates are that the 2021 recall election will cost taxpayers $240 million, which is ironic since most of his chief rivals are campaigning on pledges to run the state more efficiently.
There is a time and place for incumbents to stand in judgment by voters, and that’s when their terms are up and they seek reelection. Barring a major issue facing an incumbent, or a specific act done while in office, the only reason to mount a recall is because you just generally disagree with their politics. In my view, Newsom’s actions as governor don’t rise to the level of recall.
Challenge him in the general election. Make the case for change then. But, please, spare us the never-ending campaign