Democrats control both houses of the California State Legislature with two-thirds majorities, allowing them to pass any bills they wish, with no possibility of obstruction from the powerless GOP.  As Democrats will when they feel empowered, they recently passed a major hike in gasoline taxes that will take over $5 billion a year more from the pockets of motorists.  With the GOP powerless, what could possibly go wrong?

Apparently, they forgot that California's state constitution permits recall elections, which is odd, considering that Governor Gray Davis was recalled, and Arnold Schwarzenegger famously became governor within the memory of most members of the Legislature.  But three members of the College Republicans at Cal State University, Fullerton (in Orange County) remembered, and in record time, they gathered more than 85,000 signatures on a recall petition for the local State Senator, Josh Newman, a freshman just elected.  That is enough to force a recall election!

Caught by surprise, the California Dems reacted stupidly.  The Daily Wire reports:

Three members of the Cal State Fullerton College Republicans have been named in a lawsuit backed by the California Democratic Party in retaliation for their work to recall State Senator Josh Newman, who was the pivotal vote in support of April's $52 billion gas tax increase. ...

The suit names Amanda McGuire, Brooke Paz, and Ryan Hoskins (pictured below) as defendants in the suit, for volunteering their weekends to talk to constituents about the cost of Newman's vote to the district's taxpayers. 

The Democrats' lawsuit, which was filed in Sacramento Superior Court last Thursday, alleges that the College Republicans and other conservative activists "misled" voters in their successful signature gathering effort to recall Senator Newman. The suit names Amanda McGuire, Brooke Paz, and Ryan Hoskins (pictured below) as defendants in the suit, for volunteering their weekends to talk to constituents about the cost of Newman's vote to the district's taxpayers. ...

The Democrat Party has alleged that recall organizers, which also included dozens of local conservatives of all ages, lied to voters about the true nature of the recall campaign by claiming that the recall would repeal the gas tax.

I suppose they will file affidavits from a few people who signed who will claim that they were told something untrue.  That's pretty thin gruel, but then again, left-wing judges can grab power and forbid or require pretty much anything they want, as the travel ban kerfuffle illustrated.  It takes the Supreme Court to weed out the renegade judges' decisions, and that takes time, if it even happens.

But trying to quash a recall election following a tax increase and dragging three kids into court looks really bad, and it will be especially odious when the gas tax hits on November 1 and people start complaining about the money missing from their wallets when buying gas.  Tesla drivers won't notice, but the poorer people driving old beaters will right away.  I would start making videos of the three appealing  kids talking about being dragged into court because the Dems refuse to follow the rules on recall elections, because they think they own the state.

As the recall election of Gray Davis showed, there is a high level of ambient frustration and anger in California.  Ninety percent of the population is scampering to keep up with rising expenses.  Everyone knows the highways are a mess despite already high gasoline taxes that are siphoned away for pet transit projects, bike paths, and other amenities beloved of the wealthy tech and financial elites, the only people really enjoying the Golden State Dream that used to be almost universal.

Come November, there might be opportunities to collect signatures for recall petitions all over California if College Republicans and other groups can be mobilized.  Despite the demographic earthquake that has changed California, the arrogance of the California legislative Dems has created an opportunity for a "throw the bums out" election in 2018.  Most Californians could not name their own state senator, even though these solons represent more people than a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.  There is enough discontent that if the issues are properly framed, some real havoc could be inflicted on the Dems.