Oh, So NOW Gavin Newsom Wants Reopenings

Hey, what do you know? Suddenly, Gov. Gavin Newsom wants California kids back in school.

Why? Well, probably because Newsom is facing what the LA Times dubbed "a very real possibility" of a recall election this fall. He also maybe tired of hearing from frustrated parents, as well as from players on both sides of the political aisle.

Of course, Newsom has fervently denied that politics have played a role in his decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic. But they sure seem to be in the mix today.

“Parents want to know when their kids can go back to school safely,” Robin Swanson, a Democratic political consultant, told the LA Times. “If you lose parents, you lose California.”

Also, per the Times: "The timing of Newsom’s Dec. 30 announcement of a $2-billion package of incentives to reopen schools — after insisting for weeks that he had provided enough guidance on the matter last summer — was widely interpreted among political observers in Sacramento as a reaction to the recall effort, a possible attempt to appeal to parents as winter break came to a close with no end to distance learning in sight."

Not surprisingly, Newsom announced his plan to speed up a return to schools one day after news that a $500,000 donation had been made to the GOP campaign working toward a recall election.

But Newsom's schools decisions have nothing at all to do with politics. Or something.

"His aides have acknowledged the obvious: Newsom’s chances of beating back the effort would be higher if schools are open and Californians are widely vaccinated before a possible election, allowing fatigued voters to resume their daily lives," the Times wrote.