The effort to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom is gaining momentum as the Republican Party continues its work to collect signatures by the March deadline.
The California Republican Party announced last week that it would be giving $125,000 to a campaign called Rescue California that's working to recall the governor. The money will be used to hire workers to gather the signatures they need.
Another movement calledRecall Gavin 2020 has also been working to collect signatures throughout the state.
According to board members of this movement, in San Luis Obispo County, the Republican Party has collected over 10,000 validated signatures and in Santa Barbara County, they've collected about 7,000 validated signatures.
Recall Gavin 2020 board members say this movement is a chance for people to have their say and "make “California better” by removing Newsom from office.
“He simply has not done a good job and coronavirus has accelerated that cycle making a lot of people see that this man is making poor decisions, has poor judgment, he's a poor manager, and he should not be the governor of California. We can't afford that,” said Mike Netter, Recall Gavin 2020 Founding Member.
Local Democratic Party members argue Newsom has done a good job, especially facing adversity due to the pandemic.
"Fundamentally, no governor of any state of this country should have to do this on a state level. If we had a national policy, if we had had a president who recognized his role in defending America from this pandemic by adopting reasonable national policies, we wouldn't be in the position we are in and governor Newsom would not be in this position,” said John Alan Connerley, SLO County Democratic Party Secretary.
"We will continue to support our governor," added Rita Casaverde, Chair of the SLO County Democratic Party. "It's really sad that rather than supporting the governor currently with all the challenges that we are now facing, the Republican party is doing this.”
The Recall Gavin 2020 movement says its goal is to collect about 2 million signatures by the March 17 deadline in order to exceed the 1.5 million needed to get it on the ballot. Over the weekend, they reported reaching that 1.5 million threshold.
“This is not about our party, this is about the people of California coming together because there's finally something that they can by signing the petition to make something happen and have their say heard,” Netter said.
Board members of the movement say they have more than 250 volunteers between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.
