Newsom recall... or grift?
Tomo Chien
February 27, 2024
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, and I’m reading about how Fremont was named the happiest city in America. I’m a little skeptical. Onto the five USC, Los Angeles and California stories you need to know for today.
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1.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing yet another recall attempt from the same conservative group that tried to oust him three years ago, which this time around is pointing to the state’s budget deficit and the governor’s role as a surrogate for Joe Biden. Turns out it could just be a grift. Rescue California, the group that initiated the effort, owes more than $1 million mostly to staff from the last recall campaign. This second effort will allow the group to raise more money to pay back those debts, but it’ll also likely enable the group’s vendors and organizers to pocket millions like they did last time — only to fail spectacularly in a special election that cost taxpayers some $200 million. The grift worked once… so why not try it again?
2.
Southern California Edison will pay $80 million to cover damages from the Thomas Fire that killed two people and destroyed more than 1,000 buildings in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in 2017. The fire, which torched over 280,000 acres, started when winds caused two power lines to slap together. Its damage later triggered a mudflow that killed 23 in Montecito. The utility didn’t admit wrongdoing or fault in the settlement with the federal government, even though state investigators previously found that the utility neglected regulations that could’ve prevented the fire.
3.
A year ago, Rep. Adam Schiff called for advertisers to boycott Fox News, decrying the network’s “shameful” leadership and hosts that propagated misinformation that threatened to undermine American elections. But he’s since changed his tune. Schiff has spent millions on Fox advertising slots to air attack ads against Republican Steve Garvey as he campaigns for California’s open U.S. Senate seat — a strategy that seems to be working. The Burbank congressman, of course, isn’t the only Democrat in the race who’s advertising on Fox, but he is the only one to renege on a promise to boycott the network.
4.
Student workers in the California State University system voted to unionize in a landslide election last week, meaning essentially any student employed by the university — including undergrads — is now a union-eligible worker. It’s now one of the largest student unions in the country with over 20,000 student assistants systemwide. Students say they hope that the union can fight for higher pay, more hours and sick leave. “This is for all of us and for all of our futures,” one student assistant said.
5.
A California neo-Nazi who goes by “Scottie BigBalls” is raising money on a Christian crowdfunding site to tour city council meetings and espouse antisemitic rhetoric. His name is actually Harley Ray Petero Jr., and he comes from a long and venerated tradition of neo-Nazis who hijack council meetings with hate speech in an attempt to provoke First Amendment lawsuits. COVID was the golden era for these people: Cities shifted their meetings to Zoom and allowed for virtual public comments, which meant that anybody could call for the “nationwide expulsion” of Jews from the comfort of their own home. But most cities have ended virtual participation — in most cases because of neo-Nazi trolls — thus Scottie’s fundraising push.