SB1 and a Ruse for a Recall
Posted by Brenda Higgins on May 9, 2017
In April the California legislature passed, and the Governor signed a new gas tax that adds 12 cents per gallon to gas purchased in California. This legislation passed the state Senate with 27 votes. This was the minimum number of votes needed to pass a new tax. Senators voted along party lines, except for Republican Senator Anthony Canella.
A recall effort is now underway, to recall a Senator who voted for the tax, but it is not the one Republican Senator. The recall effort targets freshman Senator Josh Newman. Last fall, Josh was only a second time candidate but a first time elected. The initiators of the recall have indicated that they targeted Senator Newman merely because he was vulnerable. His election went into eleventh hour counting and was what they have termed a “slim margin”.
Without getting to the substance or merit of the tax, there is no ethical or behavioral allegations that Senator Newman has acted unbecoming his office or outside the scope of his authority, the only issue appears to be, that he seems “vulnerable.”
Once again, the recall procedure is being abused to effect political gamesmanship at the expense of the citizens of California. If only conservatives could focus on fiscal responsibility that they claim to espouse.
There is no indication of whom they intend to replace Senator Newman in the event that the recall gets off the ground. Their short memories and lack of insight have lead to this place. Much like Hillary Clinton and her tone deaf blame game without any personal responsibility, the conservatives in California fail to acknowledge that the Republicans-in-Name-Only, and demographic gamesmanship, caused voters to substantively seek out, anyone else.
Yet at least one of those failed candidates from 2016 is already being rebooted for a Supervisor race.
If conservatives are to ever have a voice in California again, they need a Monday morning quarterback meeting, at a minimum. The OCGOP Chairman laughing off Democrat promises to bring all their forces to bear on the congressional races is also an ominous sign. The coming election cycle never goes well for a losing party who fails to learn any lessons.
The thing that is clear is that none of this recall effort has anything to do with Senator Josh Newman. He is a convenient scapegoat. The scapegoat for a GOP that is disconnected and avoiding doing the real work, whose bench is a mile wide and an inch deep. The time would be far better spent taking seriously the challenges to our congressional seats.
Instead we get, gamesmanship, at the expense of the voter. As long as conservatives continue to behave as though the voters are stupid, they will continue to be subject to a supermajority in Sacramento and will be the cause of a shift in the balance of power in DC.
Recalls are expensive and an extraordinary measure to be used in extreme circumstances of wrongdoing. The public will not be fooled by this, but the ‘brand’ that the county central committee has lamented about preserving, will certainly be damaged, yet again.
OC Political 
Desare Ferraro said
Thank you, Brenda, for being the voice of intellectual honesty! The whole purpose of a recall is being abused and twisted – at the cost of hard working conservative and Republican activists, volunteers and voters, not to mention taxpayer dollars, if a miracle does happen to occur and the recall petitions are successful. Then, there is zero guarantee a conservative will be elected to replace Newman. Does anyone know if someone has offered to run? Elections have consequences – the conservative candidates in this district were weak. Why not vet and groom a strong conservative candidate for the next election cycle?
junior said
My .. what a scold you are Brenda.
Ed Rakochy said
Well stated Brenda. I recently received an e-mail from Carl DeMaio of Reform CA (formerly Reform San Diego) regarding the recall effort. One has to wonder why someone, who’s not in Newman’s district, is so interested in recalling Newman, unless Reform CA has a laundry list of other recalls across the State which they believe are going to change the face of the Senate or Assembly. I asked Carl about that and he provided no answer. So I told Carl that I was going to follow the money and I did.
Here’s a link where you can view campaign finance information for Reform CA: http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1268914&session=2017&view=general
Although there are no current contributions for Reform CA, there is a history of contributions for Reform San Diego. Most contributions ranged from $50 to $250 and then I stumbled on one from the New Car Dealers Association PAC for $20,000; pretty juicy when the total raised by RSD for the November election was over $30,000. One has to wonder what sort of reforms new car dealers were looking for in San Diego. When you scroll down to see how Carl spent his money, you’ll see it went for support of San Diego Measure A, which was a transportation TAX to pay for public transit and freeway projects. Bingo. New car dealers want more roads, so we buy more cars to drive on them.
The hypocrisy is pretty obvious. Carl supports a TAX to expand freeways, but then he supports a recall of a State Senator because that Senator helped approve the gas TAX, which is supposed to improve our infrastructure. Methinks Carl has a double standard or is being paid nicely to spin a recall. So who is Reform CA really working for? I have a pretty good idea who that might be, but I’ll refrain from prognosticating until we find out in July when Reform files their State campaign disclosure statement.
KenCoop said
Excellent commentary.
Why no focus on Cannella for supporting a tax?
Did he not sign the bogus Norquist pledge?