Editorial: Gov. Newsom is disappointing to many, but that’s not a good reason to back his recall

The highlight of the 21st century for California’s unpopular Republican Party is the 2003 recall of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and his replacement in a special election by GOP movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of only six successful recalls in state history. The success of the Davis recall intoxicated partisans on both sides. Schwarzenegger was subsequently the target of seven failed recall campaigns formally filed with the Secretary of State’s Office. His successor, Jerry Brown, faced five failed recall campaigns. Brown’s successor, Gavin Newsom, has already survived four failed recalls.

But a current recall campaign against Newsom is easily the strongest since the 2003 effort targeting Davis. The Associated Press reports that organizers of a recall drive that began in June appear to have about 800,000 of the required 1,495,709 signatures of registered state voters to trigger a recall election. California Republican Party chair Jessica Millan Patterson has announced her support.

Given that 20 percent or more of ballot signatures are typically found to be invalid, such an election is far from a sure thing. But all it would take is one rich conservative — playing the role that then-Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, did in 2003 — to fund paid signature-gathering to get the effort over the top in the three months remaining to qualify the recall for a likely summer 2021 vote. Though he lost the state by 29 percentage points, President Donald Trump got 1.5 million more votes here this year than in 2016. Trump’s 6 million California voters — and other Californians disillusioned by Newsom’s governance — probably wouldn’t need much of a push to buy the case for Newsom’s ouster.

But they shouldn’t buy it. Recalls should be reserved for elected officials who are corrupt or extremely incompetent. Reports on the current effort describe it as fueled by anger over Newsom’s handling of the pandemic — especially his awful decision in November to dine indoors while unmasked at a birthday party for a lobbyist buddy. Yet overall, Newsom has been clearly better than President Donald Trump and many governors in responding to the crisis. He was the first governor to order a lockdown, “flattening the curve” of COVID-19 cases. He has set up clear, needed guidelines for counties on when they must tighten rules and smartly coordinated state and local virus responses.

Certainly, Newsom’s response can be picked at. He has never offered a persuasive explanation as to why elementary schools facing relatively little risk of fueling the pandemic aren’t “essential.” The governor appeared to take weeks before internalizing the fact that the Trump administration wouldn’t play the traditional federal role of leading the response to a public health emergency, delaying the state’s efforts to protect itself as vigorously as possible. His history of seeking to weaken legislation tightening vaccine regulations before the pandemic now seems downright appalling.

But the surge of new coronavirus cases, COVID-19 deaths and the filling up of hospitals in the past month are hard to pin on Newsom. The swell continues weeks after warnings that Thanksgiving would be a super-spreader holiday. Pandemic fatigue is everywhere. Millions of Californians can’t be bothered to wear masks, socially distance and stay at home as much as possible.

Against this ugly backdrop, blaming the governor may be tempting. But it isn’t logical.

And what is also interesting is how questionable the 2003 recall of Gray Davis looks in retrospect, as many journalists pointed out in real time. Sure, he mishandled an energy crisis. Yes, he appeared to do the bidding of campaign donors. Yet if poor management and/or pay-to-play politics merit being recalled, half of California’s elected leaders might be culled, akin to what happened to humanity in the final minutes of “Avengers: Infinity War.”

The main reason Davis was recalled less than a year after readily winning re-election was almost certainly Californians’ fascination with the idea of having Schwarzenegger as governor. That’s why the Newsom recall may make the ballot but won’t win.

Probably. Please, Tom Hanks, don’t offer yourself as a Newsom replacement.