Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders railed against the effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, claiming that the California Democrat is facing a recall because he told “people to wear masks.”
“Right-wing Republicans in CA are trying to recall @GavinNewsom for the crime of telling people to wear masks and for listening to scientists during COVID,” Sanders tweeted Monday.
“Extremist Republicans have done enough to undermine democracy already. We must all unite to oppose the recall in California,” he added.
Right-wing Republicans in CA are trying to recall @GavinNewsom for the crime of telling people to wear masks and for listening to scientists during COVID. Extremist Republicans have done enough to undermine democracy already. We must all unite to oppose the recall in California.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 8, 2021
Organizers working to recall Newsom announced this weekend that they had gathered more than the number of needed signatures to get the effort on the ballot — collecting 1.95 million signatures.
CALIFORNIA ADMITS UP TO $31B IN UNEMPLOYMENT MAY HAVE GONE TO FRAUDSTERS AND FOREIGN CRIMINAL RINGS
“I don’t think you’ve ever seen a volunteer movement like this,” Mike Netter, a supporter of the recall, said at the press conference. “It’s literally people from all walks of life, all parties, all religions. We have a diversity across the board collecting and united [on] one thing, and that’s the fact that California needs a new governor.”
The signatures still need to be verified by state and county officials to get on the ballot.
The effort picked up steam after Californians and people across the country voiced their outrage with Newsom in November after photos surfaced of him in the French Laundry restaurant, where meals cost $350 a person, showing him socializing with a large group while not wearing a mask. He was characterized as a hypocrite for the move, which organizers of the recall said propelled their effort.
An arm of the California government also recently admitted that up to $31 billion in unemployment funds may have been sent to fraudsters.
“Of the $114 billion in unemployment paid by California since March, approximately 10% has been confirmed as fraudulent. An additional 17% of the paid claims have been identified as potentially fraudulent,” Julie Su, the secretary for the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, said in January.
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“There is no sugar-coating the reality: California did not have sufficient security measures in place to prevent this level of fraud,” Su said.
California has had only one successful gubernatorial recall effort in its history, when voters replaced Democratic Gov. Gray Davis with Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003 over mismanagement of California finances.
