San Diego City Wire

Political consultant Randy Economy said it’s not a coincidence that Gov. Gavin Newsom eased COVID-19 restrictions in the state at the same time his approval ratings are cratering and a recall effort is gaining steam.

“It’s 100% tied to that, and it’s 100% tied to the recall effort we’ve launched against him,” Economy told San Diego City Wire. “He’s fighting for his political life. The only thing he understands is ... he’s very traditional as far a politician goes. He’s poll-driven, he’s consultant-driven.”

Economy is a senior adviser to the Rescue California... Recall Gavin Newsom campaign. He said the group has obtained more than 1.3 million signatures and will reach or come close to their goal of 2 million names by the March 17 deadline.

The recall needs 1,495,709 but plans to obtain many more in case a review remove some signatures. But Economy said a private company is working with the campaign and does instant evaluations of signatures to ensure the person who signs is an eligible voter and their name will be counted.

“This is happening,” he said. “All of a sudden we were kind of a joke and now, oh my gosh, we’re almost there. We don’t want to leave any doubt in people’s minds. We are going to be successful with this.”

Economy said Newsom, a former San Francisco mayor and lieutenant governor who was elected governor in 2018, has disappointed Californians with his work, as he has not handled the coronavirus pandemic well.

“He doesn’t have any reality of how people in California are suffering,” Economy said. “Every governor faces a challenge, every governor faces a crisis. He’s botched everything.”

Newsom suffered a self-inflicted wound when it was reported he had dined at the exclusive French Laundry restaurant in Yountville on Nov. 6. No one in the large party at the swank eatery was wearing a mask.

Newsom announced new restrictions in December as COVID-19 cases increased. The state was divided into five multicounty regions, and intensive care unit capacity was used as an indication of pandemic problems in the area.

Economy said the reported decline in cases wasn’t the primary reason for the change. He said the decision to lift restrictions, announced Jan. 25, has more to do with the recall campaign than the numbers of ICU patients.

“He’s more a political chess piece. He’s very calculating in everything he does,” Economy said of Newsom. “Everything he does is a political move. And now he realizes that he doesn’t have any control over his own political destiny now. The people do.”

The governor, in announcing the change in state policy, rejected that argument during a Jan. 25 news conference.

“Today we can lay claim to seeing some real light at the end of the tunnel as it relates to case numbers,” he said, noting that the state’s 14-day positivity rate was down to 9.4%.

“We are not out of the woods. We are seeing a flattening of the curve,” Newsom said. “Everything that should be up is up. Everything that should be down is down. Case rates, positivity rates, hospitalizations, ICUs – testing starting to go back up, as well as vaccination rates in this state – but we are not out of the woods.”

Economy said the governor says one thing but his actions tell another story as he fights for political survival.

“He always wants to present himself in the most positive light,” Economy said. “He’s in complete freak-out mode.”

Economy said the announcement by former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer that he will seek the Republican nomination for governor in 2022 did not play a role in Newsom’s decision to lift restrictions.

“I don’t think it has any political relevance,” he said.

Economy, a California native, said he was “born and raised” in politics. In 1976 his mother, Rosemary Economy, raised money for a little-known peanut farmer and former Georgia governor who was running for president named Jimmy Carter.

Rosemary Economy, now 85, is still “the best political adviser I’ve ever met,” her son said. "She supports the recall campaign, as do people from across the political spectrum."

He said almost 300,000 registered Democrats have signed a petition.

Randy Economy is not one of those Democrats. He is a former Democrat who moved in the upper circles, serving on the state party executive committee — but left the party about 15 years ago, ironically after Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, was recalled in 2003.

“It wasn’t democratic at all,” Economy said, admitting he became disillusioned. “It was ruled by the iron fist of political bosses.”

Davis became the second American governor, after North Dakota’s Lynn Frazier in 1921, to be voted out of office before his term was up.

Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, finished first in a field of 135 candidates. Schwarzenegger went on to serve the remainder of Davis’ term and won a full term in his own right before returning to his film career.

Economy predicts there will be 200 to 300 candidates this time. He said the campaign has no plans to support any of them and his group's mission is to remove Newsom.

“We’re not going to support anybody,” he said. “We’ve made that very clear. But who knows? Things could change.”

Economy also has done extensive work as a radio talk show host and as an investigative journalist — “I call myself dual diagnosis,” he said. He worked for former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean when he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. He said he remains close with Dean, whom he admires.

After a decade as an independent, Economy became involved in the Donald Trump campaign in 2016. He said he liked the idea of an outsider challenging the two-party system.

“I thought this could be a lot of fun,” Economy said. “He was running to really shake up the Republican Party.”

Economy said he was disappointed in Newsom’s performance and was glad to join the recall effort, launched last year by Orrin Heatlie, a retired sergeant with the Yolo County Sheriff’s Department. Economy is one of only two paid workers.

He said he is considering departing the Republican Party and rejoining the ranks of independents.