Kounalakis upstaged Newsom on Trump and got slapped down. But she was right | Opinion
California would have been the perfect state to lead in answering the question as to whether Donald Trump can run for president given the constitutional prohibition of federal “officers” who have engaged in insurrection.
Trump is bound to lose here no matter what. And if the U.S. Supreme Court has an opinion on the matter, that is something that would benefit every state.
Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis recently had the right idea when she suggested to Secretary of State Shirley Weber that California copy a test case that is unfolding in Colorado. But it led to a wrong result of inaction, that suddenly California leaders had confronted an issue seemingly too hot to handle.
Kounalakis also committed a cardinal sin of California politics: She upstaged a governor accustomed to a monopoly on national matters.
It barely took a 24-hour news cycle for Gov. Gavin Newsom to reclaim the mantle and dismiss Kounalakis’ idea, saying that elections are determined at the polls and not in the courts. But it was a curious argument for a governor who has used the courts when it’s his idea.
Isn’t Newsom that former San Francisco mayor who, in 2004, issued marriage licenses to gay couples in the city, itching for a court fight? Isn’t he the governor suing “Big Oil” for causing climate change?
It’s hard to imagine any place other than a court to settle a constitutional matter.
Newsom has political company in Weber. She has declined Kounalakis’ suggestion to review potential legal steps, reasoning that such a move would erode public trust in the electoral process.
“The former president’s conduct tainted and continues to sow the public’s mistrust in government and the legitimacy of elections, so it is more critical than ever to safeguard elections in a way that transcends political divisions,” Weber wrote to Kounalakis.
This is the same secretary of state who was perfectly comfortable facing a court fight with a leading congressional candidate to replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield. Vince Fong first filed to run for his California Assembly seat, changed his mind and filed for the congressional date by the deadline. He was taken off the list of qualified candidates by Weber on the grounds that a candidate can’t file for two offices.
The secretary of state is clearly comfortable going after Fong’s indecision. Trump and his alleged insurrection is apparently another matter.
And as things turned out, Weber was wrong to intervene in Fong’s candidacy for Congress. A Superior Court judge on Thursday put him back into the race to replace McCarthy, saying Fong’s removal exceeded her authority. Weber has decided to appeal the lower court ruling, using all the reach of her office to try to keep Fong off the congressional ballot.
What a case study on how not to use a state constitutional office to its full potential. On the same day Weber cleared Trump to be on the March primary ballot, her counterpart in Maine did precisely the opposite, putting further pressure on the Supreme Court to weigh in.
Both Maine’s secretary of state and a divided Colorado Supreme Court have done the nation a service by testing the limits of a section of Constitution’s 14th Amendment. It prohibits candidates from federal office if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” In Colorado, the case was filed by members of the state’s electoral college, not the secretary of state.
There is certainly evidence that Trump engaged in an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, the day the Capital was invaded. The House of Representatives impeached him for his actions, while the Senate subsequently acquitted him. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell personified the confusion, blaming the president for the Jan. 6 uprising but voting to acquit him, saying punishment was a matter best addressed by courts. And here we are.
If there is ever a modern case to test this 155-year-old constitutional language of the 14th Amendment, this is it. And pioneering California is conspicuously on the sidelines.
So why the California cold feet? This could be purely political and tactical. Newsom is viewed as a close surrogate of President Joe Biden, who dispatched him to toe the party line earlier this year in California at a presidential debate. Chances are likely that yet another legal attack on Trump will help him more than hurt him.
Kounalakis also happens to be an early entrant in the race to replace Newsom as governor. Consider this a small taste of what’s about to come.
Newsom has a year at most to continue dominating the California stage. And then he will begin sharing it with other candidates for his job, all vying for the most attention on this stage as possible.
The California governor is in the mid-afternoon of his political clock in California. He has some time on his horizon for now, but his sunset is coming. And as it approaches, California politics will shift underneath the governor.
Kounalakis’ legitimate bid to review Trump’s presidential candidacy in California isn’t the first time a candidate for governor will be second guessing those now in power in Sacramento.
This story was originally published December 30, 2023 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Kounalakis upstaged Newsom on Trump and got slapped down. But she was right | Opinion."