California Legislative Black Caucus, Attorney General strongly support Governor Newsom

By Jo Erlinda Maufit

SACRAMENTO, California — The California Legislative Black Caucus strongly opposes the recall of Governor Gavin Newsom and urges all Californians to vote “NO” to this unwarranted, ill-advised, and costly recall election.

During a global health and economic crisis, proponents of the recall choose to waste more than $200 million tax-payer dollars on this baseless campaign, blaming the Governor for their losses, when in fact, his efforts have been squarely focused on protecting the health of all Californians, the Caucus stressed in a statement.

California’s first Filipino-American Attorney General Rob Bonta, a former member of the California State Assembly, also threw in his support for Governor Newsom.

“Elections are not spectator sports. We need to exercise our fundamental right to vote. Our vote is our voice, and we need to make sure we each do our part to beat back this cynical Republican effort,” said Bonta.

This as Governor Newsom defended his record and called on Californians to vote “NO” during the September 14 recall election. “After 18 months of the chaos we had, the last thing California needs is the chaos this recall would perpetuate here in the fifth largest economy in the world,” said Newsom.

In an online press conference held specifically to reach out to the Asian American Pacific Islander media, Newsom touted the success of California under his leadership. He said that most of the progress he made throughout his political career has been made possible through the AAPI community, dating back to his win as mayor of San Francisco in 2004. “I would not have won that race without the overwhelming support of the Asian community, broadly defined Filipino community, not just the Chinese community, Japanese, across the spectrum, Korean, I was so proud of that.”

“The language used in the recall position is reminiscent of the hateful words used by the previous Federal Administration vilifying people based on their race, ethnicity, and nationality,” the group pointed out. “At its core, this petition is an attack on people’s civil rights and liberties. We cannot condone the repulsive language used in this petition and find the tactics being used by the Governor’s opponents deceitful.”

The Caucus said that Governor Newsom has enacted the biggest economic recovery package in California’s history – a $100 billion California Comeback Plan. The plan focuses on providing relief to those that need it most and major investments to address the state’s most persistent challenges. The plan provides immediate cash relief to middle class families and businesses hit hardest by the pandemic, creating the biggest state tax rebate in American history and the largest small business relief package in the nation.

“While California has seen a large surplus of money, we applaud the Governor for taking the initiative to provide support to our community,” the Caucus said. “Throughout the health and economic challenges of the pandemic, Governor Newsom has found ways to illuminate equity and justice for the Black community such as: $10 million in support of the Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital, $1.5 million to expand the scope of work for adults living with Sickle Cell Disease and $50 million to Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Sciences, a predominantly African American school focused on developing Black doctors and improving health conditions in the Black community.”

The Caucus stated: “There is zero evidence that the opponents in this race seriously care about equity and will undoubtedly try to undermine public support for meaningful Black Caucus legislation signed by the Governor in recent years such as: The first in the nation task force to study and develop reparations proposals for African American descendants of U.S. chattel slavery, banning the use of carotid restraint chokeholds by peace officers, requiring ethnic studies as a graduation requirement and increased diversity and representation on our state corporate boards. This legislation not only benefits the African American community, but all Californians.”

Furthermore, the recall of Governor Newsom will impact the current legislation we have advanced this year, particularly those that address policing, which includes: creating a decertification process in the state for law enforcement that has committed serious misconduct, establishing a five-year pilot for emergency response programs, requiring officers to intercede and report when witnessing the use of excessive force by another member of law enforcement, and much more, the Caucus said.

“We are at a critical juncture in this state and nation,” the group stated. “A recall should only be used if an elected official has committed a crime or an egregious act and Governor Newsom is not accused of either.”

“For these reasons, we are urging all Californians that believe in uplifting the best of our core democratic values to participate on Tuesday, September 14th and say “NO” to this unwarranted, ill-advised, and costly recall election of Governor Gavin Newsom,” the Caucus said.

The mission of the California Legislative Black Caucus is to advocate for the interests of Black Californians, remove roadblocks Black Americans face in every aspect of life, demand equity to eliminate disparities between racial groups, and increase African-American participation and representation in all levels of government.