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 :-)
NPR
GAVIN NEWSOM: We are stepping up our game. I hear you. I get it. We need to do more and do better. These last two years have been devastating.
CHANG: But an investigation from CapRadio and the California Newsroom collaboration found Newsom has overstated the success of forest management projects, and last year, the governor cut funding for fire prevention. Scott Rodd broke this story for CapRadio and joins us now from Sacramento.
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/25/1010382535/gavin-newsom-misled-public-about-wildfire-prevention-work-report-says
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | August 25, 2021 at 10:01 AM
Dump Newsom.
Stop HSR.
Build dams.
State run homeless/rehab institutions.
School choice.
Posted by: Spurinna | August 25, 2021 at 01:36 PM
"Dump Newsom.
Stop HSR.
Build dams.
State run homeless/rehab institutions.
School choice."
Of course. But if we don't ensure fair elections ....
Posted by: MBGA | August 25, 2021 at 08:19 PM
Kamala is skipping her campaign stop for Newsom tomorrow. Is she looking to save face as he goes down?
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | August 26, 2021 at 03:04 PM
He doesn’t want her here.
Posted by: Spurinna | August 26, 2021 at 04:09 PM
US District Court rejects lawsuit to declare the recall unconstitutional. Game on.
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | August 27, 2021 at 05:51 PM
Newsom finally got around to issuing an emergency wildfire order. It allows emergency personnel to vote in the recall election outside of their home district. Yep, that is his priority. To get out the vote. Dump Newsom Now.
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | August 31, 2021 at 12:47 PM
The last person who was in the room with Biden when he decided to pull out of Afghanistan is coming to California to stump for Newsom on Wednesday. I guess she doesn't have anything better to do.
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | September 06, 2021 at 02:34 PM
Dear Fellow BV'ers.
Here are my observations on this last "Column."
-Larry Elder is a Joke Vote. If things in the US were rolling along just fine, I would still not support this Entertainer. Lets face it everyone, at this time it would be a REALLY Bad Idea to pull a lever for the Joke Vote.
-Cassandra, Larry Elder? Tongue & Cheek? I hope so.
-What is with the "Cultural Appropriation" of the Word/Phrase, "Woke" Paloma?
-JP, the "Wokesters? Seriously. Wokesters?
I think JP may really be Tom Hanks Son. Go Giants!
Posted by: hollyroller@gmail.com | September 06, 2021 at 04:13 PM
Hi Holy - You appear capable of posting, but have you heard of this website www.google.com?
You can go to that site and type in words and/or phrases and get definitions.
Or do you just like asking 'not smart' questions?
Posted by: Paloma Ave | September 06, 2021 at 06:51 PM
holly, let's not lose the forest for the trees. Do you agree with my 7-day platform? Do you think Newsom will do any of it--never mind all of it? If not, why keep him? Just asking.
p.s. I can do my week 2 initiatives but why bother, he wouldn't do any of those either.
Posted by: Joe | September 06, 2021 at 08:14 PM
You are a patient one aren't you. He won't listen and certainly won't learn.
Posted by: resident | September 07, 2021 at 12:40 AM
Dear Paloma,
As long as I can continue to have fun with you, there is not a single topic you comment/post that I do not get a "Chuckle" out of.
Regarding my comments, that is Fun too. (With the exception of one of my grandkids posting in my name.) What can I say..Chip off the "Old Block." He was punished.
Posted by: hollyroller@gmail.com | September 07, 2021 at 01:02 PM
Holly remember:
https://imgur.com/BXEbOu7
it's up to you.
Posted by: MBGA | September 07, 2021 at 01:04 PM
Dear Resident,
I like this BV Site because I do Listen. I do Learn.
Unfortunately, you are "projecting" your limited POV.
"No Question is a Bad Question."
Unless the person listening is incapable of Hearing.
Posted by: hollyroller@gmail.com | September 07, 2021 at 01:19 PM
"Good One!"
