Today was the last day to file papers to replace Gavin Newsom as governor of California. I did not get my paperwork in as planned. Ever since Arnold bested a field of 135 candidates to replace Gray Davis in 2003, I have regretted not throwing my hat in the ring. But I was busy back then. What could be more fun than a "gadfly" run at the governor's mansion? More importantly, for $4,200 anyone could have their candidate's statement printed in the voter guide and mailed to all 20.9 million registered voters in the state. That is a bargain!
I didn't get around to filing today, but I did write my candidate's statement. Here you go:
Day 1: I will kill the High-speed rail project saving California taxpayers $100+ billion. Newsom knows it is the right thing to do, but cannot buck Big Labor.
Day 2: I will redirect all available infrastructure funding to our water systems and new storage. We cannot address housing until we have sufficient water security for the population and businesses that are already here. Our best defense against climate change is a lot more trees that need water.
Day 3: I will quadruple our wildfire firefighting capabilities by redirecting much of our $105 billion budget surplus to personnel and equipment. There is no excuse for being surprised 5 years in a row and we need those trees, not the pollution from the wildfires. It's a no-brainer.
Day 4: I will sign an executive order guaranteeing Californians easy, cost-effective access to all sources of energy including natural gas, gas for cars, propane and nuclear power without limitation. Existing local restrictions will be invalidated, and the existing solar credits and net metering will continue.
Day 5: I will clear the way for single-family residential zoning to stay single-family residential zoning. These neighborhoods are the backbone of our communities and need to be safeguarded. There is plenty of R2 and R3 zoning to meet our near term housing needs.
Day 6: I will issue a series of RFPs to upgrade the primitive computer systems at the EDD, the DMV, the court system and the voter registration system while recouping the $30+ billion of EDD fraud that Newsom seems to have forgotten about.
Day 7: I will issue an executive order that reinforces cities’ and town’s rights to have at-large city council and school board elections when they have less than 100,000 residents. Postage stamp-sized governance is not good governance.
Then I will have dinner at the French Laundry. I will pay for my own dinner and no lobbyists will be invited. Breakfast at Alana's the next morning and then back to work. There is plenty more to be done. When you read that voter's guide before September 14, you know what to look for! I appreciate the people who previewed my agenda and offered to host a coffee for me. That and $30 million would have done the trick :-)
You definitely would've had my enthusiastic vote! Maybe the next recall?
Posted by: Everything's Jake | July 16, 2021 at 07:09 AM
You have my vote!
Too bad we don't live in a state where common sense is the norm.
Posted by: Paloma Ave | July 16, 2021 at 12:39 PM
Now wait just a minute. You mean to say you will not be sending out 10 or 20 or 30 BILLION dollars of bribes to the poor folk in CA? That dog won't hunt.
Posted by: Handle Bard | July 16, 2021 at 08:15 PM
You don't have to run for Governor to make a difference. You've never held office Joe. Let's go. No time like the present. District elections just around the corner my friend.
Posted by: Russ | July 18, 2021 at 05:30 PM
Hey, if Josh Becker can do it so could I, but I take your point!
Posted by: Joe | July 19, 2021 at 12:52 PM
We need longtime residents to run for council. People who care deeply about our great City of Burlingame, who are not trying to change us to what THEY want.
The Beckers, Dumdums and Maddys of our area need to be defeated.
Posted by: Paloma Ave | July 19, 2021 at 04:30 PM
Newsom and his opponents continue to crisscross the state in campaign mode. In Tulare County on Tuesday, Newsom signed a $6 billion bill to expand broadband infrastructure.
Oh goody. How to focus on the critical stuff first.
Posted by: resident | July 21, 2021 at 05:00 PM
Bread and circuses while the barbarians are at the gate.
Vote Larry Elder
Posted by: Cassandra | July 22, 2021 at 06:32 AM
For me, the disappointing parts about $6 billion of California taxpayers' money going to broadband deployments are: 1) It's really not the government's place to be building telecom infrastructure, 2) If the state does it, they will most likely mess it up with dated technology and HSR-like construction, and 3) I'm sure they have no idea what is coming in the way of low-earth orbiting and geo-synchronous orbiting satellites being deployed to solve the very rural access problem. About the best one could hope for is to give the $6B to one or more of these companies......
Posted by: Joe | July 22, 2021 at 12:02 PM
How will the wokesters frame Larry Elder as a racist? There must be some plan.
