The Los Angeles Times endorsed incumbent Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for reelection this week in an editorial that did not mention the words “energy,” “water,” “fire,” “crime,” or “economy.” It backed his “diversity” appointments and his attacks on Republicans nationwide.
The editorial praised Newsom for his “progressive” policies on climate change, ignoring the blackouts and shortages that occurred on his watch, and the high gas prices that are largely the result of California’s “green” regulations, which the Times broadly applauded.
The Times also claimed that Newsom had wielded his emergency powers during the COVID-19 pandemic “responsibly,” ignoring his unconstitutional decision to shut down religious worship, and noting meekly that he had kept schools closed for too long in the state.
The editorial said:
President Biden’s election allowed Newsom to reshape Democratic leadership in the state with a series of historic appointments. He named Alex Padilla as California’s first Latino U.S. senator when Kamala Harris stepped down to become vice president; Shirley Weber as the state’s first Black secretary of state to replace Padilla; and Rob Bonta as the first Filipino American California attorney general when Xavier Becerra resigned to join Biden’s Cabinet. Not since the 1950s had a governor named so many people to such heights of power in just a few weeks’ time — and certainly not with such a focus on diversity.
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Newsom, meanwhile, is using his elevated power to great effect in Sacramento. This year he pushed the Legislature to pass an ambitious set of bills to curb climate change, including ideas that have surfaced year after year but never garnered enough support to pass — even in a Capitol dominated by Democrats. The governor’s leadership was essential to get enough lawmakers on board to pass legislation banning new oil and gas drilling near homes and schools, requiring greater reductions of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2045.
Nothing in the editorial dealt with the state’s ongoing crime wave, Newsom’s lies about his failed wildfire prevention program, or the state’s ongoing water crisis, the result of successive California administrations failing to build more water storage infrastructure.
The editorial also failed to mention the problem of homelessness, though a photograph attached to the article online had a caption referring to Newsom’s policy of paying for hotel rooms for homeless people, which has not resolved the underlying problems.
As for Newsom’s Republican opponent, State Sen. Brian Dahle (R-Bieber), the Times said merely that he was out of step with the state on social issues like abortion and gun control, and endorsed Donald Trump’s “big lie” about the 2020 election being stolen.
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 recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.