Earlier this week, Elon Musk announced he was relocating the headquarters of two California companies to another state after Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law that Musk characterized as infringing on parental rights. Newsom responded by accusing Musk of being a vassal to Donald Trump in a tweet that said: “You bent the knee” to which Musk replied: “You never get off your knees.”
I don’t know about Musk’s knees but I do know that Newsom has bent his knees to California’s public sector unions more than any governor since Gray Davis. While it takes no courage for Newsom to denounce red state policies (in fact, he boosts his standing with Democratic constituencies whenever Republicans fire back at him), it would take courage for him to stand up to the public sector unions who make or break political careers in California. Newsom has never done so (that’s why California kids were locked out of schools for so long) and has given them more than any governor in state history (that’s why California spends more than $132,000 per prison inmate), even signing a law last year that will place public sector union members in every legislator’s office.
Newsom’s subservience to public sector unions is one reason California’s next governor will inherit a precarious budget, a dysfunctional school system, and the nation’s highest unemployment rate. That’s why we are looking for gutsy gubernatorial candidates who will only bend knees to students, residents and taxpayers while standing tall when dealing with public sector unions. Finding such a candidate who can win won’t be easy.
