They've Got the Recall Blues: Dems Are Depressed, GOP Is Clueless
Today’s Profiles: Caitlyn Jenner, Dan Kapelovitz, Kevin Kiley, Chauncy S. Killens, Patrick Kilpatrick
Part Six of an occasional series on who not to vote for. For those of you just joining in the fun, I’ll do a few candidates at a time, taking them in alphabetical order. Some of the better known names will get more attention if for no other reason than their political experiences are more substantive. Others --who haven’t bothered to campaign-- will just show up on a list at the end of that day’s post.
Part One: If Republicans Know They Can’t Win, Why Have a Recall?
Part Two: A Not Too Serious Look at the Recall Candidates for California Governor
Part Three: Who Really Wants to Be Governor of California?
Part Four: Don’t Blame San Diego for the Newsom Recall
Part Five: Show Us the Money: Gavin Newsom Spends His Way Out of a Recall
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Democrats in California have an enthusiasm problem. This isn’t usual for a special election, except that losing this one means national humiliation followed by a couple years of mayhem in Sacramento.
Newsom supporters haven’t really started spending money yet --incoming mail-in ballots are a month away,-- but they sure are beating the bushes looking for contributions. Hardly a day goes by where I don’t get notes from my good buddy Gavin Newsom (or one of his standins) hitting me up for something, anything… even $3 will do.
Meanwhile, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and John Cox, the two Republicans with money in the bank, are out there messaging about Just. How. Terrible. Things. Are.
If I believed their dispatches, I’d be afraid to walk outside, lest some horrible criminal and/or homeless person would do something bad.
Violent crime in California (and everywhere else, including states with Republican governors) increased in 2020, making the people who’ve opposed dialing down mass incarceration mighty happy. Overall, crime is down or flat in the past decade, and the predicted wave of petty thievery because the threshold for making it a felony increased hasn’t materialized.
I’m sure we won’t be hearing about the possibility of the increase in violent crimes being connected to the increased sales of guns, and spreading of a culture saying violence is a solution to crime.
Oh, and by the way, the 2020 index total crime rate for San Diego was the lowest it’s been since 1959. Yes, violent crimes increased by a small amount (.04 per thousand), but remain at less than half of what they were in the 1990s.
You know what I’ll bet (cause the stats aren't official yet) hasn’t changed? The inability of police to solve crimes. The chances of any candidate speaking to this issue are slim and none… But if you’re really worried about crime wouldn’t this be the place to start?
Here’s the FBI:
In the nation in 2019, 45.5 percent of violent crimes and 17.2 percent of property crimes were cleared by arrest or exceptional means.
You wanna know where violent crime is really a big problem?
In 2019, 48.7 percent of the nation’s estimated total number of murders occurred in the South. The Midwest had 20.8 percent of murders, followed by the West with 19.3 percent, and the Northeast with 11.2 percent.
The other big issue for voters, the GOP says, is homelessness.
Republican candidates are saying the words that disgusted suburbanites want to hear, namely that they round up those critters and “cure” what ails them. The irony of Kevin Faulconer saying that he knows how to deal with homeless issues is just amazing.
Yeah, he got people off the street… by arresting them right before the point in time census. He made San Diego all pretty for the AllStar Baseball game by covering sidewalks in underpasses with rocks. And one of those humans was scooped up by a city trash truck and smushed to death.
As long as politicians buy into homelessness as a malady rather than an economic consequence, ain’t nothin’ gonna happen. I guess promising to make them disappear is just easier than telling people the truth and asking them to tolerate building housing throughout the area.
Issues aside, the real questions for Republicans, assuming that they can’t unseat the governor, will be can they get close on Question One, and how their various candidates do with voters. There’s another election for Governor in 2022 (which ought to inform you as how stupid a recall vote is), and any candidate with an R next to their name who crosses the 20% threshold is likely to end up being the party’s standard bearer.
The question for Democrats is whether or not they can crush Republicans with such a decisive vote that the party is further demoralized.
UPDATE- All my research on recall candidates has been consolidated into one place:
https://wordsanddeedsblog.com/a-non-official-2021-recall-election-guide-on-who-not-to-vote-for/
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