Posted by: JP | July 25, 2021 at 11:17 AM
So easy: Mr. Elder has culturally mis-appropriated white supremacy models that thwart equity concerns of non-white minorities = racist.
This stuff writes itself.
Posted by: Cassandra | July 25, 2021 at 06:48 PM
There is no such thing as 'cultural appropriation'! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
'Cultural appropriation' is a woke saying for constant complainers. Everyone can go ahead and disregard that phrase.
Posted by: Paloma Ave | July 25, 2021 at 07:27 PM
Agreed.
Posted by: Cassandra | July 26, 2021 at 07:15 AM
Just so you don’t think I made up the “cultural appropriation” attack used from the woke side, here is a racist quote from a SF School Board member from today’s WSJ: “As for Ms. Collins, she has been too much even for her colleagues. She was stripped of her vice president title and committee assign-ments when tweets from 2016 emerged, one of which accused Asian-Americans of using “white su-premacist thinking to assimilate and get ahead.” Yet she re-mains on the board, which she is now suing for $87 million on grounds that she is the victim here.”
Vote Larry Elder
Posted by: Cassandra | July 27, 2021 at 08:46 AM
The poll, conducted by the University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies with support from the Los Angeles Times, surveyed Californians most likely to vote in the upcoming recall election, set to take place on September 14.
The poll showed 50 percent of respondents opposed recalling the governor, while 47 percent supported removing Newsom from office. The difference between the two responses is within the poll’s margin of error. Only 3 percent of respondents said they were still undecided.
Posted by: Mom | July 28, 2021 at 01:54 PM
Got my ballot today. Time to Dump Newsom Now.
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | August 14, 2021 at 02:17 PM
If California had kept its color-coded reopening system governed by COVID rates, 19 counties — including Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento — would be blocked from reopening schools. Time to Dump Newsom Now.
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | August 16, 2021 at 01:05 PM
The Newsom ads are flying on TV and radio. They don't say a word about how great a job he is doing. Nothing. Wonder why. They do say Vote No to protect California. What?
I vote yes, I want to protect California
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | August 17, 2021 at 05:37 PM
Interesting! No claims to be a good governor. Just fear the guys on the other political team.
It’s like Biden doing stupid things to show he’s different than the previous guy: border chaos, foreign relations chaos, energy independence chaos.
Stupid.
Recall Newsom.
Posted by: Spurinna | August 18, 2021 at 07:16 AM
How nice that the voter guide about all the other candidates shows up a week AFTER the ballot. Dump Newsom Now
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | August 18, 2021 at 05:27 PM
Newsom had an idea yesterday. Let's go to Big Basin and see last years fire damage. He doesn't want to get too close to Dixie. I might melt his hair product. Dump Newsom Now
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | August 19, 2021 at 01:40 PM
There are news reports out to the effect that the mail-in ballot envelop is not as secure as one might like because of the location of the holes in the return envelop. I just checked my ballot and indeed if you put the ballot in with the vote on Question 1 facing the side of the envelop with the signature line, the hole to the left of your signature can line up with the yes/no bubbles you fill in. Be sure to turn the ballot the other way.
Posted by: Joe | August 20, 2021 at 03:01 PM
Newsom is suppressing the vote. Don't let him get away with it. Vote for somebody. Anybody. Dump Newsom Now.
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | August 22, 2021 at 10:44 AM
Sure NOW Newsome decides to move forward with five new energy projects set to be fueled by both natural gas and diesel. (KQED) Dump Newsom NOW
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | August 23, 2021 at 03:16 PM
In my opinion this type of Newsom pandering/backtracking is the core issue with the recall. It drove my original Day 4 action above. You would have to be an idiot not to know that we have a wobbly electric grid and virtue signaling about fossil fuels, nuclear (closing Diablo Canyon!!!) would only make it worse.
Then he has to backtrack and seek out more power that is 24 x 7. It's sad. When people say the recall is a "waste of money" you can point to these sorts of moves by Newsom to dispute that. The recall is estimated to cost $100-150 million. We have a $267-298 billion annual budget and money flowing like water (wait, bad analogy for California), money flowing like mad from Washington. If the recall just gets him to do three or four sensible things that he would not have otherwise done, it's money well spent.
Posted by: Joe | August 23, 2021 at 06:29 PM