California GOP signs onto recall campaigns against Gavin Newsom to boost its fundraising

The California Republican Party is endorsing two long-shot efforts to force Gov. Gavin Newsom out of office, but won’t throw its money behind the proposals.

Jessica Patterson, chairwoman of the CA GOP, on Monday verified a fundraising email the state party sent to its supporters on Saturday highlighting its board of directors’ vote to “support both current efforts to recall Governor Gavin Newsom.”

The endorsement reflects enthusiasm among a vocal base of Republicans who want to oust Newsom less than a year since he took office, and it gives more attention to a pair of recall efforts carried by former Southern California GOP congressional candidates.

Neither of the two recall campaigns has much financial support, and they won’t get help from the state party.

Patterson said the money raised through the fundraising email would go straight to the state party, not the petitioners. She also noted the party has no plans to spend money on the recall efforts.

“I don’t anticipate us allocating any money toward the efforts,” Patterson said.

Some Republicans strongly disagree with Patterson’s decision to align the party with the calls for Newsom’s removal. Newsom has a positive job approval rating in recent polls and he handed Republicans a historic defeat in November, when he won election with 61.9 percent of the vote.

Mike Madrid, a Republican political consultant who frequently criticizes President Donald Trump and the state party, chastised the decision of a state party he considers “visionless and floundering” and reminiscent of a “crabby knitting circle.”

The two committees leading the effort to recall Newsom have reported raising nearly $53,000, according to filings made with the Secretary of State’s Office. Republican congressional candidate Erin Cruz raised $5,000 through her RAN Action Fund, while San Diego physician James Veltmeyer raised nearly $48,000 through his “Californians to Recall Gavin Newsom” coalition. Veltmeyer is also a former Republican congressional candidate.

In a November interview with One American News, a right-wing television channel, Cruz said she launched the proposal in an effort to get California “back on track” because Newsom “has been running this state into the ground.”

On his website, Veltmeyer says he wants Newsom out of office because of the state’s tax policy, handling of homelessness and expanded protections for people who unlawfully entered the country.

Despite the lack of party funding into the effort of Cruz and Veltmeyer, Patterson insists she’s fully supportive of their calls for Newsom’s removal.

She believes the state has experienced “third world problems” under Newsom’s leadership, including a string of power shutoffs from PG&E, widespread homelessness and an affordability crisis with high costs for housing and transportation.

“There’s a huge amount of support for it,” Patterson said of the petitions calling for Newsom’s ouster. “Don’t get me wrong. I do know that this is an uphill battle, but it gives us an opportunity to connect with voters right now. People are fired up. People are angry about the arrogance and overreach of California Democrats. Every single chance that the governor has the opportunity to do the right thing, he chooses not to.”

The state GOP’s Vice Chairman Peter Kuo and Treasurer Gregory Gandrud urged the party to endorse the recalls at the board’s Nov. 16 meeting and the 21-member body approved it. The party declined to share details about the voting breakdown, as it considers itself a private organization.

Rusty Hicks, chairman of the California Democratic Party, said the endorsement won’t help Republicans win in the state.

“It’s one thing to witness the CA GOP careening toward oblivion, but it’s just sad to see them exploiting this recall folly for financial gain,” Hicks said in a statement. “They shamelessly want to profit off of what they clearly know is a doomed effort.”

Support for Newsom has dropped among likely California voters since he took office in January, though the governor still has strong backing among Democrats.

When he was sworn in as governor, he had a net approval rating of 14 percent, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. His net support moved into the red in September but recovered to 3 percent in a November poll from PPIC, with 48 percent of likely voters in the state approving of the way he’s handled his job as governor and 45 percent disapproving.

Newsom defeated John Cox in 2018 by 23.8 percentage points, the largest margin of victory for any party since 1950 and biggest win for Democrats since 1875.

“There’s nothing they’re articulating about how they would solve these problems,” Madrid said of the California GOP. “They didn’t have that from John Cox. They don’t have that now. If you think your opponents’ failures are the best way to win, that’s not a strategy.”

Despite Newsom’s historic win, he has experienced struggles similar to those of a Democratic predecessor who got recalled.

Over the last two months, hundreds of thousands of PG&E customers have experienced deliberate power outages as part of the utility’s efforts to prevent the outbreak of wildfires. The developments have caused some to liken Newsom to former Gov. Gray Davis, who left office in a 2003 recall election after the state saw an energy crisis in 2000 and 2001.

Dan Newman, a political adviser on Newsom’s campaign, said in a brief statement, “The governor is focused on doing his job.”

This story was originally published December 2, 2019 at 4:09 PM.