Two of California’s top politicians are in the crosshairs of recall petitions, but, while one Gavin Newsom is gaining quite a bit of steam , the other Karen Bass, is struggling out of the starting blocks, TMZ reports.
According to the report by TMZ, in the wake of the devastating wildfires burning huge swaths of California, two petitions have been started calling for the removal of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom.
The petition to recall Gaven Newsom is newer than the one to nix Bass … and, quite frankly it’s having trouble gaining serious traction. It was started yesterday — and, so far, it’s only gained about 27K signatures.
That may seems like a lot … but, in order to trigger a recall vote, a population equivalent to 12% of voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election would have to sign — so the petition need to gain more than 1 million votes to start a recall.
Given Newsom already survived a recall election in 2021, this seems unlikely … even as many criticize his leadership while the fires take their toll.
Bass, on the other hand, might be in trouble … ’cause to force a recall vote for her office, 10% of registered voters in L.A. city need to sign — or approximately 200K people. As of right now, 108K have signed.
So, it seems the petitions halfway to the recall benchmark — though we can’t verify if each signee actually lives within the city limits … but, it’s not surprising given all the blame the public throwing Bass’ way
Los Angeles’ Fire Chief Kristin Crowley has called out Bass’ administration for not adequately funding the fire department. Bass glossed over Crowley’s comments during a press conference … saying they’d speak in private further down the road.
Many people are frustrated with Bass’ response to the wildfires … including celebs like Khloé Kardashian who straight-up called Bass a “joke.”
Other celebrities like Yvette Nicole Brown and Kym Whitley are standing by the mayor … suggesting race might be fueling some of the criticism.
The fires in L.A. have burned more than 40K acres and killed at least 16 people so far … and, they may end up costing Mayor Bass her job.