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Jan. 15, 2021 - Epoch Times
26:14
California’s Citizen-led Petition to Recall Governor Gavin Newsom | Shawn Steel
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We want to talk about the recall that's going on right now in California.
How serious is this?
The governor has got three big problems.
One, he's been so inconsistent about the COVID problem and the French laundry has killed him politically.
Secondly, the forest fires.
How do you get these forest fires out of control that burns a good portion of California?
And that's called forest management.
Thirdly, Over a billion dollars was spent for unemployment for prisoners in California.
That is one of the all-time scandals.
So when you're over halfway and all this publicity and the terrible things going on in California, this is a joyous opportunity for Californians to change their fate and change their destiny.
Who is behind this recall?
Mostly folks that have been historically apolitical.
Store owners, shopkeepers, barbers, restaurant owners, middle class, that have been voiceless, that have been ignored.
How do you think they can change that when it comes to doing this vote?
They don't need money as much as they need organization and support and signatures.
Now, where is it going to go from here?
It will be a titanic battle.
And I think the chances that, you know, a year ago it was impossible to think about, the six months ago it was a fantasy, today it's a reality.
So that's good news in itself.
I never saw this coming and I'm overjoyed.
The citizen-led petition to recall Governor Gavin Newsom is gaining momentum in California.
My guest today is Sean Steele.
He's a Republican National Committee member in California.
Today, he discusses the effort to remove the governor from office, the process of the recall, and the likelihood of it happening.
Welcome to California Insider.
Sean, it's great to have you on.
Welcome.
Thank you.
It's great to be here.
We want to talk about the recall that's going on right now in California.
How serious is this?
It's became very serious in the last 14 days.
Against a lot of odds, it's very difficult removing a governor of the United States of America.
It's happened only twice in American history.
1920 in South Dakota and again 2003 in California.
And it's extremely rare, but there's two big things that happen.
Number one, a judge, because of COVID, has extended the deadline another 90 days until March to get more signatures.
That's really a big deal.
Number two, the Secretary of State has certified 845,000 signatures.
We need 1.5.
So when you're over halfway and all this publicity and the terrible things going on in California, this is a joyous opportunity for Californians to change their fate and change their destiny.
And who is behind this recall?
It was really a grassroots effort.
Not one person, not a rich person like George Soros, not some billionaires, not the Republican Party.
But mostly folks that have been historically apolitical.
Store owners, shopkeepers, barbers, restaurant owners, middle class, that have been voiceless, that have been ignored, that have been really...
It's okay for a giant corporation like Amazon to make tremendous profits or Costco to make big money, but for the person that's, you know, selling shoes or the person that's just serving food in a hot dog stand, they can't survive.
And so out of this...
It's a spontaneous grassroots movement in all 58 counties.
Now, where is it going to go from here?
What are your thoughts on that?
Well, recalls are difficult.
A little bit.
In 2001, I was state chairman of the Republican Party.
And then Gray Davis got elected in a narrow election, got re-elected.
He was a Democrat governor, but he only won by five points.
And in a Democrat state, that's not much of a margin.
And then he raised taxes.
He promised during the campaign, I will not raise taxes.
But for some reason, as a politician, he lied.
It's hard to believe.
That happens.
It can happen.
So people got very upset about that.
And then this one guy in December, right after the election in 2002 says, well, there's talk about recalling Gray Davis.
And sometimes I talk before I should listen.
It's a terrible habit that I have.
And I said, Ted, you're completely crazy.
That's a lunatic idea.
Never talk to me again about that idea.
So I just kind of forgot about it.
And Ted had been active in initiatives.
He had been active in movements to get ballots for the people to vote on for propositions.
And a nice guy.
But it just seemed like a ludicrous idea.
We just elected a governor.
And I don't like him, but where do you think you're going to get the effort, the support to recall him?
Then I'm on a radio station in January on KSFO. Never forget it.
It's a conservative station in San Francisco.
Melanie Morgan's talking about all the bad things Gray Davis is doing.
And he's a terrible governor.
And this is 2003.
And she says, Sean, Sean, what can we do about it?
And I couldn't think of a thing.
And all that came out of my mouth was, well, there's talk of recalling Gray Davis.
She was quiet for five radio seconds.
Not a sound, which is a long time.
She said, that's a great idea!
That's fantastic!
And so callers, what do you have to say?
So the first guy that called in on the radio show was Fred from Petaluma.
That's a little town in Northern California outside of San Francisco.
This is Fred!
I'm in my pickup truck.
I'm driving down to your radio station.
I want to get me those petitions so I can have my friend sign them.
I said, Fred, Fred, Fred, we don't have any petitions.
It's an idea.
I don't even know how it works.
And so I'll get back to you.
And so, Melanie, we're talking about it.
