Dems pass retroactive bill to block recall of state senator Newman

San Diego’s AM 600 KOGO’s radio talk show host, Carl DeMaio, appears to have Governor Brown and the Democratic-controlled state legislature nervous.

DeMaio’s Reform California campaign, and his attempt to recall State Senator Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) has collected over half of the signatures needed to force a recall vote on the freshman senator.

It was Newman who cast the deciding vote on the newly imposed gas and car taxes.

An ouster of Newman would end the Democrats' super majority, which allowed passage of the new taxes without a public hearing or public vote.

In the Democrats' effort to stop the Newman recall, the legislature attached a bill to the recently approved budget, which may take away the ability to use a recall initiative to remove Newman from office.

According to the Sacramento Bee, the bill makes a timeline for qualifying a recall ballot measure months longer, thus pushing Newman’s recall to the June 8, 2018 primary election, rather than a special election.

The bill also requires every petition signature to be validated individually rather than a percentage sampling, thus dramatically increasing the cost of recall efforts. The legislation is retroactive, to specially include the Newman recall.

DeMaio and his organization say the new law is unconstitutional. “Our coalition plans to file a lawsuit immediately,” said DeMaio.

Meanwhile, in the senator’s 29th district; portions of L.A., Orange, and San Bernardino Counties, volunteer and paid signature gatherers are facing “Democratic operatives,” according to DeMaio.

On June 12, the vice chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party, Jeff LeTourneau, was captured on video outside a grocery store attacking and berating signature gatherers because they are gay.

DeMaio and his L.A. talk-counterparts, John & Ken on KFI AM640, reported last week that Governor Jerry Brown has transferred $100,000 from his campaign fund to help fight the recall, by hiring, what the talk hosts have labeled as “union thugs.”

“The money is being used to hire “blockers”; paid operatives who are assigned to seek out and stand in front of signature gatherers,” said DeMaio. “The blockers intentionally try to create a hostile environment by yelling and screaming. The blockers knows that confrontation and creating scenes repels members of the public who are just trying to shop in peace.”

According to the Secretary of State’s office, there have been only nine recalls that qualified for the ballot, in which five were successful, including the 2003 recall of Governor Gray Davis.