Congressman Kevin Kiley (R-CA) fights for California. Gavin Newsom, the governor of the state, fights for more attention. Newsom has taken issue to House Speaker Mike Johnson calling him out over his flagrant mismanagement of the wildfires ravaging Southern California, and Newsom’s role in this abject failure of leadership.
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While devastating wildfires continue to rage in CA, it’s impossible to ignore the feckless leadership in the state:
– Gov. Newsom BLOCKED water policy that reserves water from the north to be available in times like this
– Newsom FAILED to manage CA’s forests effectively
– LA Mayor Bass CUT $17.8 million from the fire department’s budget
– Bass LEFT for Africa despite advanced warnings about the fires
On Monday, Speaker Johnson signaled that because of decades of poor management with fire mitigation and aid money, any aid to California might come with conditions attached.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is backing placing conditions on disaster assistance for California in the wake of the destructive wildfires blazing around the Los Angeles area, a position already drawing opposition from Democrats.
In remarks to reporters at the Capitol on Monday, Johnson criticized California’s water resource and forest management, placing the blame at the hands of leaders on the state and local level.
“I think we’ve got to have a serious conversation about that,” Johnson said when asked about conditions on the aid. “Obviously there has been water resource mismanagement, forest management mistakes, all sorts of problems. And it does come down to leadership, and it appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects. So that’s something that has to be factored in.”
“I think there should probably be conditions on that aid. That’s my personal view, we’ll see what the consensus is,” he added. “I haven’t had a chance to socialize that with any of the members over the weekend because we’ve all been very busy, but it’ll be part of the discussion, for sure.”
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Before being elected to Congress, Kiley served in California’s Assembly, and remains a longtime and fierce critic of Newsom. What Kiley urged is that Congress work to protect the people of California from their benighted governor.
WATCH:
The people of California should not be punished because of this power-mad narcissist. It is clear that Kiley is doing all he can to both hold California’s governor accountable and get relief to those suffering. Instead of choosing to recognize that he is digging his own grave, Newsom instead pokes the bear for clicks and attention. As my colleague Ward Clark highlighted, Newsom got on camera to whine about Johnson’s suggested conditions.
But Johnson had the final word:
Instead of making highly produced clap back videos with social media influencers, you should get to work helping Californians. You’re the leader of a state in crisis, and you should finally start acting like it.
Ouch. That’s going to leave a mark. Newsom doing battle and scoring points on the very people who are able to assist him is on brand. Getting unconditional aid would be a win for the people of Southern California, but Newsom wants it to be a win for him. Kiley’s leadership has always been focused on results for the people of California. Newsom’s horrific leadership style is reflected in his ability to torch any shred of goodwill, choosing heavy-handed tactics over reasoned persuasion.
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Newsom, and Newsom alone is blocking aid to California because he cannot seem to keep his mouth shut.