California politicians facing recalls would be permitted to see the names of people who sign the petitions under proposed legislation that just passed the state senate committee this week.
California politicians facing recalls would be allowed to see the names of people who sign the petitions to oust them under legislation that cleared its first committee Thursday.If passed, it would take effect next year, meaning it would not apply to the expected recall election against Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. But leaders of that effort showed up at the Capitol in opposition to the proposal, saying it would discourage people from signing future petitions for fear of retaliation.“This is a dangerous and reckless bill,” said Orrin Heatlie, the lead proponent of the Newsom recall. “It would stifle the process.”…Petition signers would then have 45 days to remove their names. Currently, people have 30 days but finding and convincing people to walk back their signature is a difficult task.
Newman says that the rules would not lead to voter intimidation. However, actual voters are doubtful that it is true.
Newman’s bill would let the target of the recall access the names of people who signed for certain purposes. The individual signatures would be redacted. Politicians or their representatives would have to sign under penalty of perjury that they won’t share the names publicly and will only use them to determine whether signers understood the petition and want to remove their signatures. It prohibits officials from discriminating against people who sign the petition.But opponents say it would still intimidate people out of participating.“People were terrified — terrified — to sign this because they didn’t want Newsom to know,” said Shannon Hile, who collected signatures for the Newsom recall effort.The Senate elections committee passed the bill, sending it next to the Senate judiciary committee. It still needs to win approval in both houses. It would only apply to elections with more than 50,000 registered voters.
It turns out that Newman has a personal interest in amending the recall process. He was recalled in 2018.
In June 2018, Newman was recalled from office, ostensibly for his affirmative vote on Senate Bill 1, which increased gas and diesel taxes and raised DMV registration fees in California. The recall effort was heavily pushed by influential radio personalities John and Ken. He was replaced by Republican Ling Ling Chang, whom he had defeated in the 2016 election.
There is already much pushback on the proposal. Republican gubernatorial hopefuls preparing to challenge Newsom (and potentially hundreds of other potential candidates) in the upcoming recall election slammed the move.
“This is more legislation written by the insiders to protect the insiders,” Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox said in a Wednesday statement. “California politicians play by their own set of rules and then, when they don’t like the rules, change them.”He added that political “insiders must not be allowed to intimidate regular Californians who are holding them accountable.”Kevin Faulconer, another Republican gubernatorial candidate and former San Diego mayor, took issue with the bill’s threat to privacy among recall voters.”Every Californian has a right to privacy,” he said. “Gavin Newsom’s allies sponsored this bill, which would give future recall signers’ names and contact information to political operatives – enabling intimidation and harassment.”
California voters expressed concern about potential doxxing.
No word on what porn star and now gubernatorial candidate Mary Carey thinks about the proposal.
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