If Republicans Know They Can’t Win, Why Have a Recall?
Implicit in the activities of the Republican Party these days are political nihilism and obsessive self interest. A shorter way of saying it would be “screw everybody, I’ve got (or am going to get) mine.”
Contemporary conservatism, as expressed through one of our two choices for the electoral process, has discarded the don’t hurt others part of John Stuart Mill’s definition of freedom as expressed in his essay entitled On Liberty.
First in an occasional series on who not to vote for in California’s Gubernatorial Recall.
In California, the latest manifestation of this outlook is the campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom. You might think that his coronavirus restrictions have something to do with the recall effort, which has brought together grifters across the far right, but it’s more complicated.
The petition for the recall was filed in February, 2020, prior to the onset of public health measures designed to control the spread of the virus. What is true is that the coronavirus provided an opportunity to mobilize grievance voters at a time when prior campaigns had worn motivational messages thin.
IF Newsom were to be recalled --an unlikely event at this point-- the reason, as stated on the petitions would be:
"Laws he endorsed favor foreign nationals, in our country illegally, over that of our own citizens. People in this state suffer the highest taxes in the nation, the highest homelessness rates, and the lowest quality of life as a result. He has imposed sanctuary state status and fails to enforce immigration laws. He unilaterally over-ruled the will of the people regarding the death penalty. He seeks to impose additional burdens on our state by the following; removing the protections of Proposition 13, rationing our water use, increasing taxes and restricting parental rights."
There is an ecosystem of malodorous messages aimed at segments of the population who thrive on perceived threats to their status in society. The brain’s fight or flight response to fear is as fundamental to our beings as the urges for sustenance or reproduction. The ultimate “what’s in it for me” question addressed by marketing is answered by the promise of survival.
These days it starts with conspiracists on the fringes of social media, gets passed to platforms promising the truth to skeptics, is reported on by opinion-oriented broadcast media, and, finally making its way into mass media outlets either through experts debunking the premises involved or legislators demanding something be done.
The claimed injustices on the recall petition would have never been enough to garner enough signatures to meet the threshold for a special election. If those grievances were widespread enough, Republicans would be getting elected in significant numbers.
Then came COVID-19, which as Jacob Silberman described in the New Republic, created the basis for the right-wing conspiracy singularity.
...these various belief systems, all of them bound up in highly elastic conspiracy theories and violent anti-government resentment, seem to have recently coalesced around the anti-Covid-19 vaccination movement. It’s both a highly targeted campaign against vaccines and government control and a mishmash of contradictory theories and right-wing grievances.
Add together the conspiracists and the opportunists (those who will admit that, maybe, Joe Biden won the 2020 election) and you’ve got a picture of the forces behind the recall. Five other attempts at unseating the current governor have failed to gain traction.
There are two groups involved in pushing the recall, plus another that’s just there for the swag:
The California Patriots Coalition: The official circulators of the petition, founded by Orrin Heatlie and Mike Netter, later joined by talk radio personality Randy Economy. Based on a network of right wing Facebook groups involved in a variety of causes. Worked with groups labeled as extremists to get their petition in front of voters.
Via Politico:
Heatlie, who filed the initial recall paperwork, was off work and laid up with a bad back when he said he became “engaged in social media and Facebook-ing and YouTube and all that stuff.” It was only when he came across a 2019 video of Newsom advising immigrants of their right to refuse to open their door to anyone without a warrant that he began researching the possibility of a recall. Netter, a former office product sales executive who now sells real estate, said he initially “got a hair up my ass” not because of Newsom, but because of then-Senator Kamala Harris, who he saw as rising too fast through politics. When he found out senators couldn’t be recalled, he volunteered instead with a previous, failed effort to recall Newsom.
Rescue California: Is the more mainstream --in the sense that they’re connected to consultants and big dollar donors-- organization. They have worked to put some distance between themselves and the extremist groups Newsom supporters say are behind the recall.
The professional side of the campaign, working with Del Beccaro’s PAC, Rescue California, raised money to supplement Heatlie’s volunteer signature gathering with a paid operation, largely through direct mail to Republicans and independent voters. “The larger donors go with the more familiar,” said Del Beccaro, and the original recall proponents “are not familiar to more traditional donors.” The PAC, he said, was a vehicle to help put their signature gathering effort over the top.
Both groups supporting the recall are seeking to establish themselves as relevant in a state where the right wing approach to politics has been a losing cause for decades.
The insurgents hope to have a lasting impact on California politics not dissimilar to that of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which focuses on playing the spoiler for tax measures. They’ve already indicated they’ll be involved with as yet unnamed ballot measures going forward.
The traditionalists are hoping to get their names spelled right in media coverage. This statement might seem glib, except that Republican candidates for statewide office have a hard time being taken seriously. So these politicians hope that the disruptive effect of the recall will have the effect of making people reconsider their voting priorities.
Then there’s Reform California, the group I describe as just in it for the swag.
Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego councilman turned talk radio host, runs the show, much to the consternation of other Republicans around the state. He jumps on conservative bandwagons, raises money, and then doesn’t play nice when it comes to spending it.
From Voice of San Diego:
One of DeMaio’s old colleagues in San Diego – the former strategist for his failed 2012 mayoral campaign – said there’s nothing surprising or new about how Reform California has handled the recall.
“It’s a promote-Carl organization,” said Jason Roe, who this year left California to run the Michigan Republican Party. “It doesn’t go to donors priorities. It goes to Carl’s priorities, or things that promote Carl. It’s hard to say what donors to Reform California outside of San Diego think. The educated donor class in San Diego sees this for what it is: to promote Carl’s priorities, not what’s good for Californians, or what’s good for conservatives.”
The unspoken aim for the recall movement has little to do with Gavin Newsom. It’s about creating some sort of unity among people who mostly look after themselves or their tribe, and smashing the state, although they wouldn’t use that term.
The established order of American politics is no longer considered necessary by the right, particularly the secular democracy part. One faction fantasizes about fostering an uprising. The other acts to marginalize their opponents.
Proof of the pudding to the previous statement can be revealed by simply asking proponents of either faction what they would do --in concrete terms-- if they succeeded.
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Postscript via the Secretary of State’s office: “California law prohibits the use of signatures, names, and addresses gathered on recall petitions to be used for any purpose other than to qualify the recall for the ballot. This means that the petitions cannot be used to create or add to mailing lists or similar lists for any purpose, including fund raising or requests for support. Any such misuse constitutes a crime under California law. (§ 18650; Bilofsky v. Deukmejian (1981) 124 Cal.App.3d 825; 63 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 37 (1980))”
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Coming soon as I can write them: profiles of the candidates you won’t be voting for.
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