Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the last time the state of California had to deal with an epidemic of this nature was 1918. The Spanish Flu struck young adults. The coronavirus was deadly for seniors.
Since there was no one in Sacramento leadership remaining who had lived through the health crisis of a century ago, the Capitol had a bunch of amateurs at the helm. And that was the flaw in how this chapter in California’s history was handled. It lacked competent and trustworthy leadership.
Gov. Gavin Newsom acted arrogantly and incompetently, treating Californians like immature children that needed to be ordered to lead their lives in a certain way.
The good news is that Newsom provided the blueprint of what not to do. We had governors in other states who treated their citizenry like trustworthy adults. The lesson to be learned is to elect a real leader and not a political opportunist who does not follow his own dictums by being caught inside The French Laundry during his lockdown.
The first awkward moment came in late February of 2020, when Newsom wanted to transfer several COVID-19 cruise ship patients from Travis Air Force Base to the Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa. Out of 37,000 potential state locations, this was the only one considered. This is where we started to realize that Newsom was scrambling and overreacting. This behavior would become very costly on so many fronts, that I could fill pages just on locating temporary hospital locations. And dare I mention BYD? By February 26th I wrote a letter to Newsom and observed in an email blast: “No plan. No communication. No returned calls. Nothing.”
Then came the overreaction of Newsom imposing his draconian lockdown. Face masking and social distancing are courtesies that concerned people observe when asked to do so. But mandating these two requirements is not what one does in a democratic society. Nor is shutting down businesses and determining which are essential and which are not.
Then came the clashes between Sacramento and local leaders, who knew their areas of the massive Golden State. Each county is different. And local control is more efficient and expedient. But, Newsom’s giving up dictatorial control was not in the cards. By the end of March, Orange County Register columnist Steven Greenhut weighed in with “Coronavirus shows government is a problem, not the solution.”
Disturbing to me is that the super majority Democrat party was not interested in approving legislation that would assist the medical industry.
The power of public employee nurses unions blocked my effort to bring more nurses into the state, with Senate Bill 1053, which was quashed by the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee in a 5 to 4 vote, with Senators Bob Archuleta, Steve Glazer, Jerry Hill, Connie Leyva, and Richard Pan in opposition.
The hypocrisy was blatant and it was not lost on the media. In “Legislature rejects sensible licensing bills,” May 22, 2020, the OC Register’s Editorial Board lamented that the opposing legislators “dropped an opportunity to make it easier for people in [the nursing] occupation to work across state lines.”
To make Californians more nervous about unionized state employees, as if the DMV didn’t already have them worried, the Employment Development Department (EDD) went through a $30 billion-plus meltdown. Outsourcing and overtime be damned. Better software? Forget about it. No wonder the California State Controller has yet to release the state’s audited financial statements, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020! Isn’t Newsom supposed to be the state’s CEO?
The country of Sweden had the appropriate protocols – let adults be adults. Newsom did not. Placing fines and penalties on individuals who walked outside was authoritarianism at its worst.
Newsom really went over the top in his new autocratic role by demanding that beaches be closed. Give me a break. As if the virus was springing forth from the mist of breaking waves. What an amateur. He did not trust his constituents, which further showed his arrogance.
The 2020 Legislative Session had to go on all the same. The Senate Floor was situated with glass windows and desks were distanced. Most of the meeting rooms were closed, due to being too small. Consequently, committee meetings were held on the Senate Floor. This meant that the workload had to be funneled down, with Legislators reducing their bill loads to a select few, as time and space for hearing them was limited.
Non-Legislators testifying on behalf of bills would do so via Zoom on a large screen. One sad moment was when Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of the California Health & Human Services Agency, informed us of the importance of closing down the state’s public schools. I asked one simple question: How many minors had been infected by the virus?
At that time, no one under the age of 18 had shown symptoms. Proving that Ghaly was in over his skis, he responded by saying that he did not know the answer. I was so surprised by his ignorance of the subject matter under his sphere of influence, where he was the expert advising the governor, I was too stunned to ask a follow up question and too embarrassed to berate him. With incompetent leadership, not only were schools closed, but remained so for unnecessarily too long, and parents knew it.
When the May Revise of the annual budget was released, Newsom’s fiscal ineptness would show itself. Had he made necessary reforms, he may not be facing the massive budget deficit he will have to address in this year’s revise. Newsom even resorted to tacky bluffs to get the legislature to approve what would be called a “placeholder” budget.
Where things got dictatorial was when Sen. Brian Jones tested positive. It was the last week of Session. Since ten of the Republican Senators were around a conference table with Jones on that Monday, all nine of us were forced to stay in our residences and transact the remaining bills via Zoom.
We were quarantined in our residences for a full two weeks, and even though I tested negative, I had to remain in my Sacramento home for a week after Session had concluded. Dr. Erica Pan, the Acting Public Health Officer for the California Department of Public Health, informed me “Violation of or failure to comply with this order may constitute a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment, fine, or both.” I was healthy the entire time and showed no symptoms. So much for Sacramento’s health professionals.
Sadly, because of Sacramento’s amateurish and condescending leadership approach to dealing with the pandemic, I was unable to say farewell to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on the last day of Session. But it also gave me a nagging sense that because I was in a re-election campaign, keeping me quarantined was another sinister way for the super majority to temporarily keep me away from my district.
John Moorlach represented California’s 37th Senate district from 2015 to 2020.
