Gavin Newsom's idiotic case against the recall: It costs too much!

At first, Newsom estimated the price tag on the special election at $81 million. Then his decidedly unsubtle supporters over at Stop the Republican Recall (sample line: "The recall is powered by a partisan, Republican coalition of national Republicans, anti-vaxxers, QAnon conspiracy theorists, anti-immigrant activists and Trump supporters") upped the ante. "Instead of fighting COVID-19, Republicans are pulling a page from the Trump playbook and attacking Californians," the website alleged. "In fact, a Republican recall will cost the state $100 million – money that could be used to help vaccinate our communities." Then, right as the recall signatures were being validated, the cost estimate was goosed by a multiplier of four from the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials (CACEO), a public sector lobbying group. "There is an urgency to this," CACEO President Donna Johnston told the Times. For her group, certainly—county election officials don't want to bear any extra costs, so they are lobbying the state government, which in fact is pretty flush in cash, but they are probably grumpy both about the recall and the unlikelihood of getting any federal COVID-relief dollars for a purely state exercise.