Tag Archives: California Governor Gavin Newsom

Senator helping fund ‘Vote No’ mailers

The mailer funded by Sen. Bill Dodd spotlights the Arizona man with the furry hat and horns at the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attempted take-over. (Courtesy photo)

By Richard Freedman, Vallejo Times-Herald, August 18, 2021

State Sen. Bill Dodd’s recent bout with vertigo has nothing to do with the dizzying feeling he gets seeing the number of names — 46 — on the California Gubernatorial Recall Election ballot hitting mailboxes this week.

Not that Dodd, a former Republican, is concerned about potential replacements for Gavin Newsom. It’s the two boxes — “Yes” and “No” — he’s focusing on, backing up his support of the Democrat governor with a $75,000 mailer campaign.

The state’s Department of Finance says the recall election is costing taxpayers roughly $215.2 million — money Dodd believes “would go a long way of funding so many projects like improving Highway 37. There are so many needs. The idea we’re going to spend it on a sham recall effort doesn’t rise to the level of what I call good government.”

Just short of 1.5 million verified signatures were needed to trigger a statewide ballot. The state verified roughly 1.6 million signatures.

Recall organizers claim government overreach has led to dissatisfaction with Newsom’s leadership. They cite his executive order to phase out gasoline-powered cars by 2035 and rolling power outages to prevent wildfires, among other issues. They also cite a number of issues surrounding his handling of the coronavirus.

“There are a lot of people out there for some reason or other want to support this recall,” Dodd said by phone. “It’s my firm belief that a lot of things that have gone on — COVID-19, wildfires, utility shut-offs — since he became the chief executive officer of this state would happen no matter who is the governor of the state. He had little or no control over those things happening.”

Of the 22 million registered voters in California about 10 million (or 46%) are Democrat and 5 million (24%) are Republicans. The remaining 6.5 million (30%) are independents or registered to other parties, according to the most recent Report of Registration from the California Secretary of State released in February.

Newsom was elected in 2018, beating Republican challenger John Cox 61.9 % to 38.1%.

The thought of a sitting governor with that overwhelming a victory losing his job to someone with a comparatively minuscule portion of the vote on a crowded ballot doesn’t sit right with Dodd.

State Sen. Bill Dodd, D-3, Napa. (Courtesy photo)

“They (recall supporters) are counting on this as their ‘January 6 opportunity’ to overturn the government, but doing it through a recall,” Dodd said, alluding to the failed takeover of the U.S. Capitol.

“This is what happens when either party can go too far,” said Dodd. “These are reactionary times.”

A main figure of that Capitol insurrection, an Arizona man wearing U.S. flag colors face paint, a furry hat and horns, is featured prominently on Dodd’s “Vote No” mailer. Another version of the mailer includes a photograph of the U.S. Capitol building from Jan. 6.

“His point is that the same people who stormed the Capitol are the same people who want to recall Newsom,” said Dodd spokesman Paul Payne.

Dodd is banking on the registered voter party difference to secure Newsom’s remaining term, set to end in January of 2023. Endorsed by Newsom in the 2016 state senate election, Dodd funded the mailout — “Are You Going to Let Them Win?” — as a reminder to vote and vote “No.”

“I think if the people of the state of California turn out and vote on this, I don’t think the chances are very good he will get recalled,” Dodd said. “I think we need to peel back the onion a little bit and stop and think what has been accomplished in terms of policies on climate change, trying to get a handle on the homeless, our budgets and what we’re investing in.”

“I ask that people just vote and let their voices be heard,” Dodd said, believing that “organizers of this recall see this as an opportunity to use COVID-19 and some of these other issues to try and move him out. They have a much better chance of getting someone elected through a recall than with a traditional election.”

Dodd believes recall supporters are counting on the heavy Democratic advantage to be distracted by the pandemic and forgo voting.

“If we don’t vote, we let them potentially win,” he said. “We know that if Democrats and independents vote in large numbers, this recall will fail.”

Dodd declined to speculate how a failed recall could backfire on Republicans.

“I’m not looking for a pound of flesh after this. For me, it’s about having them fail on this issue,” he said. “I’m happy to debate them or work with them on other issues that make sense for everyone who lives in the state or certainly in my district.”

Dodd believes there needs to be “some narrow criteria, whether a governor, legislator or local elected official” can be recalled. He cited Placerville, which is trying to recall four of its five council members because they want to “change the look of Main Street,” according to a recall organizer.

“That’s what elections are for,” Dodd said. “That’s direct democracy put in for a reason.”

