Biden’s Tepid Newsom Endorsement
On Monday I wrote about how Joe Biden’s first weekly video address highlighted, of all things, my office helping a constituent who was harmed by Gavin Newsom’s incompetence. Newsom apparently wasn’t pleased.
Having inadvertently helped make the case for the Recall over the weekend, Biden suddenly came out in opposition to it yesterday. He chose not to make a statement himself, however, instead handing the task to his press secretary Jen Psaki, who could only describe Newsom as “somebody who he has been engaged with in the past.”
She then tweeted: “In addition to sharing a commitment to a range of issues with @GavinNewsom from addressing the climate crisis to getting the pandemic under control, @POTUS clearly opposes any effort to recall @GavinNewsom.”
This tweet came from an official government account, which cannot legally be used to address a political campaign. That aside, can you imagine a weaker endorsement? Such tepid support is more damaging than if Biden had just stayed out of it; it shows Newsom is seen as politically radioactive by the leader of his own party.
Even while publicly saying he’s not focused on the Recall “at all,” Newsom has been calling legislators to try to shore up support. He’s even wrangled a few into making positive statements at press conferences that have become taxpayer-funded pep rallies. Lauren Rosenhall with CalMatters wrote, “These covid updates appear to be doing double duty as recall-prevention sessions.”
A “decisive factor in making the recall effort viable,” according to news reports, is Newsom’s school closures. So last week he finally acknowledged that “we can safely reopen schools” – which is exactly what I told him on July 16, 2020. Yet kids remain at home because Newsom’s biggest campaign funder, the California Teachers Association, has declared that “the virus is in charge right now.” Apparently the virus decided not to pull rank in the 45 states without school closure orders.
The CTA will spend obscene sums of money to protect their investment and keep Newsom in office. In an interview with Fox News, which you can see here, I encouraged teachers to cut off this funding by opting out of dues. The union absurdly responded that “Mr. Kiley is wrong and obviously doesn’t understand the laws.” Actually, the law is quite simple: every teacher has a constitutional right not to forfeit their paycheck to the Newsom war chest.
And make no mistake, it truly is a war chest. The Newsom camp’s rhetoric against the Recall has become increasingly bellicose, using phrases like “war council” and “going to war.” Which is exactly what you expect when there’s no plausible defense on the merits.
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