During debate on the floor of the California State Assembly on Thursday, Republican State Rep. Carl DeMaio asked his democratic colleagues why they have "become props to Governor Gavin Newsom's presidential campaign" by supporting California congressional redistricting.
00:06Then why have you become props to Governor Gavin Newsom's presidential campaign?
00:11That is what SB280 is, an unnecessary special election at a cost of a quarter billion dollars.
00:19Why? Because his campaign for president has been going down in flames,
00:25and he needs something to prop up his chances.
00:30Make no mistake about it, this is a political stunt, an unnecessary, costly special election,
00:37because Gavin Newsom needs chum in the water for political attention.
00:43You know it, and I know it, and you're allowing state taxpayer money to be used for it.
00:49My friends across the aisle say that this is no more than a special election like the recall was in 2021.
01:01But let me tell you why there's a big difference.
01:03The recall in 2021 was a citizen's right.
01:09You may disagree with it.
01:10I know you all likely voted against it.
01:13But it is a right of the citizens to collect signatures and place items on the ballot and trigger a special election.
01:19If you felt that this was necessary to overturn the 2010 citizen's initiative that took the power out of your hands to manipulate lines,
01:30and that's what you're doing here, that's what ACA 8 does,
01:34takes the power away from the citizen's commission, gives it right back to the politicians so they can do what they've done for the last 72 hours,
01:42go behind closed doors, and manipulate maps, and draw lines, and fashion congressional districts for themselves or their friends in the future.
01:52If you wanted to do all that, then you should have done a citizen's initiative campaign.
01:57You should have collected your signatures like the recall backers did.
02:00But you didn't.
02:02Because you have no problem spending precious, scarce state tax dollars in the middle of a budget crisis.
02:12You say that we have to defend dollars for California, but you have wantonly wasted money,
02:18for example, giving free health care to illegal immigrants at the cost of $10 billion and counting.
02:26$250 million applied to our state budget may not make up for your multi-billion dollar deficit, but it's a start.
02:36You know what $250 million would do?
02:38It would fully fund Prop 36 so that we could give power and tools to the prosecutors and the law enforcement agencies to arrest and punish criminals.
02:50Voters voted for Prop 36, but you refused to fund it.
02:54From the party that says, let the voters decide and let's do what the voters want.
02:59Baloney.
03:00You do what you want.
03:03Might makes right.
03:04And that's exactly what you've done for the last 72 hours by trampling over constitutional provisions and violating House rules.
03:13And you talk about a fair election.
03:16SB 280 shortens the timeline necessary for an election.
03:21But because you have an urgency clause there, might makes right.
03:27You change election law.
03:28And now you're going to slap a misleading ballot title on.
03:32You can't even win based on the truth.
03:35You say you trust the voters, but you don't trust them enough to tell them the truth.
03:38Because your ballot measure title, because we've seen it, we've seen your polling that the DCCC or someone paid for,
03:46retains the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission.
03:51Are you proud of yourselves?
03:52Retains the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission.
03:56You are eviscerating that commission.
03:58You are nullifying that commission.
04:00You are suspending the voice of the citizens and what they decided to grab the power back for yourself.
04:06And don't for a moment call it temporary.
04:09You know darn well that this is permanent.
04:12You will never give the power back to the people once you seize it back from them.
04:1630 seconds.
04:17And finally, you say that you're going to respect the vote of the people.
04:23Did you do that with Prop 36 by fully funding it?
04:25No.
04:26Did you respect the vote of the people who put Article 21 in our state constitution and said you shouldn't have the ability to draw maps?
04:34You're drawing a map in violation of the state constitution.
04:38You don't care about what the voters said.
04:40You're disregarding it from 2010.
04:41Oh, but they'll retroactively approve our decision here.
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