Dodd, D-Napa, represents District 3, including all of Napa and Solano counties and parts of Contra Costa, Yolo and Sonoma counties.

California, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Coronavirus, Coronavirus variant, Covid 19, Re-opening, Vaccine

COVID: What will California’s vaccine verification system look like

June 18, 2021 Roger Straw

California businesses will be able to require vaccine verification

Vallejo Times-Herald, by Emily Deruy & Solomon Moore, June 18, 2021

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference at Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant on Geary Boulevard in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, June 3, 2021. Newsom outlined the state’s ongoing support for restaurants and bars as California fully reopens the economy this month. (Jane Tyska — Bay Area News Group)

Don’t call it a “vaccine passport,” Gov. Gavin Newsom insists. But California is poised to roll out some sort of electronic vaccine verification system to help residents show businesses and others that they are inoculated against the coronavirus.

Promising more details in the coming days, Newsom earlier this week touted that the state is working on a digital version of the official paper immunization cards that people received when they got their shots. How the system will work, who will have access to it, and when it will launch are among the critical questions that the governor’s office did not respond to Wednesday.

But the growing anticipation comes as dozens of competing efforts for everything from personalized apps to unique registries are stirring up confusion and privacy concerns as California sheds its pandemic restrictions and fully reopens this week.

While details remain scarce about how the state’s vaccine verification system will fit in, a couple of things are clear.

For one, people won’t be required to use the system, Newsom said. But if you want to, say, attend a concert or book a flight, businesses will be able to require verification in the same way they can continue to require masks even though the state, with a few exceptions, no longer mandates them.

“Businesses have freedom of choice across the spectrum,” Newsom said Monday.

California would not be the first to unveil a statewide verification system. In March, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched the Excelsior Pass, a digital pass developed with the help of IBM that lets residents share their vaccination status or COVID-19 test results. Businesses can verify the information but don’t have access to personal health data.

Advocates of vaccine passports and verification systems say they can help residents and businesses get back to normal safely. They could ease access to concerts, baseball games, university campuses and other places where vaccination status matters.

“I think it makes sense on every level,” said John Swartzberg, an infectious disease expert and professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, who has been consulting with businesses.

“They would very much like to use a vaccine passport, but they don’t want to make the decision to do it,” Swartzberg said, acknowledging that the issue “is a political hot potato for them.”

Opponents of vaccine passports and verification systems have raised privacy and discrimination concerns. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an order banning the use of vaccine passports, and Texas has also banned state agencies and organizations that receive public money from requiring people to prove they’ve been jabbed.

The federal government has said it will not create a nationwide system or passport, leaving states, local governments and the private sector to choose whether to tackle vaccine verification, with a number of options emerging.

ID2020, a San Francisco-based collaborative of international civil society organizations and multinational travel, financial and technology companies, has been seeking to link digital identities with vaccine distribution since its founding in September 2019, before the coronavirus hit. Earlier this month, the group published a white paper called the Good Health Pass Interoperability Blueprint that is intended to standardize the cacophony of vaccine credentialing systems being built across the planet.

The collaborative, whose supporters include Microsoft, IBM, Salesforce, the Rockefeller Foundation, Deloitte and others, are advocating for systems that are digital, interoperable across platforms and jurisdictions, and secure. Other principles at the core of the effort include a commitment to making health passes consensual and flexible enough to accommodate a range of solutions, including mobile and secure physical documentation of vaccinations.

“We’ve seen more than 70 systems that have been proposed, globally,” said Pam Dixon, executive director of World Privacy Forum, an Oregon-based research organization. “I don’t know which system will win, but I do think that the International Air Transport Association system — which is the system that airlines are going to use — may win.”

But Dixon said she is concerned that the speed with which vaccine credential systems are being developed has precluded any transparent process for public involvement in their designs. Dixon also said she is concerned that any digital platforms for vaccine credentialing would put individuals’ privacy at risk because identities will be linked to health data or behaviors that could be exploited by unscrupulous companies and governments.

It’s unclear exactly which verification systems will be put to use where. But for now, in the current absence of a California-wide system, some residents have been showing their physical vaccination cards, photos of the cards or vaccine records on apps such as the CVS Pharmacy app to enter places such as the fully vaccinated sections at San Francisco Giants games at Oracle Park, nursing homes for visits and more. The cards are easy to damage or lose, though, and proponents of a vaccine verification system say the current situation needs to be improved.

“I think it’s unfortunate we don’t have more political leadership doing this,” Swartzberg said. “Ideally it’s an activity the state should take on.”

