California State Governor Gavin Newsom before a meeting in Sacramento, CA, May 31, 2020. (Photo: Matt Gush/Shutterstock)
Seriously? The Choice of Laphonza Butler
Irony: Newsom ended up appointing one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have moved out of California in the last few years
By Thomas Buckley, October 3, 2023 6:55 am
The word of the day is “seriously.”
That’s because soon-to-be-senator (sworn in today?) Laphonza Butler told The Los Angeles Times that until she received a call from Gavin Newsom late Saturday about filling Dianne Feinstein’s seat she was “unaware that my name was even seriously being considered.”
Seriously?
Because if that’s true it means Newsom’s decision-making process when it came to picking a new U.S. Senator was even more chaotic and politically opportunistic than usual.
It has been reported that Newsom – aware that Feinstein’s health was so poor she would almost certainly not be able to complete her term – had been looking at the replacement issue closely for months.
“He knew who he was going to pick for a while,” one capitol insider said.
Newsom himself said Butler was “the only choice.”
Then how can it be possible that Butler only became aware she was “seriously being considered” Saturday, when she was offered the job?
It really can’t be.
Such a process involves looking at someone’s background to make sure they are not an ax murderer or, worse still, a Republican, checking out their ideological positions and past experience, and nailing down details such as whether they can legally do the job and if they are actually interested in doing the job.
Newsom whiffed on the “legally can do the job” part and – if Butler is to be believed – hadn’t quite nailed down the “interested in the job” bit either.
Butler even told the Times it “was not an easy decision to make,” considering the fact she likes her current(?) gig as leader of a political action committee – EMILY’s List – that raises money for pro-abortion candidates and that she values her privacy.
And maybe she even likes living in Maryland, for all we know. Of course, if that is true that is not a problem as she can keep her home there while technically calling home a place she currently rents here in California.
As to that residency issue, it may (expect a court and/or Senate floor challenge, if only to embarrass Newsom) really be as simple as registering to vote here before he is sworn in – not that that’s ethical and all that, but California – as the tens of thousands of homeless who flock here from around the country know – has no specific time duration requirement to be considered a resident of – and enjoy the benefits of – the state.
And it is, of course, a deliciously depressing piece of irony that Newsom ended up appointing one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have moved out of California in the last few years, but that may be beside the point.
Butler is already being hailed as a trailblazer, a ceiling shatterer, an amazing example of what the progressive vision of the future holds; for example, the Times’ headline (cut/pasted from a 1954 issue of Pravda it seems) today really was “Newsom’s pick for Feinstein’s seat discusses her trip into history.”
As she is already historic (even before actually doing anything,) any future criticism of Butler will be attributed to any one of the number of “isms” she embodies.
And what will she do as a senator? If her past is anything to go by, she will instantly become the wokest member of the senate and support things like abortion and government worker union expansion.
Beyond her specific politics, Butler is a walking talking amalgam of the Democratic Party today – government unions, abortion, campaign consultant, tech public relations leader, LGBTQIIA+ member, minority, slick power player, appointee to various boards, rich, resident of wherever is the most convenient, etc. Each of these alone are key attributes of the party today – being all of them rolled into one is a sight to see – one can assume there are already whispers of “in a few years, President Laphonza?” in certain DC hallways.
Especially because she was not asked to – and has not yet decided herself – to pledge to only serve the remainder of Feinstein’s term and clear out of the way for one of the people actually running for the office right now.
Turns out when Newsom said he would only appoint a “caretaker” senator he was not being – heaven forfend – exactly truthful and now you can see Adam Schiff’s forehead vein twitching from the International Space Station.
But beyond that particular surprising but unsurprising lie, questions remain about how Newsom came to choose Butler – and when. It is simply not feasible that he both studied the issue for months and that Butler only heard about it Saturday, less than 18 hours before she was given the job.
One of them is – or both of them are – lying about the process.
Unless Butler has a rather interesting definition of the word “seriously.”
Given Gavin’s own glancing acquaintance with the English language, it could be possible though it would not bode well for the future of California.
Seriously.
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She is being hired as Newsom’s personal fundraiser fastened to Newsom’s campaign for Prez, and she will still be a part of the “Big Election Rigging” industry. She brings nothing to the senate but industry experience in ballot harvesting.
