Recall refresher + Candidate for controller

Good morning, and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

RECALL REFRESHER

Via Lara Korte...

In case you were in a coma last week, you should know that Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis officially set a date for the Gov. Gavin Newsom recall. Both Republicans and Democrats are revving their engines, ready to dig in over the next few weeks.

Here’s what you need to know for Sept. 14:

When will I get a ballot? Counties will send all registered voters a mail ballot starting 29 days before the election. In this case, around Aug. 14.

What will the ballot look like? It will have two questions. The first, a yes or no question, will ask whether Newsom should be recalled. The second will ask who should replace him if he is recalled.

Can I vote ‘no’ on the recall and still pick a replacement candidate? Technically, yes. Though the replacement candidate won’t win in office unless more than 50% of voters say ‘yes’ on question 1.

How long will it take to count the ballots? Similar to other mail elections, ballots will be counted until 7 days after the election. Make sure you postmark by election day!

Who will be on the ballot? Anyone who meets the requirements, which includes a $4,000 filing fee. Currently, a slate of Republicans have announced intentions to run: Kevin Faulconer, John Cox, Doug Ose, Caitlyn Jenner, to name a few. But more could enter before the July 16 deadline. In 2003, there were 135 on the recall ballot for Gov. Gray Davis.

Will Newsom be removed? That’s for voters to decide. But for now, his odds look good. A May PPIC poll found 6 in 10 voters would choose to keep the first-term governor in a recall.

There have been some blips for Democrats. This week, a judge will hear Newsom’s argument against his own secretary of state, Shirley N. Weber, who he says is unfairly refusing to correct a filing error that would leave his party affiliation off the recall ballot.

MITT ROMNEY’S TOP POLICY WONK GOES FOR CA CONTROLLER

Via Lara Korte...

A Bay-area Republican with a long resume advising the GOP on policy is today launching his bid for California Controller, the state’s chief financial officer.

Lanhee Chen currently works as Director of Domestic Policy Studies in the Public Policy Program at Stanford. A native of Southern California, Chen holds a Ph.D in political science and a law degree from Harvard. He spent much of the last decade working on high-profile Republican campaigns, including as a policy director for Sen. Mitt Romney’s two presidential bids and a senior adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio during his 2016 campaign.

Now, Chen wants a shot at statewide office in California. Current State Controller Betty Yee, a Democrat, is termed out next year, which could mean a competitive primary come June.

But the fact remains that Republicans haven’t won state office in California since 2006. Can Chen convince voters to put a conservative in an office?

“I’m not part of the, sort of, one-party monopoly in Sacramento,” he told The Sacramento Bee last week. “My political career is not dependent on whoever the governor is, or the treasurer is or whatever. So I do think I bring a measure of independence to the job that I think people will value.”

Chen says he doesn’t want to be “one of those guys who spends all his days talking about what’s wrong with California.” Yee has done some things well, he said, pointing to her refusal to pay out money for a controversial contract between the state and SKDK last year.

But Chen would take a bit of a different approach. He wants to use the controller’s audit power aggressively, even “ruthlessly, if needed,” and update technology to provide more transparency.

“I have a lot of faith in the voters in California,” he said. “I believe that they are independent minded, at the end of the day, and they want to make decisions on the merits, and not just based on labels.”

Chen also has the approval of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who called him a “brilliant policy mind and proven problem solver.”

“We need a strong, independent watchdog in Sacramento like Lanhee Chen, protecting taxpayers from massive waste, fraud and abuse caused by years of Democrat incompetence,” McCarthy said in a statement.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We know the Delta Variant is contagious — and is on the rise.We know our hospitalizations are creeping up — and most of the patients are unvaccinated. We also know the science is clear — getting vaccinated protects you AND those around you.Get vaccinated.”

- Gov. Gavin Newsom, via Twitter.

Best of the Bee:

• California Assembly members’ offices can hire two people each to work on helping constituents deal with unemployment benefits and other issues involving the Employment Development Department, via David Lightman.

• Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed a law to help alleviate the pandemic’s effect on grades and graduation credits by giving California students an opportunity to redo a grade level, via Isabella Bloom.

• The California Capitol is experiencing an outbreak of seven new COVID-19 cases, all within the same Assembly office, just weeks after it opened its doors to the public and began lifting certain pandemic rules, via Hannah Wiley.