California Department of Public Health, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Coronavirus, Covid 19, COVID-19 tier assignments, Re-opening

SF Chron: California confirms state will reopen June 15 – no more social distancing, capacity limits

May 21, 2021 Roger Straw

Bartender Ramon Piñon, left, mixes a drink for John Lister at Sea Star Bar, which reopened for business for several days in San Francisco on May 9 with capacity limits. The state will allow bars and other businesses to lift all restrictions June 15. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle, by Erin Allday, May 21, 2021

California will definitely reopen on June 15 and almost all public health restrictions will be lifted, state officials said Friday, releasing the first highly anticipated details of what post-pandemic life will look like.

Overnight, the state will do away with all capacity limits and other social distancing requirements for businesses and other activities. Gatherings of all sizes will be allowed. And everything from buffet service to open bars will be able to resume in public spaces and private events.

A handful of restrictions will remain in place — most notably some masking rules, primarily for people who aren’t yet vaccinated. Counties may also maintain some local restrictions. But for the most part, Californians will be able to pick up where they left off last March, when the first orders shutting down large gatherings were issued.

“We have been for weeks forecasting that something very important happens on June 15 in California,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of California Health and Human Services, in a news briefing Friday. “The big message today is we’re at a place with this pandemic where the requirements of the past are no longer needed for the foreseeable future.”

Friday’s announcement was the first confirmation from the state that the June 15 reopening date is a sure thing. The state will retire its color-coded public health blueprint, instituted last August, which ordered varying levels of restrictions based on how much virus was spreading in a county.

Ditching the blueprint and lifting almost all public health restrictions was dependent on the state improving access to vaccines for all residents and keeping COVID-19 hospitalizations low, and California is easily meeting both of those metrics, Ghaly said. Daily cases and deaths are at or near record lows statewide; last week, the Bay Area reported four COVID-19 deaths a day on average, the lowest in the region since the first fatalities last March.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the planned reopening date in April, but since then details about what would actually happen were spare. County and business leaders increasingly had said they were having a hard time planning for that date without better understanding of what health restrictions might remain in place.

It turns out, almost none of them.

Masks are one exception. Face coverings will still be required for unvaccinated people, and for everyone in certain situations including in health care settings and on public transit. But the bulk of the mask mandate will lift on June 15 along with everything else.

The other notable restriction is for so-called mega indoor events — gatherings of more than 5,000 people, which would include Warriors games and large concerts. Organizers will be required to confirm that attendees are vaccinated or have a negative coronavirus test. Organizers of outdoor events with more than 10,000 people will be advised, but not required, to do the same.

“All limits on physical distancing, on capacity, restrictions around eating and drinking, open bars and buffets — will go away,” said Dee Myers, director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. “This will allow people holding conventions or weddings or selling out sporting events to advertise or market. Cultural events — all of those will be allowed, with certainty.”

There remains some uncertainty around workplace safety rules that are overseen by California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health standards board, or Cal/OSHA. The board on Thursday delayed a vote on new rules that would end social distancing and masking requirements for vaccinated employees.

Most Bay Area counties have said they plan to align with the state reopening plan on June 15. But some county public health leaders have expressed reservations about fully reopening in just three weeks, and suggested that they may wait a little longer to allow very large gatherings, for example.

San Francisco public health officials said in a statement Friday that they were reviewing the state guidance and would say next week whether they planned to fully align with it.

San Mateo County plans to adopt the state guidance, but health officials remain wary of the potential for outbreaks among unvaccinated residents, said Dr. Curtis Chan, deputy director of public health. He said the county would encourage everyone to continue wearing masks in many indoor public spaces — such as grocery and retail stores — through the summer so that more people have a chance to be fully vaccinated. The county won’t make it a requirement, though.

“The June 15 date works for many individuals, particularly those who have been vaccinated. From a broader public health and a broader community perspective, we have concerns about people who have faced barriers to getting vaccinated,” Chan said. “Every couple weeks makes a big difference. So June 15 may almost be enough time, but for sure July 15 or Aug. 15 will be definitely enough time to get everyone vaccinated. Let’s make sure all our communities can cross that finish line and be protected.”

Ghaly acknowledged Friday that lifting restrictions would leave unvaccinated residents vulnerable to infection and “concerning outcomes.”

“We’ll be watching that very closely,” he said. “It’s not that we won’t see some isolated outbreaks, but we do have the tools to be able to manage that, to be able to keep those outbreaks to a minimum and keep any spread (of disease) pretty contained.”