More people called in.
They're kind of excited about the recall because it's just that one word, recall, this person, triggers a vivid imagination.
It looks like it's practical.
California has a history going back to 1910 when we adopted the recall to throw out politicians.
And actually on the local level, we recall school board members, we recall judges, we recall mayors, we recall city councilmen.
So it's not weird, but we've never done a governor.
So I said, okay, I'll get back to you, Melanie Morgan, on this show in a week.
I'll talk to my lawyers and see how it's done.
We'll see how practical it is.
Then I get off the phone and I'm in Los Angeles.
It was a radio interview.
And then I get a call from Robert.
And it's on the phone, hello, my name is Robert, the voice of the valley.
What valley is that, Robert?
Stanislaus Valley.
I'm the voice of Stanislaus Valley for my radio show, and I heard that you're doing a recall against...
That was within 10 minutes.
And I said, how the heck?
I mean, I'm thinking, how does Stanislaus, which is close to Sacramento, connect...
With San Francisco.
So I could see.
So Radio Talk Show could push this thing forward in my head.
And it's interesting.
It was after a hot political season.
And so in a non-political season like 2003, they needed a product.
They needed something to do.
And I said, I'll get back to you.
Give me a week.
I found that how it works.
I called up Ted Costa, the guy that I said, don't ever call me again.
I said, Ted, this sounds like a really interesting idea.
I wound up signing the first line of the first petition.
I served with Ted, the governor of California, with notice of recall papers.
All the Democrats were laughing and they were saying what a stupid idea that was and how foolish of an idea that was.
And my Republican friends, they were also laughing too.
Can't happen.
But I started getting booked on every radio station from Eureka, California to El Centro and all ports in between.
Ultimately, we could download the petitions on the internet.
Within a month, we had $100,000.
Then some money came in from Daryl Issa, who is now a congressman.
When I knew that Darrell Issa was going to back it, put a million dollars on the table, I knew we were going to get the signatures.
I knew California was going to change.
And then, of course, it was up to Arnold Schwarzenegger to decide whether or not he was going to run for governor.
Because you only have two questions on the ballot.
Once you get the signatures, there has to be a recall election.
Doesn't have to be a good reason or not.
Question A. Should Governor Davis be recalled, yes or no?
If yes, go to B. Which one of these candidates for governor should be elected?
And it's whoever gets the highest number of votes, not majority.
Does the governor have to get a certain amount of...
He's got to get a majority.
At least 50%.
50% plus one.
And if he doesn't get it, then we had 130 people running for governor.
We had porn stars.
We had politicians.
We had ex-politicians.
So it opens it up for a lot of people.
We had Democrats running against the lieutenant governor, Carlos Bustamante, was running against the governor.
Yes, kind of as insurance.
And so Arnold, of course, carried the day.
He became governor of California.
And so I inherit all the responsibility for what Arnold Schwarzenegger did or didn't do for eight years.
So the recall business is very serious.
When you tell me you got 845,000 certified signatures, You, too, will be signing that petition.
Is this very similar to what you saw?
You think this is going to get to the same place?
Yes, I do.
And oddly enough, when you got half the signatures just spontaneously, you may not need a rich person writing a big check.
I think there's going to be some good money coming in, but not from one source.
I prefer that much, much more.
And it's a grassroots phenomenon.
And here's the part.
It's not a Republican Party issue, although it soon will be.
But it's really started by a lot of people who are kind of apolitical, nonpolitical.
They're just trying to survive.
And the governor has got three big problems.
One, he's been so inconsistent about the COVID problem, and the French laundry has killed him politically.
He's telling everybody in California, stay at home.
Don't dine in.
Sacrifice.
And yet he goes to the French Laundry, the most exclusive restaurant in California, Three Star Michelin, with a lobbyist, with three medical doctors from the California Medical Association.
They have a $12,000 dinner with a $16,000 wine bill.
This is not something that Californians can even comprehend.
And then we have a Democrat supervisor Sheila Kuhn in Los Angeles that just voted that day to close down all the restaurants And no more outdoor dining.
That night she was filmed by Channel 11, KTTV, having dinner in Santa Monica at her favorite restaurant.
And you're seeing this over the mayor of San Jose.
All the infrastructure, the elite, mostly Democrats, maybe all Democrats, were flamboyantly disregarding the rules they're making for little people.
That's what fuels.
Secondly, the forest fires.
How do you get these forest fires out of control that burns a good portion of California?
And that's called forest management.
They stopped killing the dead trees years ago and clearing them away.
They stopped limited, because the crazy environmentalists didn't want to do anything to the forest, and they were creating tremendous fuel that created, frankly, an ecological catastrophe.
Completely irresponsible policies by extremists that make living unhealthy in California.
