Gavin Newsom Must Go

Late last year, I was invited to speak in Southern California before a large group of prominent Republicans from across the western states. I had no way to know that when I was invited to speak on the 9th of January, it would be a dark day, in one of the darkest weeks in the history of Southern California.

While California has not had a decent governor for a long time, I still genuinely enjoy my visits to the place where the Reagan Revolution was conceived before it was successfully exported to all 50 states.

In recent decades, California was a great place not because of, but in spite of its political leadership. But since Governor Gavin Newsom’s tenure, for the first time ever, California’s political vices have begun to eclipse its natural virtues.

There are several things that immediately stand out which point to Newsom’s extreme negligence in the run-up to the worst fires to ever scar Los Angeles.

First of all, Newsom allowed fresh water to flow out to the ocean rather than redirect these vital supplies to farmers and large urban areas. Why did he do this? Because he did not want to disrupt the habitat of a tiny fish called the Delta Smelt. If you put the lives of a worthless fish over the lives of hundreds of families, you are not just negligent, you are a vile and disgusting excuse for a man.

In 1961, a fire destroyed nearly 500 homes in the Bel Air community of Los Angeles. Following this fire, the state adopted common sense regulations that mandated the clearing of dry brush from the hills and canyons of the state that acted as tinderboxes during the Bel Air Fire.

Gavin Newsom has allowed these standards to slip into an abysmal state, leaving thousands of homes at risk. If Newsom and his Democrat allies in city and county governments across the state acted to clear brush and create fire breaks, it is almost certain that the hellish fires could have been much more rapidly contained and extinguished.

In 1962, the Los Angeles Fire Department produced a short film about fire safety following the Bel Air Fire. Newsom could have watched this and learned a thing or two. He’s arrogant to the core.

Of course, Newsom cannot be blamed for everything, LA’s Mayor Karen Bass must shoulder much of the blame for recent budget cuts to the Fire Department. She was warned that these cuts would put lives at risk. She chose not only to ignore these warnings, but as the Santa Ana winds began to blow, the incompetent Mayor pretended she was the Secretary of State by going to a political event in the African nation of Ghana. What does this have to do with her duties to the people of Los Angeles? The answer is, nothing.

But back to Newsom.

As the families who lost everything begin the process of rebuilding, it would appear that Gavin Newsom has other plans.

While California is THE high tax/high regulation state, in 1978, Reagan Republicans passed Proposition 13. This law has protected longtime homeowners from unaffordable increases in property taxes. This has prevented controversial Illinois style property taxes from becoming the norm in California. The Democrats hate it, but long time homeowners need these protections.

However, when a home has to be entirely rebuilt, many homeowners will face the prospect of a property tax reassessment that could make living in rebuilt homes totally unaffordable.

Although (weak) laws are in place to allow some victims of the fire to maintain their Prop 13 protections, this will only apply if a new home is rebuilt in a similar manner to the one that was burned down.

The devil is in the details. Today's building codes in California are much stricter than they have ever been. This makes the value of new construction exponentially higher than that of an older home, irrespective of location. This is how California's labyrinth of regulations could price hundreds of families out of the home they already lost!

Making matters more complicated, many of the homes that burned down were located along the Pacific Ocean. This means that in addition to already crippling regulations that slow the progress of new construction, these homeowners will have to send their applications to the far-left The California Coastal Commission.

This is the same body that tried to prevent Elon Musk’s SpaceX from launching rockets in the state even though he had approval from the military. This is also the same body that refuses to allow the building of water desalination plants that would turn California into the most fresh water abundant state in the union.

According to California native Adam Carolla, it could be three years before construction is allowed to start on these homes.

Who is to say that the families who lost everything will retain their Prop 13 protections? Gavin Newsom has refused to answer this question. Likewise, who is to say that the rebuilding of 60 year old structures along the coast will even be allowed at all? Maybe Newsom’s chums will find a rare oceanic spider whose habitat cannot be disturbed?

While the causes of the multiple fires in LA are not yet known, what is known is that 95% of California brush fires are started by humans. Under Gavin Newsom, thousands of homeless encampments have sprung up in the state's cities, suburbs and yes, the state’s hills and canyons.

There have been videos shared online of clearly deranged homeless men sitting fires in these very canyons. You don’t need to be Dick Tracey to put two and two together.

California has a process whereby major public officials, including the Governor can be recalled (aka removed from office).

If Newsom has any shred of dignity left, he wouldn’t wait for such a recall. He would heed the sound advice from President Trump and resign immediately.