An acclaimed immigrant physician from South America has launched a petition to oust California Governor Gavin Newsom from office, listing putting Californians last as the main reason.
“I came here legally at age 11. Having grown up in extreme poverty and being homeless to now being one of San Diego’s most prominent physicians, that’s the American Dream, that’s the California dream. And that’s what Gov. Newsom and left-wingers in the legislature are progressively destroying,” said James Veltmeyer, the sponsor of the petition, last Monday on Fox & Friends.
Veltmeyer, an awarded doctor from the San Diego area, who ran two times unsuccessfully for Congress in 2016 and 2018, said that Newsom during his short time in office has already done disastrous things for California, moving it further toward a socialist sanctuary state.
He is especially appalled by the way illegal immigrants are receiving free healthcare while the number of homeless people, including veterans, is on the rise.
“They can have any procedure done, what happens when they leave the hospital?” Veltmeyer said. “No debt collection agency, there is no bill. If you claim tomorrow, you are here illegally. It would benefit you because you don’t have to pay for taxes,” KXTV reported.
When questioned by the outlet whether his campaign for recall petition and, if successful, an ensuing recall election wouldn’t weigh too heavily on the state’s financial revenues, Veltmeyer responded, “We are going to be saving a half a billion dollars, and we would be helping our citizens.”
Another group is also promoting a recall petition against Newsom, led by Erin Cruz, a Republican candidate currently running for California’s 36th congressional district. Cruz ran an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2018 for Democrat Dianne Feinstein’s seat.
Cruz told The Epoch Times in a phone interview: “The people of California want common sense leadership and practical solutions to the problems of today. They’re tired of out-of-control spending, high taxes, and regulations that prohibit them from living their lives here in the state of California. Many of them are afraid that they may have to leave [California]. We want Californians to be able to stay.”
To recall a state governor is not an easy process. In the history of California, there have been more than four dozen recall efforts against state governors. The only success was the recall election against Gov. Gray Davis in 2003.
According to California’s election law, to put a petition to recall a statewide elected official on the ballot for vote, the petition must be signed by registered voters equal in number to 12 percent of the last vote for the office.
Since close to 12.5 million votes were received in the state’s 2018 gubernatorial election, a petition to recall Newsom needs to collect about 1.5 million legitimate signatures for the recall to be put on next year’s ballot.
California election law also requires these signatures to be collected and submitted within 160 days after a petition is approved for circulation. The deadline to submit the collected signatures for Cruz’s group is Feb. 13, 2020, and March 5, 2020, for the Veltmeyer group.
Epoch Times reporter Nathan Su contributed to this article.
