Our endorsement in the effort to oust Newsom: Vote no, and let the governor finish the job.

Gov. Gavin Newsom deserves your support.

Sure there are reasons to dislike Newsom and his performance during the pandemic – the system-wide failure at the Employment Development Department plus his maskless dinner out at the French Laundry (yep, double standard) come to mind. Those are mistakes that he should take his lumps for, but they are not firing offenses.

The recall election stands to make a mockery of the principle of “one person, one vote.” If fewer than 50 percent of voters check the box that says Newsom should not be recalled then he will be replaced as governor of California by someone who would not stand a chance against him in a regular gubernatorial election.

Despite his early and strong leadership trying to slow the spread of the virus, Newsom’s job is now on the line, with consequences that reverberate well beyond the governor’s office – the governor appoints a long list of public servants and judges and, given U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein’s age (88) and rumors of her impending retirement, potentially her replacement as well.

The first question on ballots is easy to answer. Should Newsom be recalled? Resoundingly no. Here are 10 reasons Newsom deserves to keep his seat – and if he doesn’t, the results could be dire.

1. COVID-19 WOULD BE WORSE WITHOUT HIM. Newsom led the nation in issuing science-based directives early in the pandemic, with a statewide stay-at-home order. To see the counterpoint, look to states like Florida, which had more relaxed Covid rules all along – and where Covid deaths are now, in the summer of 2021, at their worst ever.

2. VACCINE MANDATES ARE CRITICAL TO SAVING LIVES. California’s health workers are required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by Sept. 30. As much as anti-vax propagandists have stirred up distrust, a requirement like this helps normalize vaccines and also helps keep essential institutions open. We all want freedom, but the freedom to endanger others is not included on this list.

3. HE IS THINKING PAST FOSSIL FUELS. “The climate crisis is real,” Newsom said in announcing his ambitious timeline toward reaching the state’s goal to reach net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2045. He directed regulators to stop issuing permits for fracking by 2024, and for the California Air Resources Board to seriously analyze ways to phase out oil extraction in California by 2045.

4. SPEAKING OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND OUR HEALTH: HE LED THE WAY TO BAN A TOXIC PESTICIDE. Chlorpyrifos is known to be a brain-harming pesticide, and it’s one that the U.S. EPA banned – then reneged on during the Trump administration, then reversed again just last month. California banned chlorpyrifos in 2020. (Newsom also allocated $5 million in state funds to research alternative pest management tools.)

5. HE USED A BUDGET SURPLUS TO CREATE A MASSIVE ANTI-POVERTY PROGRAM. Under Newsom, California expanded its earned income tax credit program, offered Covid-related relief to undocumented immigrants (filling a gap the federal government created) and doubled down on eviction moratoriums and rent/utility relief during the height of pandemic-related unemployment.

6. A SERIOUS INVESTMENT INTO EDUCATION FOR THE YOUNGEST KIDS. It’s one of those things everyone says is needed and yet no one does anything about – early childhood education. Newsom has pledged to create transitional kindergarten for every 4-year-old in California by 2025.

7. HE IS DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THE HOUSING CRISIS. Early in the pandemic, Newsom created Project Roomkey, an ambitious program to use hotel and motel rooms for people in need of a place to isolate or quarantine – hotel operators got a boost while travel was down, and some 14,200 people in need had a roof over their heads. That program evolved into the $1.3 billion Project Homekey, transforming motels into needed housing.

8. COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPARENCY ARE CRITICAL. If you wanted federal Covid-19 data early in the pandemic, good luck finding it – the CDC was useless. California, meanwhile, created a dedicated website (covid19.ca.gov) for meaningful and accessible data reporting and the governor held regular press conferences that streamed to the public on Twitter.

9. HE ENDED THE DEATH PENALTY, AN OUTDATED AND BARBARIC PRACTICE. Newsom signed an executive order issuing a moratorium on capital punishment, granting a reprieve to the 737 people on death row – and a reprieve to the overburdened judicial system that would spend years processing appeals in their cases.

10. HAVE YOU LOOKED AT THE LIST OF 46 CANDIDATES VYING TO REPLACE HIM? BECAUSE YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED. Do you seriously want any of these people to run California? There’s Adam Papagan, the guy whose candidate statement reads simply, “Love U.” There’s first-name-only billboard model and self-described “icon” Angelyne. There’s Green Party candidate Dan Kaplovitz whose candidate statement reads: “Can you dig it?” (Um, no, we can’t.) There’s professional celebrity Caitlyn Jenner, with zero viable experience.

They might sound like jokes, but this is serious. If more than 50 percent of voters say yes to question 1, that means Newsom is out as governor. And then we move on to question 2: Who should replace him? To win, a candidate does not need a majority of votes, but a plurality – they just have to get more than the other 45 people.

That’s where we believe the state Democratic Party and Monterey County Democratic Party go wrong. “You cannot vote for Gov. Newsom on Q2. So leave Q2 blank,” the county Democratic Party suggests.

While we hope it doesn’t come to question 2, this is an important time to vote for the least bad replacement – leaving it blank means Newsom’s most vicious opponents, those most likely to vote in this election, get to pick the next governor.

It’s not easy to pick the least bad out of a list that ranges from they-must-be-joking to uninspiring to downright dangerous, but this is an opportunity to at least vote against the worst of them.

Larry Elder, a conservative radio show host, is polling dangerously high. He recently told an (unmasked) crowd in a San Jose church that was fined for violating shelter-in-place restrictions that he would repeal public health protections, according to news reports: “When I get elected, assuming there are still facemask mandates and vaccine mandates, they will be repealed right away. And then I’ll break for breakfast.” He’s basically campaigning on a platform to let more people die.

For question 2, we recommend Kevin Paffrath, a Ventura-based Democrat who has built a large following for his YouTube show on real estate and finance. He’s got no political experience but has presented plans on tackling the state’s homelessness crisis and wants to develop vocational high school programs. Hopefully he would surround himself with wise advisers.

By far, the best person for the job is the one Californians already elected: Gov. Newsom. Vote no on the recall and keep him in office.

THE EDITORIAL BOARD is Founder & CEO Bradley Zeve, Publisher Erik Cushman and Editor Sara Rubin.