Over the weekend Newsom fled California to campaign in Michigan. Unsurprisingly, he flopped. Politico’s headline called it “Newsom’s swing (and a miss) state tour.” It’s the latest sign his presidential run is already fizzling.
Even a Democrat Congresswoman in Michigan, explaining why she didn’t meet with Newsom, said “I’m a car girl.” This of course is a reference to Newsom’s gas car ban, which is now dead; my Resolution overturning it passed with bipartisan support.
Also effectively dead: High-Speed Rail. The Inspector General just “sent a warning” to Newsom that his Rail Authority has “obscured basic facts” about the project’s finances. What they’ve been hiding, the IG report concludes, is that it will “run out of cash” next year.
This was exactly our plan when we passed legislation to cut off all federal funding: by taking away this life support, the state would be forced to follow suit. The only question now is how many more billions Newsom will waste before acknowledging reality.
Meanwhile, we just launched our Seniors for Kiley coalition. You can watch here as we document how Newsom and Pan’s radical policies hit seniors the hardest. Thanks to Pan’s deciding vote, the gas tax has more than doubled from 27.8 to 63.4 cents.
And it just went up again. My bill, the Gas Tax Reduction Act, would mean California lawmakers cannot raise the gas tax any more. At the moment, our gas prices are 13 cents higher than even Hawaii, an island state – and $1.55 above the national average.
And the Attorney General’s twisted ballot description for the Voter ID initiative was just upheld in court. This makes it even more important we get out the truth: this is a commonsense measure that Californians overwhelmingly support.
Finally, after weeks of stonewalling, Richard Pan will debate me next Monday in a forum organized by the Sacramento Bee. I’ll send you details on how to watch once available.