Newsom Recall Gathers Momentum Over Policies ‘Atrocious and Polarizing’
‘They recognize that California is no longer thriving. Our beautiful state is deteriorating and we are trying to save it.’
By Edward Ring, January 22, 2021 2:13 am
With over 1.2 million signed petitions already collected, and tens of thousands more arriving daily, the chances have never been higher that Gavin Newsom will have to fight for his political life in a special recall election.
How the proponents have built a powerful coalition of committees is an example of innovation that offers a new model for qualifying initiatives, recalls and referendums, one that will not be restricted to billionaire corporations or one-party legislatures.
According to lead proponent Orrin Heatlie, the volunteer signature gathering army that has been growing all summer is now deploying over 5,000 people every weekend to gather signatures. “They’re tired but they keep plugging along like they always have,” said Heatlie, adding that “more and more people volunteer as they learn about the progress of the movement.”
The latest counts, confirmed by representatives at both of the main committees, indicate over 200,000 signatures have already been collected via a direct mail effort, and over 1,000,000 signatures have now been gathered by volunteers. The original volunteer committee, the California Patriot Coalition led by Heatlie, has been active since June 2020. The committee running the direct mail campaign, Rescue California led by Anne Dunsmore, has only been doing mass mailings for a few weeks.
Using direct mail instead of professional signature gatherers is a risk that appears to be paying off. Paid signature gathering campaigns currently face the multiple obstacles of COVID restrictions on where they can set up, as well as the impact of AB 5 which destroys the traditional business model of hiring signature gatherers as independent contractors. Even before these new hurdles were added, the costs for signature gathering had already gone up because the number of firms able to do statewide campaigns consolidated at the same time as the number of well-funded special interests willing to pay whatever it takes increased. For example, Uber, or the real estate industry, or the association representing dialysis clinics, and others, can easily spend tens of millions of dollars on a signature campaign. But activist groups rarely have unlimited funds.
This is why the synergy generated by the original committee, the California Patriot Coalition, which successfully recruited a grassroots army, combined with the innovative approach of direct mail being used by Rescue California, may become a precedent setting breakthrough to be emulated in future initiative qualification campaigns.
“It is exciting to see the response to our effort,” said Anne Dunsmore when reached for comment. “We are way ahead of our projections, and we absolutely expect to reach our goal of 700,000 signed petitions via direct mail. The signed petitions we receive are validating at the astonishing rate of 98 percent, each response averages over two signatures, and we also have received donations from over 8,000 people, including over 500 per day in the past week.”
Dunsmore also recognized the tremendous contributions of the original recall committee, saying “We are enormously pleased with our partnership with the California Patriot Coalition and their volunteer effort.”
A key member of the California Patriot Coalition is Robin McCrae, who echoed Dunsmore’s sentiments about the synergy between the two committees, saying “we are all well intentioned, passionate people who care about making change for the better and we all have a common goal and common purpose and our parallel efforts will get the job done.”
With thousands of active volunteers, managing the logistics and messaging of the group is a challenge. Heatlie explained how that challenge was recently complicated by Facebook. “We have 75 local Recall Gavin groups on Facebook with over 200,000 members,” said Heatlie, “and in the days following the events on January 6 in Washington DC, all of our administrators were locked out of posting or commenting on posts. Over 150 of our administrators and regional managers were locked out of their Facebook groups. The ban won’t lift until January 23rd.”
The irony of Facebook leaving these group pages up but locking out the administrators is that the group leaders lost the ability to screen user posts and comments. This meant the risk of non-administrators leaving posts or comments that might offend Facebook went up, not down, by virtue of their ban. “If violations were entered on our Facebook pages,” said Heatlie, “we couldn’t remove them anymore.”
Opponents of the recall point to incendiary comments online, attributable to a few people and often posted in the heat of the moment. But a few objectionable comments only represent a minute fraction of the vast movement behind the recall. It worth wondering who is helped when Facebook prevents recall organizers from even moderating their online forums.
McCrae offered additional thoughts that might summarize the motivations of the vast majority of recall supporters when she said “The heart and soul of this recall are hard working volunteers who are dedicated to saving California. They are fighting for the right to work, to save their businesses, and protect their freedom from government overreach. They recognize that California is no longer thriving. Our beautiful state is deteriorating and we are trying to save it.”
Dunsmore summed up the opportunity represented by tapping tremendous grassroots energy and supplementing that with traditional professional campaigning. “We are working together with passion, but not reckless passion. That’s hard when people are coming up with policies that are so atrocious and polarizing. When something is really important and it’s bad, you can’t just get mad, you have to fix the problem with a level head.”
What Newsom faces with this recall is a new coalition. A populist movement that is growing in political and logistical savvy every day, allied with a group of seasoned professionals who dove in against the odds to support them. There are many politicians in California that have, at least in the minds of millions of voters, failed to recognize and correct the challenges facing Californians. As they watch the “walls close in” on Newsom, they may rest assured they will be next.
