Rescue California group visits SLO to campaign for recall of Gov. Newsom
Rescue California, a group that is calling for the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom, made a brief stop in San Luis Obispo on Thursday morning during its statewide press tour.
The group drew a crowd of about 40 supporters from around the county and elsewhere — some “recall Newsom” signs showed they were paid for the Republican Party of Fresno County.
Attendees included San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Debbie Arnold and members from the education-focused San Luis Obispo chapter of Moms For Liberty and Central Coast Families for Education Reform.
Five speakers gave remarks outside of Dignified Hope Care Inc., a senior care center. The event started at about 9:15 a.m. and lasted about 15 minutes before the Rescue California folks jetted off to Fresno for their next press event at 10:45 a.m.
SLO business owner condemns shutdown
Ranelle Baldwin, the owner of Dignified Hope Care, briefly spoke about how her business was hurt by the COVID-19 shutdown order imposed by Newsom early in the pandemic, and that she supports the recall efforts.
In an interview with The Tribune after the event, Baldwin said she mostly supports the recall because of how her business was impacted by Newsom’s COVID-19 shutdown order.
“I had many seniors that I’ve been caring for through the shutdown be affected by the draconian lockdown of not being able to see their family members in the last moments of their life,” she said. “I’m in the medical field, I understand that we need to be precautious in the measures we take and being safe with one another, but the seniors that I saw and the detriments — not because of COVID, but not doing preventative care ... has just been just egregious.”
Anne Dunsmore, the campaign manager for Rescue California, followed Baldwin’s remarks by getting the crowd riled up. She asked the crowd to “roar” to recall Newsom — which the crowd enthusiastically carried out.
“It is not California roaring back, but it is a recall,” Dunsmore said. “That is that the roar that Gavin Newsom is hearing, and we are going to succeed because of you, all of you.”
Following Dunsmore was Marc Klaas, founder of Klaas Kids after his 12-year-old daughter, Polly Klaas, was murdered in 1993. Klaas spoke about how “violent crime and property crime is spiking all over California.”
Homicides in California rose 31% in 2020 from 2019, according to data from the California Department of Justice. Although that big spike is largely due to homicide rates in 2019 being the lowest since 1966, it made 2020 the deadliest year for the state since 2007, according to the data.
However, property crimes decreased by about 8% in 2020, while motor vehicle thefts increased by nearly 20% and arsons by 43%, according to the data.
Klaas spoke about how a man named Troy Davis was released in June after being arrested in a vehicle theft case and then allegedly murdered Mary Tibbitts in Sacramento. Davis had no bail for the vehicle theft charge, so he was released on his own recognizance and ordered to appear in court, although he ended up not showing up to his court date.
Sacramento Superior Court officials adopted an emergency bail schedule that took effect May 5 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a schedule that is to remain in effect until 90 days after Gov. Gavin Newsom declares an end to the statewide coronavirus emergency order. That schedule lists vehicle theft — the crime for which Davis was arrested in June and subsequently released — as a zero bail crime.
Klaas said Tibbitt’s murder was “as predictable as it was preventable. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Unless we recall Gavin Newsome, it’s going to get worse.”
“Anybody who becomes governor after him (Newsom) is going to take a common sense approach and understand that you need to protect the rights of citizens,” Klaas continued. “Not the rights of criminals.”
Restaurant owner calls Newsom ‘narcissistic’
Los Angeles County business owner Angela Marsden spoke after Klaas. She said her business, Pineapple Hill Saloon & Grill in Sherman Oaks, nearly went out of business because of the COVID-19 shutdown orders.
Marsden called out the “hypocrisy of French Laundry” — when Newsom ate dinner on Nov. 6 at the expensive Napa Valley restaurant, not following his own COVID-19 physical distancing and mask orders.
“This person is narcissistic,” Marsden said. “He does not care about any one of us.”
“They have erased the middle class,” she continued. “We have the highest poverty of any state in the United States. We have the highest property taxes of any state. This is a class issue. And we want the middle class back and we want quality of life back and we want our businesses to be safe and people should be safe.”
Some of Marsden’s claims are inaccurate, however, as Mississippi had the highest poverty rate in 2019 at 19.6%, the most recent data available from the U.S. Census Bureau. California had a poverty rate of 11.8% in 2019, according to the data.
Additionally, according to the national nonprofit Tax Foundation, New Jersey had the highest mean effective property tax rate at 2.13% in 2019. California’s rate at that time was 0.7%, the 34th highest property tax rate in the nation.
After Marsden spoke, Philip Binstock, an individual whose father died in the 2018 Camp Fire caused by PG&E, took the stand.
He spoke about how Newsom received more than $200,000 in donations from PG&E in 2019. Several other politicians also received donations from the company.
“This is Gavin Newsom. He knew what needed to be done. He did not do it in 2020 — there was the Zogg Fire, four people died,” Binstock said. “PG&E caused that, caused those four deaths. I’m sorry, but I think that if you’re responsible for helping somebody kill four people, you are equally guilty in their lives.”
San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Debbie Arnold said in an interview with The Tribune after the Rescue California press event that she was very supportive of the group’s recall efforts and happy they were able to visit San Luis Obispo.
“I came over to support and thank Rescue California for all the hard work that they’ve done to allow the citizens of California to have the opportunity to recall and replace a governor,” she said. “Many people here believe that his policies have hurt citizens of California in many ways and they would like the chance to be able to recall and replace him.”
Following the event, members of the San Luis Obispo Democratic Party showed up to express their opposition to the recall effort.
Tim Jouet, treasurer for the party, said the recall effort is part of a bigger picture.
“These are people that are also working to undermine our election systems across the country. I mean, the very people here today having an election forced upon us ... these are the same people who don’t want masks, these are the same people that are willing to watch our hospitals fill up with schoolchildren getting sick and dying from COVID-19 because pf their definition of freedom,” Jouet said. “They’re basically undermining all of our civil institutions, and the very foundation of our government.”
This story was originally published September 9, 2021 at 1:02 PM.