Thank you MBGA
Posted by: hollyroller@gmail.com | September 08, 2021 at 12:45 PM
Is the First Partner a political liability?
https://redstate.com/jeffc/2021/09/09/rose-mcgowan-spills-the-tea-on-gov-gavin-newsoms-wife-and-harvey-weinstein-n440678
50 bucks says you don't read this in the San Francisco Chronicle or the San Jose Mercury News
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | September 09, 2021 at 06:44 PM
Icky Newsom.
PS- Biden is the Trump you thought Trump was.
Posted by: Spurinna | September 09, 2021 at 07:01 PM
If Jennifer Seibel Newsom did what this says and nobody is going to attack Rose McGowan with less than bulletproof evidence then "they" need to go. Where is #MeToo? Busy covering up for covering up for Cuomo.
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | September 09, 2021 at 09:18 PM
Dragging us back on topic, here is a bit of Victor Davis Hanson's latest piece. You can click through for the whole thing at the bottom:
California once was run by alternating conservatives and mostly centrist Democrats.
True, paleo-liberal governors like Pat Brown greatly expanded the welfare state. But they also believed in pushing integration, building freeways, dams, aqueducts, and power plants, while preventing forest fires, directing the mentally ill into state hospitals, and ensuring the state enhanced the housing, timber, oil and gas, nuclear, and agricultural industries.
So why and how would anyone deliberately destroy that heritage?
Why allow California to have the highest aggregate basket of income, sales, property, and capital gains taxes in the nation, the highest gas and power prices in the continental United States, and nearly the worst schools and infrastructure, the largest populations of homeless, welfare recipients, illegal aliens, and, soon, criminals?
The new Democratic Party liked to redistribute money for the poor and so obeyed the orders from the rich. But they ignored old-fashioned infrastructure that once had allowed the middle class to drive quickly and in safety, ensured them water during droughts, curbed their forest fires, and allowed their children to leave school competitively educated.
Instead, reaction not prevention was the new mantra. Governors Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom failed to thin out forests, build water storage, and allow affordable housing.
When those problems exploded, they reacted by citing climate change or some right-wing bogeyman as the culprit rather than government dereliction. They preferred utopian high-speed rail solutions to pragmatic problem solving. And they ensured none of their crackpot ideas ever affected themselves.
And why worry about producing lumber for houses, irrigated crops for food, or oil for gasoline, when the right Californians would always have the money to import their hardwood floors, arugula, and fuel from grubby others far away who would make or grow in silence what was needed?
Yet ideas eventually have consequences. Soon even the left-wing paradise on the coast was infected by the anarchy they had created for others less important elsewhere.
https://victorhanson.com/recall-the-california-ideology/
It's worth your time even if you fundamentally disagree
Posted by: Joe | September 10, 2021 at 01:23 PM
Don't forget all the felons who got released because of Covid. Not is the time to Dump Newsom.
Posted by: Dump Newsom Now | September 12, 2021 at 01:03 PM
I do not understand how people living in CA. could be so angry that Trump lost, that they would vote for Larry Elder. It would be the equivalent of "shooting" your self in the foot for a Non Issue.
(This recall has Trump all over it.)
The only benefit that Big Larry may do, he is all for eliminating Prop 13-Completely. In my opinion long over due. How many people have listened to Larry's Pod Casts? Newsome is a fine Governor. Don't we have enough on our "collective plate" already?
Posted by: hollyroller@gmail.com | September 12, 2021 at 02:21 PM
Jack and I were so disappointed not to see your name on the ballot. Your platform rings true with us!
Posted by: Lorin Flynn | September 14, 2021 at 02:58 PM
The resounding defeat of the recall highlights just how unpopular the former President is in California. Newsom made this a choice between him and Trumpist loyalist Larry Elder. A smart move. Most voters in California reject the antivax, anti science and extreme prolife views of Mr. Elder. If this had been Newsom versus a moderate Republican such as Kevin Faulconer, the results may have been different but such Republicans no longer have a place in the California Republican Party.
Posted by: Christopher Cooke | September 15, 2021 at 09:25 AM
No such thing as “extreme” pro-life.
As if there were people who were “extreme” pro-death.
Just life or death.
Posted by: Spurinna | September 15, 2021 at 09:31 AM