New California senator Butler was chosen for characteristics and not character
Newsom taps Laphonza Butler to replace Dianne Feinstein
California Gov. Gavin Newsom chose the Democratic strategist to replace the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Whatever happened to competence as a standard of expected performance? Or qualifications? Or sexual privacy? These virtues that were once the cornerstone for liberal Democrats are out the door in today’s Democrat Party.
As the son of a civil rights leader and former NAACP chapter president whose family desegregated our neighborhood in north central Indiana, I have experienced firsthand the progress that our country has made.
However, what we see with liberal politicians is not progress. They are virtue signaling by appointing officials based solely on favored identity and not the merits of their character and qualifications. In fact, it’s antithetical to what civil rights freedom fighters like my father spent their lives fighting.
Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom of California is doing an injustice to the constituents who elected him to be a governor for all. With millions of Californians to choose from, he is selecting a replacement for the recently vacant U.S. Senate seat who does not even live in the state in favor of her race, gender and sexuality.
The new senator from either California or Maryland is Emily's List President Laphonza Butler. FILE: Butler addresses a Biden-Harris campaign rally on the first anniversary of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson decision which struck down a federal right to abortion on June 23, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
By selecting Laphonza Butler of Maryland to be the senator from California, Newsom is pretty clear on what he thinks of his fellow Californians: not much.
Being a Black female member of the LGBT community checks a lot of the pandering boxes on Newsom’s list, but apparently, being a resident of the state isn’t one of those boxes.
That, in and of itself, is an injustice. Perhaps there is a social justice group in California that will protest and loot as they point out the hypocrisy that Newsom expounds.
Let’s not pretend this is new to California. Look at their former U.S. senator turned Vice President Kamala Harris. In 2020, then-candidate Joe Biden proudly proclaimed he would select only a Black woman as his running mate, instantly marginalizing Harris as a race-and-gender pick rather than a meritorious selection.
Look how that turned out: Kamala now has the lowest vice-presidential approval rating in the history of our country.
Aside from her racial and sexual identity, Newsom’s pick is apparently a fundraising machine, having raised millions of dollars for pro-choice candidates nationwide.
That rolodex of donors will be awfully nice for his eventual run for president when he figures out how to dump Biden.
When I was elected attorney general of Indiana in 2016, voters saw a candidate aligned with their political beliefs. They did not see me as a Black man; they saw me as a leader who would stand up and fight to protect their way of life as defined by our Constitution.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom named Laphonza Butler the new senator from his state – even though she lived in Maryland. (AP Photo/José Luis Villegas, File)
I have no doubt that Butler would represent California weirdness if she were actually elected statewide in California. Let’s face it: her politics align with most of that state. However, due to her residency in Maryland, she would be disqualified from running. Therefore, she should be disqualified from being appointed.
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The left is pandering to a base of voters and donors that get them through the primary. Instead of focusing on character, they are focusing on characteristics.
I understand the need for racial equality in our country. I went from being a boy whose house was firebombed by White racists to being the attorney general of Indiana. My story, however, is not one of check a box here for a quarter there.
Being a Black female member of the LGBT community checks a lot of the pandering boxes on Newsom’s list, but apparently, being a resident of the state isn’t one of those boxes.
I also understand that we cannot force progress, and we must fight for it. Just as I fought to get where I am, and my father fought for my future before me, we need leaders who roll up their sleeves and work for what they accomplish.
California is struggling. Record high crime, a mass exodus of residents fleeing the high cost of living, and drugs and people flooding the streets. Newsom should not be focused on getting more Black lesbians from Maryland into the U.S. Senate; he should focus on how to get gas in California below $7 a gallon!
If our nation is truly to progress and move toward a more equitable society, we must reject the pandering and box-checking political correctness that is fueling Washington, D.C., and left-wing politicians that are simply looking for a way to dump President Joe Biden.
Curtis Hill is Indiana’s attorney general.
