Dems unite against recall + Good budget problems + Parents ask Biden for help on schools

Lara Korte
·5 min read
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Happy May! Thanks for reading the A.M. Alert.

First up... California Democrats spent the weekend slamming the “Republican recall.” It was a lot of the same messaging we’ve heard before, but this time from party superstars like retired Sen. Barbara Boxer. Vice President Kamala Harris made an appearance, and although she voiced her support for Newsom, stopped short of directly addressing the recall.

Here’s what party leaders said over the weekend:

“Gavin and I go back to being elected at the same time in San Franciso many, many years ago. I’ve seen firsthand what a leader he is and how he really does put his heart into his work on behalf of the people of California, and President Joe Biden and I support him 100%....We’re going to keep Gov. Gavin Newsom in Sacramento and help Democrats everywhere win in 2022.”

- Vice President Kamala Harris.

“We have to put an end to that awful recall campaign against our governor. It is unnecessary. It is opportunistic. It’s a right-wing recall. If these Trump Republicans want to run for governor, let them run when Gavin’s term is up. But don’t put us through all this chaos. We’ve had enough chaos for four long years of Donald Trump, and we are so done.”

- retired Sen. Barbara Boxer.

“Republicans are attempting a cynical ploy to get over a barrier they can’t quite seem to get around - winning statewide office in California. We as California Democrats are going to come together to make sure that’s not the case.”

- California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks

“We need to stand with our governor and make sure this Republican-led recall fails, too.”

- Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis

“The recall would not only be a setback…we will and must defeat this right-wing driven recall.”

- California Rep. Barbara Lee

“California is poised to put our fight against inequality into overdrive. The national Republicans and extreme right wingers, they’re not sitting back, they’re throwing everything they can at their recall power grab, all in hopes of rolling back all the important progress we have made together. We can’t let them win.”

- Gov. Gavin Newsom

BONUS RECALL NEWS: Newsom has a lot of money in his recall piggy bank. The latest filings show his anti-recall committee, Stop the Republican Recall, raised $3.5 million in the first two weeks of its existence. The committee’s cash on hand, as of March 31, was nearly $2.5 million. In comparison, the main recall committee, California Patriot Coalition, raised $2.15 million since the start of the year. Cash on hand, as of the end of March, was $165,595 for the recall.

THE GOOD KIND OF BUDGET PROBLEMS

Via Adam Ashton....

It’s the first week of May, and that means mega California budget news is just around the corner.

Things are looking rosy on that front for Gov. Gavin Newsom. Tax collections are coming in some $16 billion ahead of what his office projected in January, giving him room in his May Revise to deliver help to people and businesses set back by the coronavirus outbreak without slashing spending elsewhere.

Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, last week outlined what top Democrats in his house want to make happen as budget negotiations unfold over the next six weeks.

Some priorities including giving more money directly Californians hurt by the pandemic recession.

Newsom and the Legislature started down that path earlier this year when they approved a so-called “Golden State Stimulus” that sent one-time checks of $600 to $1,200 to lower-income households.

Ting said Assembly Democrats also want to expand Medi-Cal coverage for all undocumented Californians, a change that would make health care available to about 1 million residents who lack it.

CALIFORNIA PARENTS’ PLEA TO BIDEN FOR REOPENING

Shortly after he passed his first 100 days in office, California parents on Friday issued an SOS to President Joe Biden, calling on him to return the state’s students to classrooms.

“As President Biden celebrates a list of accomplishments in his first 100 days, his promise that a ‘majority of schools can be open’ has not materialized for students across California due to a lack of leadership by state and local leaders,” wrote OpenSchoolsCA, the group of parents calling on leaders for more in-person learning.

“The federal and state government have allocated funds to school districts, teachers have been prioritized for and received vaccinations and yet a majority of California’s 6 millions public school students are still learning remotely.”

Even as the state celebrates the lowest COVID-19 case rates in the nation, many children still remain in distance learning. Earlier this week, a new poll from the Public Policy Institute of California showed 80% of Californians think children are falling behind in school.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“It’s an issue of fairness and we need to protect girls’ sports in our schools,” tweeted Republican gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner after TMZ reported that the transgender former Olympian doesn’t believe trans girls should get to play in female sports.

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