Rocklin’s Kevin Kiley wants to take on Gavin Newsom, but he’s afraid to answer questions

Assemblyman Kevin Kiley’s latest political stunt to pander to his conservative constituents in El Dorado, Placer and Sacramento counties: A war against vaccine passports.

The term “vaccine passport” refers to electronically documented proof of COVID-19 vaccination. “Think of the boarding pass you’d show on your phone to get through airport security, or of a digital concert ticket with a QR code,” wrote New York Times reporter Jill Cowan.

Kiley, a Rocklin Republican, has marketed his proposed vaccine passport ban as a fight over individual rights, privacy and liberty.

Kiley’s legislation to ban vaccine passports, Assembly Bill 327, is a mostly meaningless stunt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has not announced any plans for a statewide COVID vaccination documentation policy and the White House has said there will be no federal requirement that Americans carry proof of vaccination.

Opinion

The bill will certainly fail in the Democratic-controlled assembly. It could succeed, however, in encouraging additional resistance to COVID vaccines.

A vocal Newsom critic

Kiley and I both graduated from Granite Bay High School. I was a senior in high school when he was running his successful 2016 campaign for assembly. Some of my classmates worked on his campaign.

Kiley graduated as valedictorian of his GBHS class in 2003 and went on to receive degrees from Harvard and Yale. At first glance, Kiley seems like a middle-of-the-road conservative. His campaign website emphasizes issues like helping the homeless, improving infrastructure and bettering schools.

Yet Kiley has grown increasingly unmoored during the Trump era. Lately, he’s tried to distinguish himself as a strident critic of Gov. Gavin Newsom and position himself as a champion of the recall election. After California wastes hundreds of millions of dollars on a recall that is sure to fail, Placer County residents should remember Kiley’s frothy claims.

In April, Kiley’s overheated tactics got a reality check.

Kiley and Assemblyman James Gallagher sued Newsom on claims that he overstepped his executive power when issuing stay-at-home orders during the pandemic. According to a story by Bee reporter Lara Korte, Kiley and Gallagher “sparred with appeals court judges or talked over them during a contentious oral argument” on April 20.

“Kiley, maybe this is the time for the Legislature to end the emergency if that’s what you think has happened and it’s gone too far,” said Judge Ronald B. Robie. “That’s up to the Legislature. You’re part of the Legislature, go do it.”

On Wednesday, the appeals court officially shot down Kiley and Gallagher’s lawsuit.

The argument for vaccine passports

April 20 was the same day Kiley and I had agreed to an interview regarding AB 327. I was looking forward to discussing the vaccine passport bill with the assemblyman, but he never showed up. He didn’t even bother to send a note to cancel.

Three days later Kiley tweeted out: “A new Sac Bee editorial opposes my bill to bar vaccine passports. I welcome the debate. Our Legislature would rather bar debate itself by killing the bill without a hearing.”

Odd, considering the fact that Kiley ducked our scheduled interview. Kiley also appears to have mistaken an editorial by The Fresno Bee editorial board for an editorial by The Sacramento Bee.

If Kiley actually had welcomed a debate, here’s what I would question him on:

▪ Vaccine passport requirements to permit entry into settings like in-person classes, concerts, flights, sports games, restaurants and other businesses make public health sense. Both UC and CSU systems recently announced plans to require vaccination for students and staff returning to campus. Universities already require that students be immunized against infectious diseases like measles, mumps and chickenpox, so a COVID vaccination requirement not only makes sense, it will also serve to protect the health of all individuals at these campuses and surrounding communities. Why prohibit public universities and private businesses from implementing vaccination requirements similar to those already in place?

▪ If the state or federal government were to require that everyone be vaccinated, we could certainly expect GOP-led protests nationwide. This falls in line with a very Republican trend: Turning everything into a futile, fatuous fight. Why is fighting vaccine requirements the best use of your time, assemblyman? What progress have you made toward accomplishing your campaign platform?

▪ Finally: You have said you plan to get vaccinated, but you are using your public platform in a way that encourages vaccine resistance. This is especially egregious when recent studies show that nearly half of Republican men said they would not take a COVID vaccine. Why not focus on encouraging your constituents to get vaccinated?

Kiley begins his self-published book, “Recall Newsom: The Case Against America’s Most Corrupt Governor,” with a quote from historian and writer John Dalberg-Acton.

Kiley should revisit another of Dalberg-Acton’s famous quotes: “Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.”

In this case, Kiley ought to start looking out for the best interests of his constituents.

Hannah Holzer, a Placer County native and UC Davis graduate, is opinion assistant at The Sacramento Bee.