Whatever the outcome in the California recall, the fact is that Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) only started doing his job once it was possible he would be removed from office.
The state’s public schools, for example, were largely closed, thanks to the teachers’ unions that own most Democratic politicians in California. But when the recall petition neared the threshold in March, Newsom finally stood up to the unions and reached a deal with his party to push the schools to open — finally.
This July and August, the Delta variant arrived, kicking off another coronavirus surge that saw infections soar again. But somehow, the schools opened on time in August and early September.
No doubt Newsom and the unions knew that angry parents would have swamped the polls on Sep. 14 if he had closed the schools again. Parents still worry that if Newsom wins, school shutdowns could return after the recall. But thanks to the recall, public school kids at least had a chance.
The recall also pushed Newsom to reopen the state’s economy. Not only did he do so, but he cast aside the color-coded system the state had used to enforce previous closures.
As the Orange County Register noted in July, several regions of California would have been back in the most restrictive “purple” tier if the system were still in place. The reason it never came back: Newsom faced a recall election, and shutting down the economy again would have led to a major backlash.
Rightly or wrongly, the recall also discouraged Newsom from imposing statewide water restrictions in the midst of severe drought. The farmers had their allocation cut, and the state suspended senior water rights holders from diverting water from local waterways.
But Newsom put off a decision on blanket water restrictions until after the recall election, giving water users — especially in the densely populated urban areas on which Democrats rely for votes — at least a temporary reprieve.
The recall might also have prompted Newsom to order coronavirus vaccine mandates for state workers and health care workers. It is not clear what effect these will have on the overall vaccination rate; it is more a political gesture aimed at rallying the Democratic base.
But even if you assume that the mandates will help improve public health, the question is why Newsom waited forever to impose them. And the answer, at least in part, is that the recall prompted him to do it.
In other words, Newsom was forced to consider the wishes and well-being of Californians — not just the special interest groups that own the state government, or the lobbyists he dines with at the exclusive French Laundry.
With Democrats enjoying a supermajority in the state legislature, there is no other way to hold the state government accountable. If the recall wins, Democrats will learn a lesson. But even if Newsom wins, at least he was forced to do his job for a while.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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