There are plenty of reasons to want to see someone other than Gavin Newsom to serve as governor of California. Fortunately, he’s termed out and Californians will be able to vote next year on his successor. So why are people wasting their time on another recall effort?
Recently, a group called Saving California announced its intentions to recall Newsom.
“Sometimes with fire comes blessings,” said the group’s leader Randy Economy at a press conference two weeks ago. “Tens of thousands have lost homes in these fires, and they want leadership. Governor Newsom is not bringing that leadership. Sometimes things are not in our hands. We were going to do this in a few weeks, but the wildfires moved up our schedule.”
The website of the group highlights policy failures on everything from wildfires to the state’s high tax rate to the high cost of gasoline as among their biggest points of criticism of the governor.
Indeed, there are plenty of grounds for criticism of the governor. As readers of these pages know, we’ve regularly leveled many of these criticisms ourselves.
However, we know how a recall went last time. In 2021, this editorial board endorsed the recall of Newsom, with criticisms that remain true now: “Our problem with Newsom’s leadership is more fundamental. Pick an issue and the state’s failures are obvious. As the governor focuses on progressive visions, the state struggles with uncontrolled wildfires, water rationing, a homelessness crisis, a spike in homicides, housing unaffordability, nationally high poverty rates and failing schools. Unlike his predecessor, Newsom has reacted like a deer in the headlights in the face of these challenges.”
As it happens, we also pointed out at that time, “One specific matter illustrates the problem. As wildfires spread, Newsom actually rolled back the previous administration’s wildfire-prevention plan — and he vastly overstated the number of acres that the state had treated with prescribed burns. This is not leadership.”
In other words, all of the same criticisms of Newsom today are ones that were aired out in the recall in 2021 and the 2022 gubernatorial election. The people of California chose to reject the recall then and chose to elect him again.
Practically, any effort to recall him this late in the game makes even less sense. He’s out soon anyway and even if a recall qualified it would be so late it wouldn’t spare us from much. A recall would just boost Newsom’s profile and waste political and financial capital that could be put to better use, like trying to break the Democratic supermajority in the Legislature.
As we advised Rescue California, another pro-recall group, around this time last year in an editorial: “If they really want to help, they could sponsor a ballot initiative cutting taxes. Or work to reduce the Democrats’ supermajority status in both the Assembly and state Senate to end the state’s one-party rule. Or they could sponsor an initiative to curtail the power of public sector unions. Or they could just stay home and binge-watch ‘The Beverly Hillbillies.’ That would do as much or even more good than another doomed recall effort.”