Stephen Frank, California Political News and Views, 6/28/21
BIG STORY
How to LOSE the Recall:
The California Republican Party Board of Directors endorsed the Recall in September, 2020
They did nothing other than raising money using the Recall till February, 2021. Then the RNC gave it $200,000, which the CRP was going to use to pay payroll and overhead. That was exposed and they were forced to give $125,000 to Rescue California and report $60,000 of in-kind contributions (payroll and overhead. No idea what happened to the other $15,000
Now the CRP is report spending $50,000 on a poll for the Recall. Why? What difference would a poll make on the Recall—unless it was a cover for a candidate?
At this point, approximately 11 weeks before the Recall, probably on September 14, the Board has no money raised to spend on the Recall or a budget for the Recall.
So, the CRP is going to hold an Executive Committee meeting on July 24 to, according to Regional VP Frances Barraza of San Diego, to “set the process” for endorsements for a candidate for Governor in the Recall. Except the CRP bylaw 3.02.03 (B) already lays out the process—no need for a meeting to remind people of the Rules.
The real reason is to change the rules on votes needed to gain the endorsement. The current rule is 60%. The proposed change is cutting that to 50%.
Here is how you are going to lose the Reccall—instead of allowing the 1400 plus delegates vote on the by-law change, the 101 member Executive Committee, 50 of whom are appointed by one person, the Chair, will make the decision. I have only been active in the CRP since the early 1970’s—in that time I do not remember a single instance of the Executive Committee changing the by-laws—that has always been the prerogative of the CRP delegates—all of them
The purpose of this radical change is to support one candidate for endorsement in the Special. To do that an endorsement convention has to be held, with a minimum of 30 days’ notice. Are they now going to hold a Special Convention in early August?
Then if they do endorse a single candidate for Governor, this will cause supporters of the other candidates to be depressed and not even vote—hence killing the Recall. Connect the dots, could this be how the CRP kills the Recall?
At this time we need all the candidates getting out to the public promoting the Recall and their candidacy, the more the merrier. Play games with the endorsement and you waste candidate time and money going through the process—which at best will only allow deletes to vote for seven of the couple dozen GOP candidates for Governor.
Instead of games the CRP should be concentrating on getting the Republican vote out on September—that is how you win the Recall. If the CRP goes through with its gamesmanship and changes the by-laws va the Executive Committee you can imagine the disgust by the 1300 delegates who did not get a voice. If they get an endorsement for a single candidate, it will backfire on that candidate and kill the Recall.
Games like this cause activists to stop helping the Party. Games like this add to the belief politics is not be decent people and the GOP is as bad as the Democrats—hence the 24% voter registration. We should be better than the Democrats.
TALKING POINTS
- From CalMatters we are reminded how mismanaged and incompetent Newsom is while providing basic services. The EDD has a backlog of 1.1. Million claims! People are hurting and his is spending tax dollars for a lottery to get people to be jabbed—and that has not worked either.
California may have reopened, but things are still going south at the Employment Development Department. According to figures released Thursday, the number of unresolved claims pending EDD action for more than 21 days topped 230,000 as of June 19 — a significant uptick from the nearly 223,000 claims backlogged the week before. When you include claims pending certification from jobless Californians, the total backlog tops 1.1 million — a figure essentially unchanged from October 2020. Meanwhile, another 65,000 Californians filed new jobless claims for the week ending June 19, according to federal data released Thursday. That’s a slight decrease from the week before, but it represents nearly 17% of the nation’s total jobless claims — even though California makes up less than 12% of the civilian labor force, said Michael Bernick, a former EDD director and attorney at Duane Morris.
- These must be really great tents! Or are the price of tents just higher in San Fran? I suggest they go to a Big 5 store and pick up a really great tent for under $250—then they would not need $15 million more.
- City (San Fran) spends more than $60K per tent at homeless sites. Now, it wants another $15 million for the program. // San Francisco Chronicle
- Moderate Democrats look like they have found their candidate for Attorney General—and it is not the radical Rob Bonta. Nope, the parents of the EMOCRAT Lt. Governor is supporting a former Republican, now NPP for the office of AG. From California Playbook:
Influential Sacramento developer Angelo K. Tsakopoulos and wife Sofia L.Tsakopoulos have maxed out to Republican-turned-independent Sacramento DA Anne Marie Schubert’s attorney general run. They are the parents of Democratic Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who benefited from some family funding in her 2018 LG run.
- U.S. Supreme Court returns First Amendment to California, over objections of Gavin Newsom and his Democrat buddies. From California Playbook.
“Supreme Court justice signals openness to allowing religious beliefs to trump LGBTQ rights in hiring,” by the SFChronicle’s Bob Egelko: “The court ruled in a California case in July that religious schools were not bound by civil rights laws in hiring and firing teachers. In another California case this February, the court struck down Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ban on indoor worship services during the coronavirus pandemic, which were similar to restrictions covering other large indoor gatherings.”
LEADERS LEAD
(Periodically the California Political News and Views will publish tidbits of political news, to keep you in the loop of what the pooh bahs know. The phrase “tom/tom’s” comes from my mentor, Lorelei Kinder who never passed a rumor, just called to tell me what she heard on the “Tom/Tom’s”. This column is named in her honor.)
