Although Assemblyman Kevin Kiley had no intention of running for governor when he got involved in the Recall Gavin 2020 movement, he’s now willing to play whatever role is needed, including being the governor of California if elected.
“My ultimate goal is for the recall to be successful,” Kiley told the Southern California Record.
Recall organizers turned in more than 2.1 million signatures by the March 17 filing deadline, but a date for the special election has yet to be set.
“My personal view is that we will be ready to win the recall regardless of when the vote happens,” Kiley said.
In the meantime, a bill before the Assemby would give Gov. Newsom's allies control over when the recall vote is scheduled.
“It gives Gov. Newsom and his allies at the state level total control over the date,” Kiley said. “They can just pick whatever date they think is most advantageous for him politically depending upon what's going on and that's not the way it should work. You should have a legal process that is established upfront and that everyone has to abide by regardless of whether it helps you or hurts you as a candidate.”
Also known as a budget trailer bill, Assembly Bill 152 is expected to be voted on next week.
“Allowing one of the candidates in this case, the governor, the ability to dictate the timing of the election itself and the fact that they are proactively giving themselves that power through a new bill is just about as corrupt as it gets and is fresh evidence for why the sort of political disruption that this recall represents is necessary,” Kiley said.
Introduced by the Committee on Budget, which includes Chair Phil Ting, AB 152 would put Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis in charge of setting a date for the recall vote.
“The bill also makes some of the delays that are in the law right now optional so that they could either have the election later, or they could have it earlier depending upon what the administration wants,” Kiley said.
As previously reported, it could be advantageous for Gov. Newsom to schedule a special election sooner rather than later.
“The governor's allies were saying they think he'll be at greater risk in November, potentially because he's not going to handle the wildfire threat properly, or he might not do enough to stop rolling blackouts, or he might not get kids fully back to school in the fall,” Kiley said. “So, they want to get the vote over with before those risks materialize.”
After Gov. Newsom extended his emergency authority on June 2 under the California Emergency Services Act despite ending COVID restrictions on June 15, Kiley and two other Assemblymembers wrote a letter asking for an explanation.
“Last Friday, you stated the state of emergency will remain in effect because “this disease has not been extinguished. It’s not vanished,” the June 7 letter states. “Does this mean your intention is to keep the state of emergency in effect until the case rate reaches zero? If not, please identify what rates would no longer amount to “conditions of disaster or extreme peril. If conditions warrant an opening of the state on June 15, what metrics are being applied to support that opening, and why are those metrics not being subsequently applied to ending the state of emergency?”
Kiley called the action of extending his emergency authority lawless.
“The irony is that the governor, even though he says everything's going back to normal, the one thing that isn't going back to normal is his emergency powers, which he wants to hang on to,” he said.