Originally Posted on San Diego Union-Tribune
Q: Why should Gov. Gavin Newsom be recalled?
A: The recall procedure in California has been a fundamental part of our governmental system since 1911. Contrary to the desperate attempts to discredit this legitimate referendum as an attack on democracy, it is quite literally the most democratic process available to Californians. It empowers us — the people — to rein in our out-of-control politicians.
Gavin Newsom is such a politician. He has repeatedly and at times illegally revoked and quashed our freedoms: by locking us indoors, shutting down businesses, closing schools, mandating masks, barring church attendance, ignoring Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, closing parks and beaches, restricting travel, destroying entire industries, releasing dangerous criminals, and meanwhile abandoning his duty to the state by allowing crime and homelessness to balloon to unprecedented levels.
Moreover, Newsom has sidestepped the Legislature by enacting each of these destructive policies through the establishment of one-man rule. Proclaiming himself invested with the power to issue emergency order after emergency order, all the while crushing fellow Californians with blatant disregard for their livelihoods. Most outrageous of all, Newsom has been largely unaffected by his own mandates. His children have been attending private school while he laughs with lobbyists at maskless dinner parties.
Have you had enough? If there ever was a time to recall a state official, this is the time. As the Declaration of Independence proclaimed, a leader “whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
Q: How would you have handled the pandemic differently than Newsom and what will you do if elected? Should vaccines be mandated? Are you vaccinated and when did you get vaccinated?
A: Protecting the public health is an utmost priority for the governor, but that duty should never be abused to trample on individual freedoms. We now have access to multiple vaccines. Encouraging — not mandating — those who are unvaccinated to get the vaccine is a reasonable approach. I was vaccinated as soon as I had the chance (I happen to be in the age range that comes with greater risk of complications from the virus). But it is the prerogative of parents to decide whether their children should be vaccinated, and the prerogative of every individual to decide whether he or she will be vaccinated.
