California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is reportedly refusing to recognize one of his predecessors, Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), with a key state honor because of his objection to Newsom’s gerrymandering push.
Schwarzenegger, 78, championed the cause of an independent redistricting commission that, in theory, prevented politicians from designing the congressional map after each new Census every ten years.
Voters amended the state constitution to create the commission in 2008. Though the commission was effectively gamed by Democrats anyway, it was a rare step towards transparency and nonpartisanship.
Newsom and his party are now trying to do away with the commission — temporarily, they claim — to gerrymander the state’s 52 congressional districts to eliminate at least four Republican-held seats.
Schwarzenegger has spoken out against the effort and is preparing to campaign against it when it is placed before voters in a special election on November 4 that will cost the cash-strapped state over $200 million.
In retaliation, according to Politico, Newsom is taking revenge by withholding Schwarzenegger’s anticipated induction this week into the California Hall of Fame, to which Schwarzenegger’s supporters had been invited.
Politio reported:
Alumni of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration gathered at the California Museum on Monday expecting to hear their former boss would be inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
But the Republican former governor’s name was conspicuously absent from the list Gov. Gavin Newsom read off during a reception previewing the incoming class, according to an attendee granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation — a seeming omission that raised questions about whether Schwarzenegger’s vocal opposition to Newsom’s gerrymandering push was a factor in the delay.
Newsom spokesperson Bob Salladay declined to confirm who is on the list but said a planned unveiling of the full class had been delayed, likely until November — which would almost certainly mean after a Nov. 4 special election on a new House map drawn to squeeze out Republicans. A California Museum spokesperson directed inquiries to the governor’s office.
Newsom and the Democrats attempt to justify their gerrymandering effort as a response to the effort by Texas to redraw its own congressional map to conform to new Department of Justice opinions on race-based maps. The Texas effort, pushed by President Donald Trump, will also eliminate several Democrat-held seats.
But in a “race to the bottom,” Democrats stand to lose more seats overall if Republican-run states retaliate in kind.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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