Mel Gibson threw his support behind a new effort to recall Gavin Newsom, claiming the California governor doesn’t ‘give a damn’ about the state.
The “Braveheart” star voiced his anti-Newsom passion at a Wednesday press conference on behalf of SavingCalifornia.vote, a political action group spearheading the effort to oust Newsom after last month’s apocalyptic wildfires in Los Angeles.
“Was it incompetence? Was it indifference? Complacency? Carelessness? Was it negligence? Absolutely,” Gibson said of Newsom’s and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ leadership during the Palisades and Eaton fires, which torched nearly 13,000 homes — including Gibson’s $14.5 million Malibu mansion.
“There are many who say it is criminal negligence. Do the mayor and the governor give a damn about you? Hell no!” the actor continued for a crowd of journalists and supporters in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood.
This week, SavingCalifornia.vote received the official green light to begin circulating a petition to hold a recall election. They will have 160 days to gather around 15 million signatures — 12% of the total votes in the last gubernatorial election — to win a recall vote.
The governor — who asked the federal government for $40 billion in recovery aid — responded to the challenge with some passion of his own.
“This time they’ve sunk to a new low — exploiting the victims of the LA fires for political gain,” Newsom’s office said in an official response to the recall effort.
“Here’s the worst part: Their partisan recall will waste 200 million taxpayer dollars desperately needed for emergency preparedness and response,” the statement added.
“What’s the point of asking taxpayers to foot the bill for an election to replace Newsom with a lame-duck governor for a year?” asked The San Francisco Chronicle’s Joe Garolfoli in a piece titled “The latest Gavin Newsom recall attempt is the most pointless yet.”
But even before the fires had reduced the Pacific Palisades and other neighborhoods to a Mad Max-style wasteland, many voters were already blaming Newsom for the state’s rampant homelessness, the fentanyl crisis, and skyrocketing housing prices — all of which could prove to be lethal weapons against the governor in his final term.
“This recall is different because Newsom himself is different – he’s become completely disconnected from the reality of everyday Californians struggling to survive in the state he’s mismanaging,” said SavingCalifornia.vote chairman Randy Economy.
For Gibson, signs point to Californians demanding freedom from Newsom.
“[Newsom] is gonna ‘build back better.’ That’s a catchy little phrase,” Gibson said. “I have another ‘B’ word there. It’s called ‘bullls–t,’” he said.