And then thirdly, over a billion dollars was spent for unemployment for prisoners in California.
That is one of the all-time scandals.
So the government with the CARES Act, the federal government, says if you're unemployed, Make a submission.
And they did it.
Every state had to control it.
And so for some reason, the prisoners got wind of this.
And let's face it, prisoners are not employed.
So a large group of them decided to demand the care package.
And over a billion dollars was spent for their unemployment that went to them directly.
And is that legal?
Oh, it's fraud.
It's fraud at a massive level.
So the key is Newsom is releasing thousands and thousands of prisoners, some of whom have cheated and got this payment from the federal government for unemployment when they were in jail.
And now, of course, they're softening the standards.
If you are guilty by a judge or by a jury of domestic violence, beating up your wife, or of child abuse, You can't keep them in jail.
They automatically don't even have to pay bail.
That's the law that Newsom and his allies have passed.
Well, most of us think that's nuts.
I thought the Democrats were in favor of the downtrodden.
I thought they were in favor of the people that need help.
Well, who needs help more than a woman that's getting beat up by her boyfriend, than a woman that's getting beat up by her husband?
What about a child?
Doesn't the child, what we know for sure, and this was discussed yesterday with the LA District Attorney's Office, one of their employees said, we know for sure the one that repeats the crime most often are domestic abusers and child abusers.
Once you release them, they're doing the same thing again.
And they'll keep doing it until they really hurt somebody badly or they kill somebody.
So this is the time that we live with in California and we have this precious, God-given opportunity to recall Governor Newsom.
And that's why it's going to work on its own.
Now, how do you think people, so it seems like people are not happy with where they are.
How do you think they can change that when it comes to doing this vote?
And they're going to have 100-something candidates.
Let's get the signatures first.
First, get educated.
Contact me, Sean Steele at seansteele.com.
Contact your local Republican Party.
They all support the recall now.
Or go online, find something about Recall Newsom.
And join with them.
They don't need money as much as they need organization and support and signatures.
You can download the signatures.
Get your friends and neighbors to sign them, to sign a piece of paper that you download, sign it yourself, and then you mail it in to the committee that's handling the recall.
So that's low-cost, low-tech, easy to do.
Do you think that Democrats will join you guys as well?
Oh, many have.
Look, not all Democrats are socialist tyrants.
There's a lot of work-of-day Democrats out of habit.
Out of custom that have, you know, because of their family tradition or that are registered Democrats, but they're running a business.
Or they're hiring people.
Or they were in the food industry.
And now they're finding themselves on hard times without a job.
And so what you have is a government union employees who are not working.
Some are, but many are not, like teachers.
Teachers are getting $100,000 a year.
They work for nine months.
Now they're working zero jobs.
They're still getting fully funded.
And then you have the person in the restaurant industry or in the hair salon or nail salon or barbers or just plain retail, and they're not getting any money or very little of it.
So these are the two competing classes.
You have a growing elite, wealthy middle class that government employs and a poorer Private sector class, and they'll be competing for this.
And ultimately, I got to believe there's more private sector people, more of us than government employees.
And now going back to that question, when they see that if this goes true, how can people ensure that they don't end up in the same situation?
Okay.
If there's going to be 100 people running for office, then you can run for office.
I'm really busy.
Smart answer.
Or any member of your staff.
You have to have so many signatures and pay a fee and that's it.
You don't have to have any credentials.
You've got to be an American citizen, pay a fee, get signatures, and you're on the ballot.
Then it's a matter of making a sophisticated choice.
Last time, it was a contest between the Lieutenant Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Senator Tom McClintock.
And so we had two really good Republicans, one Democrat.
Because the Democrats were kind of covering their bases.
And Schwarzenegger just, you know, because he's a superstar.
I don't know what happens this time.
We have to think.
Who are the better candidates?
And so you're going to have probably a couple of Democrats running.
You're going to have John Cox running, who ran last time for governor.
You're going to have Mayor Kevin Falconer from San Diego.
He's a mayor.
As a Republican, he may be running.
You may have some very big surprises, maybe some celebrity that we don't know about.
But now the smart political class is beginning to game it out.
Who do you think would be the best fit to do this job?
I understand that there's a lot of employees.
You're running like a huge organization.
What kind of experience do you need to have, and should people pay attention to the experience of these candidates?
Well, of course.
This is true in any campaign.
You have to see what kind of a life they've led, what kind of a character they have, what have they done with their life.
If they're a politician that's only been a politician and that's done political things, that's kind of one-dimensional.
If they've taken extreme positions that are kind of weird and not mainstream, it might scare a lot of people.
If they're a famous athlete and they're well-known but they don't have any common sense, Those are some of the balance.
If it's a businessman, but he's never done any public service, and he's never done any charity or helping people, that's kind of one-dimensional.
