Gavin Newsom said he doesn’t have the ‘bandwidth’ to campaign against Proposition 36

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is an outspoken critic of Proposition 36, which would restore felony penalties for certain theft- and drug-related offenses. But don’t expect to see him campaigning on it between now and the election in November.

In a Thursday press conference, the governor said that “it’s a question of bandwidth.”

“I fear I can’t do everything. I’ve got, trying to get Kamala Harris elected President of the United States, trying to get through these 900 bills. I just pray, I really do, that people take a good look at Proposition 36,” he said.

He later added that “it’s just a question of what you’re capable of doing, and then trying to address (homeless) encampments and everything else, we do a lot.”

The governor, who has struck notes of fiscal caution as the state faces an ongoing deficit problem, cited the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office’s findings that Prop. 36 would cost the state “likely ranging from several tens of millions of dollars to the low hundreds of millions of dollars annually.”

“There’s not one dollar attached to it,” Newsom said, meaning the proposition doesn’t include any funding mechanism for the new costs likely to be incurred if it passes.

It’s possible that Newsom, a rising star in the Democratic Party who is said to hold presidential ambitions, doesn’t want to tie himself to what appears to be a losing issue for him.

A recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California showed that 71% of likely voters support Prop. 36.

“I was wondering what state I was living in,” Newsom said in response to the survey.

He called Prop. 36 a “real setback” but added that “it appears clearly that the public has a different point of view.”

And then there’s the question of money.

Newsom told reporters Thursday that California is an expensive place to campaign.

“We’d have to raise tens of millions of dollars, that’s the truth. It’s a challenge,” he said.

At the Thursday press conference, the governor also weighed in in opposition to Proposition 35, which would provide permanent funding for Medi-Cal Health Care Services. Newsom railed about the price tag that would go along with the ballot measure.

“There’s this (Managed Care Organization) tax that’s going to cost the taxpayers $11.9 billion,” he said. “...I hope people read what’s on the ballot.”