NOTE: I just got an email about a curfew party at City Hall tomorrow night at 10:01 PM – maybe we should bring tea bags to throw in the trout fountain!
Recently longtime political reporter Dan Walters wrote an interesting piece about the powers of the governor earlier this month:
https://calmatters.org/commentary/2020/11/california-governor-emergency-powers-covid-19-court-judge/
“California has been a one-party state for the last decade, with Democratic governors and supermajorities in both legislative houses doing pretty much as they pleased without paying any attention to the relative handful of Republican legislators.
However, one-party rule gave way to one-man rule eight months ago when Gov. Gavin Newsom declared an emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, thus empowering himself to govern by decree and suspend any laws that stood in his way.”
Yes, having to sit through the hour-long daily “Fireside Chats” Newsom has been running on the Sacramento news is reminiscent of the stuff we heard about the USSR when I was a kid. I think he’s way overstepped the boundaries of his job. According to Walters,
“In effect, some of those orders essentially made new law and while Democratic lawmakers stood by, two Republican legislators, Kevin Kiley and James Gallagher, filed suit, alleging that Newsom had gone too far.
Last week, Sutter County Superior Court Judge Sarah Heckman sided with the Republicans, declaring that Newsom’s order changing procedures for the November election, including a mandate that every voter be sent a mail ballot, crossed the line.”
While I love voting by mail, Newsom’s order was completely asinine. For whatever reason – I think mostly nostalgia – many people want to go to a public polling place. Around the county and state, people still held on to their ballots, lining up in record numbers outside polling stations, mingling freely, masked and unmasked. Just in case nobody noticed, voting day was followed by surges in new cases all over the state. Hmmmm.
And we’ve all heard about Newsom’s disregarding his own orders. Note the picture, which shows the party was seated INSIDE the restaurant even as Newsom was restricting Butte County to dining outside in November rain storms.
https://news.yahoo.com/gavin-newsom-executive-powers-under-130000893.html
“It was a rough Friday for Gov. Gavin Newsom.
In the morning, news broke that he attended a birthday party with several other households as his administration urges Californians to avoid seeing friends and family. The incident has prompted even some of his supporters to question his judgment and privilege.
The same day, a Sutter County judge finalized a ruling saying he overstepped with some of his executive orders.”
News sources report that it was a birthday party for his campaign manager, and guests included lobbyists. Bad, bad Governor!
This story also mentions the suit from Kiley and Gallagher.
“In their legal challenge to the order, Republican Assemblymen Kevin Kiley and James Gallagher argued that the governor violated the California Constitution by creating a new law, which is the Legislature’s job.
Heckman agreed with Kiley and Gallagher, ruling that the order created a new statute and that Newsom’s action exceeded his authority under the Emergency Services Act.”
Furthermore, “But the judge also issued an injunction against Newsom, saying he can’t make further executive orders that create statute. She also wrote that ‘many’ of Newsom’s other orders – he has issued more than 50 – likely violate the state Constitution by changing ‘statutory law.'”
Would that include the curfew order starting tomorrow at 10PM?
“Newsom has issued executive orders requiring people and businesses to comply with directives from the state’s Department of Public Health. That’s how his shutdown orders and mask mandate work.
The Sutter County ruling doesn’t affect those orders. Separate legal challenges have been filed against many of Newsom’s COVID-19 orders, but they are still working their way through the courts.”
While no judge has made this determination, I’ve read county sheriffs are refusing to enforce the curfew order.
“The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office will not be determining—including entering any home or business—compliance with, or enforcing compliance of, any health or emergency orders related to curfews, staying at home, Thanksgiving or other social gatherings inside or outside the home, maximum occupancy, or mask mandates,” [Sheriff Scott] Jones said in a statement released on Thursday.”
“Along with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office will not be determining compliance or enforcing any health or emergency orders related to curfews, Thanksgiving, or other social gatherings inside or outside the home, maximum occupancy, or mask mandates in Merced County,” the Merced County Sheriff’s Office stated in a social media post on Thursday night.
The social media post also states, “The Merced County Sheriff’s Office will not dispatch deputies for these purposes, and callers will be directed to County Health Officials.”
But nobody made quite as strong a statement as our own Butte County Sheriff Cory Honea.
“Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea says he finds aspects of the Governor’s order ‘very troubling’ in a statement posted to Facebook Friday.
‘As both Sheriff and a citizen of Butte County, the thought of law enforcement officers peeking into the windows of homes, or stopping and questioning residents regarding their destination and family relationships, merely for being outside of their homes, or visiting the home of another during the nighttime hours, all solely due to the suspicion of violating the ‘Limited Stay at Home Order,’ is very troubling.’
Sheriff Honea says the decision was made to avoid losing the public’s trust, adding that the order has the potential to violate constitutional rights. “
The Shasta County Sheriff, Glenn County Sheriff, and Chico Police Chief Matt Madden have also stated that their departments will not be enforcing the order.
I think they’re very smart. They know law enforcement needs the support and cooperation of the citizens, and any rational person could see that the citizens are boiling mad and sick of the governors mis-handling of state business. Smart leaders know when they are overstepping the boundaries.
So, whatever you’re doing on Saturday night at 10:01, you might want to step outside, and let Gavin Newsom know, he’s overstepping his boundaries.
My dad had a pair of these on his Peterbilt – maybe I’ll get a pair for my truck.
Chico Taxpayers Association 
The restaurant Newsom and his lobbyist buddies (who pad his pocket with cash) went to charges $300 for a salad. And since the politicians and special interests get rich off us, it’s people like us who pay for this corruption.
Then there’s the Hawaii trip the politicians and lobbyists went on while we we were locked down.
You have to wonder how stupid people are to put up with this behavior from the politicians, bureaucrats and special interests.
You would think a Newsom recall would be a slam dunk, but I bet it doesn’t even make the ballot and instead Newsom will be re-elected governor. The people of California are beyond stupid.
The recall proponents have until March 2021 to get 1.5 million signatures. I signed and I’ll post any signing events here.