So you're looking for a combination of circumstances.
Somebody who's a leader, who sounds like he understands the pain the public is in, That will give us a roadmap for making California great again.
That's what we're looking for.
And if I knew that person, I'd tell you right now.
But I'm open to it.
I'm also searching and looking.
But people like that, high caliber people, won't start thinking about it until they think it's real.
And I'm telling you right now, during this Christmas season, it's real and it's getting real.
People are beginning to see the probability is over 50% we get the signatures.
Now all the calculus changed.
How does it change?
We'll know in March if we have the signatures and if they're verified or not, right?
Yeah.
Once that's verified, there are certain things that the California Constitution requires.
We just did this 20 years ago.
So the governor, not the governor, the Constitution requires that a special election has to take place, I think in like 60 days.
We may be looking at a campaign in June or July.
So it will be very fast.
Oh, it's going to be a wild year.
So in this year, we're going to see maybe a recall against one of those extreme liberals in America, and maybe he'll lose his governorship, or maybe he wins.
Maybe he can show that he's a good guy and he made all the right decisions and he locked down California and he made a couple of little mistakes.
But his political life is on the line because, you know, his real goal is not being governor of California.
He wants to be president.
That's his real goal.
He comes from a very wealthy family.
He's been supported his entire life by the Pelosi family and by the Getty family.
He is pure San Francisco, and now he's going to face reality.
So let's say the governor changes.
What else can change?
The legislative body is the same.
Right.
Oh, I see.
We fire the governor.
And there's a new governor.
What's going to happen?
There's a lot.
There is a lot.
The governor...
Has a number of cabinet appointments that he can make and set policy.
And, of course, the Democrats in the legislature are going to want to spend, spend money.
The sad truth is there's no more money.
We're on austerity times.
The businesses that have been closed down used to pay sales tax.
There's going to be an amazing shortfall.
Look at all the people, good people, not paying rent for their commercial properties, including my personal barber.
He can't afford to pay rent.
Well, the landlord's getting killed, but the banks are going to go after the landlord.
We haven't even begun to see that chain taking place.
So the legislature is going to have a lot to say about nothing, because their power is spending money.
They won't have the money to spend.
They just won't have the programs to support and all their fantasies and transsexual rights and all the new rules that they keep changing.
The legislature, not the governor, is the one that changed the rules about criminal behavior.
They try to take away bail.
That means anybody commits any crime doesn't need bail, unless it's for, you know, serial murder.
You know, a very high crime, but for serious crimes, you don't need bail.
They're the ones that are emptying the prisons, along with the governor's help.
So the legislature, it's going to be a battle between the governor and the legislature, and most of the time, the governor wins.
If he or she is smart, they know what they're doing, they stay close to the public, all the attention goes to the governor and the legislature just considered like noisy people on the outside.
So, yeah, it'll be a tremendous struggle for leadership.
And then Californians can finish the job in 2022 by knocking a lot of those extreme leftists in the legislature out of the way.
What about the local politicians, the mayors of these cities that have a lot of power?
They do, but not as much as the governor.
But you're going to find San Francisco getting to be a worse city.
And in a way, and cynically, I kind of, that's what you got.
That's what you deserve.
If your crime is higher, which it is, and your streets are dirtier, which it is, Well, didn't you vote for that person?
Maybe you should live in it and quit complaining.
And people are, you know, LA, of all the cities, LA and San Francisco are losing the populations the most because it's becoming virtually unlivable in those two cities.
But I think the rest of California can thrive and do well.
Think San Diego, the Central Valley, the Central Coast, Orange County, Northern California.
The two blight spots, the two areas that are really concentrated with crazy people is Los Angeles County and San Francisco.
And I think we can grow around them.
Do you have any other remarks for our audience?
There's a lot of hope in the air.
Many people have given up in California.
You haven't.
Epic hasn't.
But a lot of people said, ah, California is hopeless.
It's a population of 40 million.
We stopped growing 20 years ago.
We're losing population.
We're losing another congressional seat.
Other parts of the country are growing faster.
We're losing big corporations and a lot of small businesses to Texas and Florida.
And so that's discouraging.
We're losing our neighbors, our friends and our children.
They're going to other states because they can't afford to buy a home here because we're not allowed to build homes anymore.
It's virtually impossible to build a home in California unless it's a million dollar home and rich liberals can afford it but not normal people.
This will be a grand opportunity for the middle class to reclaim California against the super wealthy in Silicon Valley, against the elites of San Francisco, and against government employees.
It will be a titanic battle.
And I think the chances that, you know, a year ago, it was impossible to think about.
Six months ago, it was a fantasy.
Today, it's a reality.
So that's good news in itself.
I never saw this coming, and I'm overjoyed.
Well, thank you.
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