A group of Santa Barbara County elected officials gathered in Bohnett Park on Santa Barbara’s Westside on Friday morning to ask voters to vote no on the recall of California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the Sept. 14 special election.
The event was organized by the Latino Caucus of California Counties and Santa Barbara County First District Supervisor Das Williams.
“When we think about what this recall means for every single Californian, I think about the fact that if this recall goes through, we will reverse the progress we have made,” District 19 state Sen. Monique Limón said. “The reality of turning this around and not allowing our Gov. Newsom, who was elected by a great majority of the people of California to lead, means you will have 14 months of regulatory instability.
“There will be reversals in regulations and policies, and maybe that might sound of interest to some, but the chaos it will create for our state, the impact it will have on the working folks, the impact it will have on everyday Californians is something that we have lived. We lived it with the new federal administration governed by Trump, and the challenges were so tremendous in front of us. That is what’s at stake.”
Congressman Salud Carbajal called the recall election a “right-wing power grab effort” to take away the presence of “duly-elected” Newsom.
“This recall started by national right-wing forces … because this governor stood up to former President Trump. When (Trump) tried to divide us, the governor brought us together. When the former president went after immigrants, this governor embraced them,” Carbajal said. “When the former administration belittled, ridiculed, minimized and was in denial of this pandemic, this governor took bold action to protect lives and our health and our well-being.”
Santa Barbara Mayor Cathy Murillo spoke in the Westside neighborhood where she lives and reflected on all that Newsom has done for the “people right in this area.”
Raising the minimum wage, passing tenants protection, and supporting and funding Planned Parenthood clinics and women’s reproductive rights are all things that Newsom has done during his tenure to help the people of Santa Barbara, Murillo said.
“And if it’s the GOP, if it’s the Republicans in charge, they might roll all of that back,” she added.
Hannah-Beth Jackson, a former state senator, said that Newsom has been one of the most pro-Latino governors in California’s history, prioritizing high-risk Latino neighborhoods with COVID-19 vaccines, expanding college student loans for Dreamers seeking graduate degrees, and approving temporary housing for farmworkers if they fall sick to the coronavirus.
“My heart is no less committed to the fact that our community benefits from all of us, and it is so critically important that our Latino brothers and sisters get out and vote because this election is going to have an extraordinary impact on all of us, and especially the Latino community,” Jackson said.
Santa Barbara Unified School District board member Virginia Alvarez said it is essential to keep Newsom in office because he “truly is our governor for education.”
State Assemblymember Steve Bennett said momentum is what’s needed to win elections, and encouraged every person who cares about the recall election to go out and talk to friends, tweet, email and “emphasize to everybody how much we can’t stand to lose.”
Ethan Bertrand, Isla Vista Community Services District director, said it is crucial to get young people out to the polls for the election.
“We come out each time and we do a great job at making sure that we have progressive leadership here on the Central Coast, but this time we have to step up to make sure that we keep our governor,” he said.
Second District Supervisor Gregg Hart said that the only risk in this election is if people get complacent and believe that keeping Newsom in office is going to be easy and successful, but “elections like this don’t happen on regular cycles,” and the risks are “enormous.”
Santa Barbara City Councilman Oscar Gutierrez said the recall is just a “waste of time and money,” and to just “vote no and move on.”
Limón said the recall election is costing taxpayers more than $250 million.
“The conservative folks that always talk about saving taxpayers dollars have now put something on the ballot that is costing taxpayers over $250 million that could have gone to cities, that could have gone to counties, that could have gone to education,” she said. “And instead, we are doing this. So it’s so important to keep in mind that if this effort continues, it will be more use of taxpayer dollars that aren’t getting to the values of the issues that you care about.”
The Santa Barbara Tea Party is planning a Saturday recall rally in Goleta, at the intersection of Storke and Hollister roads.
Pro-recall protesters gathered on Aug. 15, waving signs along Upper State Street and urging the people who drive and walk by to vote yes on the recall and remove Newsom from office.
Election day is Sept. 14, and all registered voters should have received ballots in the mail. Click here for a list of polling places, and click here for a list of secure drop boxes located across the county.
The September ballot has two questions on it: the yes/no question on the recall, and then the list of replacement candidates.
If Newsom is not recalled, the second question is moot. If he is recalled from office, the candidate with the most votes will become governor to serve the rest of the term.
— Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue can be reached at jmartinez-pogue@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