Newsom thinks he is so smart and everyone else is so dumb. He would be wiped out in a honest election.
Those are both excellent points!
I’ll steal them, if you don’t mind, if and when I write another Laphonza piece…lol
I also wonder where she is registered to vote.
I had the exact same thought… could THIS debacle be the proverbial straw that breaks the corrupt-voter-roll camel’s back???
Let’s hope so, because that is a key linchpin to our formerly Constitutional Republic’s future…(pro-tip: it AIN’T a “democracy”)
By all means, Mr. Buckley – pick up that ball and RUN WITH IT!!! (It’s publicly posted so you should be good to expound on the excellent points always raised by ol’ Chuckie!)
“Newsom thinks he is so smart and everyone else is so dumb.” Sounds to me like Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
From the Mayo’s Clinic’s webpage regarding Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
“Symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder and how severe they are can vary. People with the disorder can:
Have an unreasonably high sense of self-importance and require constant, excessive admiration.
Feel that they deserve privileges and special treatment.
Expect to be recognized as superior even without achievements.
Make achievements and talents seem bigger than they are.”
Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20366662
“Newsom thinks he is so smart and everyone else is so dumb.” Considering that Newsom didn’t actually say that, it sounds a lot more like projection.
“Projection is the process of displacing one’s feelings onto a different person, animal, or object. The term is most commonly used to describe defensive projection—attributing one’s own unacceptable urges to another. For example, if someone continuously bullies and ridicules a peer about his insecurities, the bully might be projecting his own struggle with self-esteem onto the other person.” https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/projection
And your point is what, exactly?
“As to that residency issue, it may (expect a court and/or Senate floor challenge, if only to embarrass Newsom) really be as simple as registering to vote here before he is sworn in – not that that’s ethical and all that, but California – as the tens of thousands of homeless who flock here from around the country know – has no specific time duration requirement to be considered a resident of – and enjoy the benefits of – the state.”
Seems to me that “residency” depends on what a person is “doing” in the state. Clearly, like many of the new arrivals in the state, people are here to collect on social services and residency requirements are made less stringent by the left-wing legislators for those people. However, running a business in the state or being a senator has stricter residency criteria, I think.
Get as many people as you can to flood his office with calls and tell him you oppose. There is power in numbers. This is an insult and offensive to Californians. He picked her for his presidential run. Built in fundraising in the DC swamp. So corrupt and sleazy.
Don’t be too hard on ol’ Noisome. He wanted Dylan Mulvaney but the dude was not ready to identify as black.
What a clown show.
In an nutshell, Newsom appointed a non resident out of state money bundler with marquee names of every deep pocket democrat you can imagine. I have no doubt Soros is in there too, since Emilie’s list and Soros have the same goal: To destabilize western democracies.
Does anyone one including Newsom think she cares a whit about California? She moved to get away from it!
As “our” senator, she will spend most of her time in D.C. Is there a legal requirement she even shows her face in California? I can’t recall any such requirement – and why would she, anyway? We are nothing but a bunch of ignorant proletariat scum. If I were her, I would fly over and swear whatever b.s. oath they make you swear, hire a bunch of lobbyists and intelligence agency spies (as per the norm) and get the hell out of the state with my armed bodyguard retinue as fast as possible. The next day I would be camped out in committee meetings on securities regulations and budget committees for the military – figuring out which stocks to buy or sell before the market can get that inside information.
As for being a senator? Yawn. Who has time for all that nonsense?
There is too much to do protecting “our democracy” from those evil racist MAGA fascist lunatics.
This more of the same Biden DC antics; gaslight Californians and the American people to utter rage and breakdown. The same genre as Biden’s highly exhibited mental decay. Blatantly flaunting systematic failure from the top; all the going on by design and plan…Elections now no longer relevant thus assail and assault your mental state to your determent and despair…
Concurrently the operatives will sink the currency and economy thus invoke a total and complete collapse while destroying every aspect of our culture and borders. There is no returning to normal as the various critical points of no return have already been crossed..
In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Can some kind of FOIA be made to the Franchise Tax Board to discover if a person holding a state elected position has filed any 540’s etc in the last five years ? And if not why not.
Not the contents of any 540’s etc (due to perianal privacy) but just that such filings were made.
Because the answerer to that question would be very interesting for all voters in the state of California.