Fuzzy recall
Opponents mount recall against Sen. Wahab; Lee meets Porter in Senate forum; East Bay's congressional backbenchers in the news
LEGISLATURE
10TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT
—RECALL EFFORT—State Sen. Aisha Wahab’s legislation to prohibit discrimination on the basis of the caste system comes before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.
—The bill, SB 403, sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee last month with a unanimous vote. This came despite an outpouring of opposition from some Hindus, who assert the legislation will spur reverse discrimination.
—Meanwhile the bill, has triggered a nascent recall against Wahab. Ritesh Tandon, a Republican who has twice challenged Fremont/South Bay Rep. Ro Khanna and lost, and is likely to mount a third campaign next year, told the Sacramento Bee the reason for the recall is “non-performance.”
—Wahab has been in office for just over five months and has burgeoned the same type of frenetic, no-holds-barred reputation she attained as a Hayward councilmember.
—“These retaliatory efforts will not distract me, and I will continue to advance bills that have the potential to positively impact the lives of millions of Californians,” Wahab said, in a statement.
—Absent criminal or unethical behavior, recall campaigns almost always amount to nothing. This effort will likely follow the same pattern.
—However, it’s unclear whether the true aim of the recall effort is to oppose SB 403, or another Wahab bill that upset some Capitol staffers.
—Wahab’s SB 573 is a good governance bill that would prohibit legislative staffers from becoming lobbyists until one year after they leave Sacramento. Opponents of the bill appear to be a potential second front of the recall effort.
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