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Do not stop, keep signing the recall. End this tyranny!
https://recallgavin2020.com/petition/
Thank you for the inspirational update, Edward Ring.
It’s wonderful to be reminded that there are so many Californians who yearn to save our state!
https://recallgavin2020.com
When I moved to CA in 1993 CA was a nice place to live. What happened? One bad decision after another. I know Gavin inherited a mess. But, what has done to improve things? Could he improve the forest management, so we don’t spend this upcoming August chocking from the smoke filled air? Can he improve the leadership of the state agencies? So we don’t spend 2 BILLION dollars of our tax money paying criminals NOT to work? And we don’t have to spend 2 1/2 hours at the DMV to get our new driver’s license? With one person dying from Covid in CA, under the age of 18, since the pandemic started – why are kids not in their schools? I could go on. But these are just some of the reasons you’ll see me volunteering at a petition gathering site near you.
Multiple Ditto’s to you Debbie!!!
Don’t forget California is also a sanctuary state. Newsom also used taxpayer dollars to issue a stimulus to the undocumented. All he’s doing is further providing for more illegals to cross the border and come to California.
Oh and what’s he doing about the homeless situation here. I live near Los Angeles. The parks, and the streets are overflowing with homeless. In all my years here i’ve never seen anything so sad. Eric Garcetti, the mayor of los angeles, the city council and most of the LA County Supervisors need to be resign or be recalled.
It’s very comforting to know that there is something we can do as citizens to fight for our freedoms and values. Thanks to your group for leading this effort!
Comrades
You’re delusional…..1/3 of Californians are at about poverty line. The underground economy props up a useless service economy. Tech and government control unrelenting. The welfare/social welfare and justice cabal grows exponentially. Privacy stolen…..boot licking of Big Box store Globalists and Corporate Food Barons sickening.
You will never get cooperation of The Swamp. In meantime stand in the line at Dodger stadium for six hours for the vaccine…. maybe they will throw in some government cheese….
What a mess…and degradation.
Six hours for a vaccine shot, not true. Three hours to drive from Pomona to Dodger stadium and back, in the rain at 3:30. Of that, 50 minutes in the parking lot
I urge everyone to complete and return the petition they received in the mail, even if their signature is the only one on it. If you’re the only one doing so, make sure you complete both sections and change both 2020 dates to 2021, to ensure your petition is valid. We CAN make this happen – Si, se puede!
Mike German, thanks for the reminder about changing 2020 to 2021! I see the new petition online shows 2021 but some of us have petitions that were printed out last year. And you can bet they would be rejected! Attention to details like these are very important.
Whats their plan on over coming the rigged voting machines?
This is good to see. I’m not in CA, but I’ve been watching what Newsome has been doing and it’s mind boggling. Many other “leaders” in national positions are pushing us to a point where we feel we have no options left. And, we know where that ends up. This gives me hope that we can get these people out of office when all else fails. Good luck, and many Patriotic Americans are watching.
https://recallgavin2020.com/
Mr. Ring would you please run for Governor of California!!!
I’ll so greatful to Mr. Ring and the group and volunteers for all their efforts.
Colorado & Polis are sadly falling into lockstep & must be receiving orders from the DCC & their Chinese overlords….
Hi,
As a disabled senior citizen, I sincerely commend and thank all of the leaders and team members who are relentlessly working hard on Gov. Newsom recall. Turning California to the times of “Conservative government leadership” once again as before is critical! Indeed, living conditions in California has gotten worst! For instance, our old house tax is being increased by 2% annually, this year it went up to $7,640.00! Our neighborhood crime rate is ever increasing. We were victims, too! Released paroled criminals are living in our community unsupervised! I had witnessed frequent irregularities in the healthcare delivery: more accessible benefits for “government medical insurance” recipients than hard working people, etc. I HAVE NOT HEARD SOMEBODY RECEIVING ANY RECALL LETTERS! Would you please advise me how I could obtain that letter. I can definitely share your information to my loved ones and friends. Again, thank you very much! God Bless America……….
Carmelita if you have access to a computer go to http://www.recallgavin2020.com and print out the recall petition. Print and sign your name. Make sure you include your address. Also fill out the bottom of the form and if the year says 2020 make sure to change it to 2021 or the form will be invalid. If you don’t have access to a computer ask a relative or friend to print you a recall petition. After you have filled out the petition mail it to the address found at the bottom of the form! Happy recalling Carmelita!
Sage comment, God bless you….
I hope that I will get the petition in the mail soon so I can sign and return it before the deadline. Gavin has done enough damage to our state and we need a governor who has balls and reinstate the death penalty and remove us as a sanctuary state.