You have to love it when Democrats call out the GOP for doing something “illegal,” and then they turn around and do the same thing, only when they do it, they claim it is entirely justified.
That is exactly the case when it comes to Prop 50 in California, a ballot measure to redraw state district lines and erase GOP seats as a way to offset the recent redrawing of Texas electoral maps.
Well, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger just poured water all over current Gov. Gavin Newsom’s justification for going this route.
Newsom has been trying to sell this “temporary” change to the maps as the saving of democracy, seemingly neglecting the fact that California maps are already gerrymandered (its maps received an “F” grade for competitiveness in a Princeton gerrymandering study). California currently has about a 60-40 split for voters in favor of Democrats, yet the state only has nine Republicans of the 52 seats, or 17% of those allotted.
When Newsom was asked to justify Prop 50, he responded, "I think it's about our democracy, It's about the future of this republic. I think it's about, you know, what the founding fathers lived and died for, this notion of the rule of law, and not the rule of Don. This rule of popular sovereignty, fundamentally, of co-equal branches of government, system of checks and balances.”
Newsom’s plan would eliminate five or six of those seats, meaning the overwhelming majority of conservatives in the state would go without representation.
And just to be clear, I did not support the Texas redistricting, as I have always backed the idea of an independent commission drawing fair state maps, as I am sick and tired of the gerrymandering on both sides. But I am just stunned at how open people like Newsom and former President Barack Obama are in supporting this blatant gerrymandering in the supposed name of democracy.
The former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, does not like the idea of these new maps, and he did not hold back on his criticism of them.
He stated, “I think when he -- when they say this is temporary, there is no such thing. I mean, the longest programs are government programs that are temporary. Okay, just remember that if this is a tax program or if it is the redistricting program, anything that is temporary with government is permanent.”
The former governor continued, “In the year 2032 when the independent redistricting commission is supposed to come back, they‘re going to say, ‘Wait a minute. There‘s still gerrymandering going on in Texas. There‘s still gerrymandering going on in Ohio. There‘s still gerrymandering going on in Florida.’”
He concluded, “’We have to continue with gerrymandering.’ This is what‘s going to happen. They will find an excuse. So, therefore, I don‘t think it is temporary. So that‘s total fantasy.”
While we are firing shots at Newsom, I wanted to address this sob story he has been putting out recently about his allegedly humble beginnings.
Newsom has always tried to sell himself as having come from modest means as a way to make himself more relatable to voters, but an interesting report in the New York Post showed up this weekend that questioned just how humble those beginnings were.
Newsom’s father was very close to the ultra-rich Getty family, even to the point of being involved in the ransom delivery when John Paul Getty III was kidnapped. Newsom’s father backs his story that they had little money because he allegedly squandered the family funds on his own political campaign, but there is something of note in the details that blows this theory out of the water.
After Newsom graduated from college, he started a boutique winery called “PlumpJack," and guess who his financial backer for the endeavor was? If you guessed the Gettys, you would be right.
Take from that what you will, but I don’t believe Newsom’s story for a second. But read the report (click here) and make up your own mind about the wannabe president.
