Gavin Newsom’s refusal to end the State of Emergency is too much for even the New York Times. Today’s paper has a favorable story about my letter demanding an explanation from him.
The letter, which you can read here, is joined by James Gallagher and Melissa Melendez. We inform Newsom that ending the emergency is not optional:
“Section 8629 of the Emergency Services Act provides that the Governor shall proclaim the termination of a state of emergency at the earliest possible date that conditions warrant.” We continue with several queries:
- Please identify the “conditions of disaster or extreme peril” that are the predicate for the State of Emergency.
- You said the emergency will remain because COVID has not “vanished.” Does this mean you intend to keep it in effect until the case rate is zero?
- Identify the metrics you are using to determine that COVID cases are of a “magnitude” that is “beyond the control” of cities and counties.
Meanwhile, Newsom is raking in huge checks from Hollywood, which he exempted from his lockdowns. This penchant for turning emergency powers into cash might explain why he refuses to give them up.
Yesterday was also the deadline to withdraw your Recall signature. A pro-Newsom campaign was set up to get people to recant, and to be fair, it did have some success in Orange County: 1 signature withdrawn out of 215,000 submitted.
Newsom has tried every trick in the book to stop the Recall. But our movement has only grown. Now the people of California can reshuffle the whole stacked deck of our political system.