Ghaly said he hoped that with the opening date now confirmed, and just three and a half weeks away, people who have been hesitating to get vaccinated consider getting shots right away. County public health officials similarly have said that they are redoubling efforts over the next month to increase vaccine uptake in communities that have lagged behind state averages.

State officials also confirmed Friday that they do not plan to issue or require vaccine passports, though they acknowledged that some businesses and event organizers may use them. The state will offer guidelines for how to implement vaccine passports in a way that protects people’s privacy and ensures equity, Ghaly said.

Coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths have plummeted in California as large portions of the population have been vaccinated. As of Friday, 48% of eligible residents — those 12 and older — were fully vaccinated, and 13.5% had received at least one shot of the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccine courses.

About 1,300 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 — the fewest patients statewide since last March, when California began tracking that data.

“Over the past seven days we’ve had 260 new admissions. We wanted to be below 300 over a seven-day average and we’ve achieved that,” Ghaly said. “On both metrics — vaccinations and the state of COVID in our hospitals — we feel like we are tracking well toward meeting our goals on June 15.”

California, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Coronavirus, Covid 19

California Today: What to Know About Newsom’s State of the State

March 10, 2021 Roger Straw

Governor gives televised address from Dodger Stadium, speaks about pandemic, vaccines

New York Times California Today Newsletter, by Jill Cowan, March 10, 2021

Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered his State of the State address from Dodger Stadium on Tuesday as his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, listened. Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

On Tuesday evening, Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered his third State of the State address, an elaborately produced event in which he portrayed a California emerging from crisis better, stronger and more equal than it was before the coronavirus pandemic.

“In California, we’re not going to come crawling back. We will roar back,” he said, speaking from a stage on the field at Dodger Stadium. “I think we all agree, normal was never good enough.”
Indeed, the pandemic has made clearer than perhaps ever before the longstanding divides in the Golden State.

It has exacerbated inequality between those who can afford to work from home and those who must labor in fields, factories and warehouses. It has ravaged Latino, Black and Asian communities disproportionately.

And the state’s strict, sometimes confusing, lockdowns aimed at curbing the spread of the virus have provided ample fodder for frustrated conservatives and business owners who are now trying to oust Mr. Newsom from office.

[Read a conversation with Gray Davis, California’s first and only governor to be recalled, about governing in crisis.]

The governor’s prime-time speech from the stadium in Los Angeles — a departure from tradition; the State of the State is usually given midday in Sacramento — was aimed more at rebutting an effort to recall him than a preview of sweeping policy goals.

“We won’t change course just because of a few naysayers and doomsday-ers,” Mr. Newsom said. “So to the California critics, who are promoting partisan power grabs and outdated prejudices, and rejecting everything that makes California great, we say this: We will not be distracted from getting shots in arms and our economy booming again.”

In the speech, the governor sought to remind Californians that he has been at the helm as the state has been pummeled by calamity after calamity — the kind of compounding disasters unseen in decades.

The large screens next to him displayed pictures of the apocalyptic orange sky over the Bay Area as he spoke about the rising threat of wildfires. He emphasized that California’s leaders would continue to be guided by science, “not politics.”

[Track the vaccine rollout and find information about who’s eligible.]

Dodger Stadium has become a kind of symbolic home for the state’s pandemic response, first as a mass testing site, then as a mass vaccination site. Mr. Newsom said that the rows of empty seats behind him as he spoke were a “silent tribute” to the 54,395 Californians who have died because of Covid-19.

“We won’t be defined by this moment,” he said. “We’ll be defined by what we do because of it.”

The governor in particular highlighted campaigns to vaccinate millions of vulnerable residents and to get students back into classrooms.

Experts have said that Mr. Newsom’s political prospects hinge largely on the state’s ability to spur both of those things.

Proponents of the recall have fiercely criticized the fact that many students have been learning from home for a year.

Kevin Faulconer, the Republican former mayor of San Diego who is campaigning to replace Mr. Newsom, said in a video response to the address that the governor has failed to solve problems and has harmed residents in the process.

“He has failed parents in Los Angeles where powerful unions are choosing to keep classrooms closed,” Mr. Faulconer said.

Allies of Mr. Newsom have said that the recall effort is an expensive waste. But they’ve said that the governor has time on his side, as more and more Californians are inoculated and restrictions are eased.

Later on Tuesday evening, Los Angeles schools and teachers’ unions agreed on a plan to reopen schools next month.

Read more:

- Here’s an annotated version of the speech from CalMatters.
- Here’s a fact-check from The Associated Press.