Newsom argues before judge to add ‘D’ after name on recall ballot

(The Center Square) – Attorneys for California Gov. Gavin Newsom said adding a “D” next to his name on the September recall ballot will give voters adequate information to better decide whether he should be removed.

Newsom filed a lawsuit June 28 against Secretary of State Shirley Weber in Sacramento County Superior Court, saying she needs to fix what amounts to a “good faith mistake” from his campaign in entering his candidacy information without party preference.

The case was heard before Judge James Arguelles on Friday morning via a video conference call.

Tom Willis, campaign counsel for Newsom, told the judge that pre-election dates are cascading timelines because of logistical challenges with ballot printing and distribution, but adding a party preference to a candidate is another matter.

“This deadline is completely divorced from any election date,” Willis said. “It is a deadline that serves no elections administrative purpose, and the secretary of state, who is the chief elections officer of this state, has stated that she sees no elections administration purpose as to why Gov. Newsom needed to file his election back in February of 2020, nor does she see any reason why he should have a different deadline than any of the other replacement candidates.”

The judge pressed Newsom’s attorney on why it made sense to create another deadline that would allow a candidate to state the party he or she would like to be indicated by.

“The elected official only has one opportunity when they file their answer,” Arguelles said. “Isn’t there some sort of efficiency at that time to saying, ‘At that point in time when you file the answer, that’s when you’re going to make your party preference?’ ”

Attorneys for candidates and the recall told the judge that Newsom’s mistake shouldn’t be forgiven, especially since he signed the bill into law.

“At base, this comes down to whether the governor of California has to follow the unambiguous law and it just so happens to be a law that he signed,” said attorney Eric Early, who also is running for California attorney general as a Republican.

Bradley Benbrook, a lawyer for the recall campaign, said the matter simply wasn’t consequential enough for Newsom to read what he was endorsing, hence the mistake.

“What they’re really saying is he didn’t pay any attention to this filing, he just signed it,” Benbrook said. “That’s a terrible precedent for the governor, of all people, who signed this into law to say that you just don’t have to pay attention to the election law filing.”

Arguelles said he would release a written decision Monday.

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