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“Taking away the lollipop.” That’s what California Lawmakers call it when they kill your job.
On Thursday, a Senator used this phrase to infantilize Californians whose livelihoods were destroyed by Assembly Bill 5. When asked about the same bill, Gavin Newsom denied reality altogether, saying “I’m not sure those jobs were killed.”
The Governor’s infamous statement came after I’d given him a 200-page book of heartbreaking stories from people who lost everything because of AB 5’s senseless ban on self-employment. In a cruel irony, the law is stopping people from working inside their home at the very moment the Governor’s lockdown forbids work outside the home.
Decent people of all political affiliations are against AB 5, with the founder of the far-left Daily Kos blog calling it “disastrous” and calling its supporters like Governor Newsom “shameful.” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo shelved a similar bill, saying he didn’t want to “make the same mistake” as California.
Over 150 Ph.D. Economists, including a Nobel Prize winner in economic sciences, wrote an open letter to the Governor calling for AB 5’s suspension. Newsom ignored these experts, even as he tweeted that “SCIENCE – not politics – must be California’s guide.”
Gov. Newsom is now going so far as to spend $20 million to raid small businesses and gin up AB 5 related fines and penalties. It’s a rich reward for the special interests that spent millions electing him Governor.
And it’s ordinary Californians who are paying the price, even as they get insulted and ignored.
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