Opinion: Election Day recap
According to Google the estimated $3 million special election has come and gone. It was my $3 million and your $3 million the state forced the counties to spend on what turned into a waste of time and money. It was spent trying to oust Governor Nephew from office. I like to call him Gov. Nephew because his aunts are Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senator Diane Feinstein.
It’s easy to believe these connections in the San Francisco Bay Area are responsible for much of the support that got Gavin Newsom appointed by the Mayor Willie Brown in 1996 to the city’s Parking and Traffic Commission and then in 1997 to the Board of Supervisors. He served on the San Francisco board through 2002 winning elections in 1998, 2000 and 2002.
In 2003 at the age of 36 Newson was elected Mayor of San Francisco and re-elected in 2007.
He won election as Lt. Governor in 2010, 2014 and was elected governor in 2018. He is up for reelection in 2022. This makes me wonder why they didn’t just wait a year and a half and vote him out of office? The recall proponents must have been worried about him wrecking further havoc on the Golden State in the next year and a half.
Had the California Republicans showed some party unity they could have thrown all their support behind a strong candidate. That would have made more people confident the replacement governor might not be worse than Governor Nephew.
Seriously folks 46 candidates for California Governor? Twenty-four of those candidates were Republicans and nine were Democrats. The remaining were from the other lesser-known parties
I believe his family connections have helped carry his political career especially in the Bay Area. Down here in the San Joaquin Valley I didn’t see “Auntie Di,” or “Auntie Nan,” contribute anything to the recall discussion.
Neither side must have been sure that exploiting the ladies from Washington, D.C.’s popularity or unpopularity wouldn’t blow up in their faces if they tried to capitalize on either.
I have stated how much this election has cost the tax-payers of California, personally I made out pretty well. I was hired on as a temporary election worker for Madera County and as a stringer for the Associated Press after the polls were closed on Tuesday.
After five days of extra work, I spent the second half of election week resting up.
Any opportunity to vote is a sacred obligation of citizenship, like standing quietly and removing your hat during the National Anthem or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Any one who chooses not to has that right but I think their priorities are somewhat misaligned. It is the freedom represented and derived from these outward shows of patriotism that provides the ability to not believe in participating.
I went to school with kids whose religion prohibited them from saluting the flag each morning. Even so, those children stood quietly and respectfully during the process.
There are religions whose practices include interesting dress codes, prohibitions against jewelry and only allow men to preach the Gospel if there are other men in the audience. I grew up hearing that the Church of Christ, my home church, once split apart on whether or not to pad the pews. Organized religions have a lot of rules. Probably pointing that out will be considered blasphemous by some. I am not fond of how a lot of religious dogma seems determined to keep women in secondary or supporting roles when it comes to being in charge.
There are often times when I am prone to say, “Lead, Follow or Get-Out-Of-The-Way!”
Long days and pleasant nights. Have a blessed weekend.
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Readers may contact Tami Jo Nix by emailing tamijonix@gmail.com or following @TamiJoNix on Twitter.
