4.20.20 SLO Request to Re Open by Katherine Worsham on Scribd
BY Andy Caldwell
Please take the time to witness two completely divergent approaches by local leaders to the virus and the shutdown.
The link below provides a copy of the letter signed by LEADERS in SLO, including Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, the county sups, and local Mayors.
The attachment is the response by SB County Supervisors on today’s agenda.
SLO is asking Newsom to return local control because they have taken extraordinary measures to meet the guidelines to reopen by way of Newsom’s directives.
These extraordinary measures include the success of flattening the curve AND creating an inordinately large surge capacity on the Cal Poly campus.
Compare and contrast that to the PATHETIC SB County response, which can be boiled down to two aspects: We will passively follow the lead of the Governor but we need more money! Money to implement his plan and money to make us whole as a result of the expenses and losses associated with the pandemic and the panic. SB County thus has NO PLAN or impetus to reopen our economy.
SLO and other leading counties who will attempt to reassert local control will surely get rebuffed by the Governor (it happened the same day!!!).
That is because Newsom is in no hurry whatsoever to reopen our economy, to wit, his 80 person committee that is filled with political hacks who are going to try and use this crisis to reshape the CA economy and society (e.g. co-chair Tom Steyer!)
So, what is the next step for SLO leaders?
They should go forward with their plan post haste and ask for forgiveness later since they have been denied permission from the start.
Or, they can go on the record by asking their county counsel to send a letter, signed by all the same cities indicating the following:
- Whereas, we respect the fact that the Governor and other elected leaders needed to buy time for our hospitals and care providers to gear up and prepare for a surge, the fact is, that time is over.
- Specifically, the Constitution of the United States only grants police power in emergency events that create a COMPELLING need to usurp the freedom of the American people. Furthermore, any such police powers must be as NARROWLY construed and applied as is necessary, so as not to infringe on the rights of the people.
- In light of the fact that the compelling need was to flatten the curve, well, that has been accomplished. The fact that the Governor is not restoring control back to local authorities and the people coupled with the fact that there is no END date to his shut down edict and no narrow construction to the same, means he has exceeded his constitutional authority.
What all of this means is that we asked for permission and in view of the above facts, because the state has no constitutional authority to have denied us, we are moving forward to reopen our society and economy based upon our own authority and responsibility to do so.
Let the State try and stop us or sue us if the Governor so inclines, we are abiding by the Constitution which recognizes our citizens as the sovereigns.
Andy Caldwell