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Just as Governor Gavin Newsom calls for a vaccination warrant in California public schools, he has actively resisted vaccination warrants for prison guards. Why this uneven response?
As with so many decisions Newsom has made since the onset of COVID-19, he seems primarily concerned with what’s best for him politically.
A federal judge has requested a vaccination warrant for prison guards. According to CalMatters, there were 48 outbreaks linked to prison staff between August and mid-September alone.
Since the start of the pandemic, 50,000 prisoners in the state of California have tested positive for COVID-19 and more than 200 have died, while prison guards remain largely unvaccinated.
It should come as no surprise to anyone to learn that the union representing prison guards has given Newsom $ 1.75 million to fight the recall and has made opposition to a vaccination mandate a top priority.
Meanwhile, the California Teachers Association, arguably the most powerful special interest group in the state, has been battling face-to-face learning since the onset of COVID, using the lack of COVID security as an excuse. CTA donated $ 1.8 million to Newsom.
To its credit, CTA has a vaccination rate of over 90% among its teachers, and epidemics in schools appear to be worse in areas with low vaccination rates.
How can Newsom fight a vaccination warrant in a case where one warrant makes sense but calls for a warrant in another?
Newsom tries to play both ways. And since there is no science of which we are aware that warrants such an uneven response, we can only take a cynical view of Newsom as someone who simply appeases its donors.
Assembly member Kevin Kiley, a Republican from Rocklin who ran for Newsom in the recall, put it better the other day on Twitter: “Gavin Newsom just announced a vaccination mandate for the Kindergarten to Grade 12 students, days after opposing that of the prison guards. California kids made the mistake of not donating millions to his campaigns.
None of this is unfortunately surprising. It’s the same governor who broke his own pandemic rules for dining with lobbyists and the same governor whose wife received an annual salary of $ 290,000 from a nonprofit that received donations from companies putting pressure on his desk.
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