The campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom has bypassed the number of raw signatures needed to initiate a special election, according to a campaign manager behind the effort.
Rescue California—one of the groups behind putting the recall election on the ballot—has received more than 1.5 million signatures, Anne Hyde Dunsmore told The Epoch Times.
It expects to reach 1.6 million during the weekend, she said.
“He does not take responsibility. He does not plan. He is not transparent,” Dunsmore said on Feb. 11. “He doesn’t act on science; he acts on political science.
“He’s more interested in his political report card than in solutions,” she said. “At this point, even if he did come up with solutions to any of these problems, we can’t trust them. And once you burn trust, it takes forever to rebuild, and that started with the French Laundry.”
Despite reaching the number of signatures technically required to trigger a recall election, Rescue California hopes to ultimately
see about 1.8 million signatures, since many are discarded during the validation process.
Organizations have until March 17 to meet the 1,495,709 verified signature mark.
The high volume of signatures being collected to recall the governor comes as Californians are frustrated with close to a year’s worth of tight restrictions on businesses, loss of jobs, and closing of schools, all while seemingly making little difference in the spread of the CCP virus.
The governor also received additional negative press after he was photographed defying his own lockdown orders while eating at the French Laundry, a high-end restaurant in Napa Valley, for which he has since apologized.
Rescue California’s website states: “Newsom has devastated the state’s economy with his dictatorial on-again, off-again shutdown orders. We pay the highest taxes in the nation for a state government that treats business and middle-income families as the enemy, catering exclusively to monied special interests in Sacramento. Voters have a recourse—the power of Recall. We did it in 2003 and we can do it again with your help.”
During a Feb. 10 news briefing in Fresno,
hecklers attempted to interrupt the governor, shouting “Recall Newsom” through a megaphone while he was answering questions about reopening small businesses.
“I’m focused every single day on getting businesses open, our schools reopened, increasing the rate of vaccinations. ... We’re committed and resolved to doing that in every part of this state. I don’t care if you’re Democrat or Republican. I care that you’re healthy and safe,”
said Newsom on Feb. 10 in Fresno.
“And you can live your lives out loud without fear of a pandemic, and without fear of having to go back into the fits and starts this pandemic has impacted in terms of communities all across this state.
“We’re doing everything we can to get this economy moving again safely.”
Newsom’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
The recall movement has appeared to receive national attention as well, with White House press secretary Jen Psaki writing on
Twitter on Feb. 9 that President Joe Biden “clearly opposes any effort to recall” the governor.
State Sen. Steve Glazer, a Democrat, said in a
video posted on Twitter: “I believe he has acted in good faith and with the best interests of Californians at heart. He has done nothing close to justify the recall campaign.” Glazer also called on Californians to reject the recall, saying it’s a “distracting and destructive fool’s errand.”
Some politicians are already gearing up to run against Newsom if the recall initiative goes through, with the highest-profile candidates consisting of former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and former gubernatorial candidate John Cox.
