California’s Tragic and Embarrassing COVID-19 Response

Yesterday the Legislature re-convened – for a single day, and in an NBA basketball arena

The main purpose was to elect the Speaker, which, incredibly, meant re-installing the existing leadership. But I wasn’t going to let this happen in a pro forma manner. I took to the podium and lit up Gavin Newsom and the Legislature for their historic failures this year.

You can read excerpts of the speech below and watch the video here.

Many of us called on the Legislature’s leaders to take the COVID-19 crisis seriously.

And the Legislature did take it seriously – for itself. The Capitol was shut down entirely for months, strict protocols were followed, almost all committees were cancelled. We’re in a basketball arena.

Legislators did everything humanly possible to protect themselves, while leaving the people of California bereft of the fundamental protections that representative government is supposed to provide.

As Grocery workers, childcare providers, millions of Californians kept doing these essential jobs, Legislators refused to do theirs.

Our institution vanished, deeming itself inessential.

We sat back and watched as Governor Gavin Newsom seized legislative power for himself, falsely claiming that a State of Emergency, no matter how long it lasts, transforms California into an autocracy and “centralizes the State’s powers” in his hands.

Imagine if we had done things differently: if we had earned our paychecks, if we had stood our ground, if we had defended our Constitution, if we had rolled up our sleeves and met the challenges of this year head-on.

From the beginning, we could have insisted on data and evidence, focused on what actually makes a difference, and avoided the never-ending, know-nothing nightmare of colors and tiers; curfews and lockdowns; attestations and emergency brakes 

We could have said: If you’re going to keep millions of kids out of school – widening achievement gaps, stunting development, damaging mental health, concealing abuse, diminishing life prospects, shortening life expectancy – you better have a darn good reason for it.

Gavin Newsom made a mockery of the trust placed in him. Within weeks, he started talking about the coronavirus as an “opportunity” for a “new progressive era, an opportunity to reshape the way we do business and how we govern.”

But the outcomes have been anything but progressive. Our economy is doing about the worst in the country, our kids in poor communities are faring worst of all, our public health performance is middling.

Even the high priest of data analysis, Nate Silver, just referred to “the irrational and not-very-science-driven regime of COVID policies in California.”

The fact is this Governor has lost all credibility with the public. Whatever the shortcomings of this Legislature, in this moment we have one inherent advantage: we are not Gavin Newsom.

We need to take back the baton that never should have been handed off in the first place. We need to rebuild trust and forge a better path forward.

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