California Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R-RockStar) is doing a statewide tour to promote and sign his book aptly named, Recall Gavin Newsom: The Case Against America’s Most Corrupt Governor.

It was a gorgeous, sunny, and warm day in Glendale, California, and for 12:00 p.m. on a Monday, in the midst of a “partial” reopening of the city, the signing drew a sizeable crowd. About 40 people came out to meet Asm. Kiley, get their copy of the book signed (some had several), and to express their intent to not only see Newsom Recalled, but to see change occur in the State of California.

The event was held at the Glendale Centre Theatre, a family-owned and run enterprise, which, like many small businesses, has struggled to stay afloat in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent state lockdowns. Owner Brenda Dietlein said her grandparents opened the theatre in 1947, and aside from the day of the Kennedy assassination, and two days during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots,

“It was never closed down. We’ve been opened for 74 years—they [her grandparents] made it with just hard work, no city, state or federal funding. But now it’s been closed for almost a year.”

Dietlein had to sell her home in order to pay the bills on the theater. She moved herself and her two sons to live in the office space above the theater.

“That’s why I’ve been fighting,” she said.

And one of the ways she continues the fight is allowing her family’s space to be used for the book signing, in order to see this ridiculously corrupt governor Recalled.

If Kevin Kiley wishes to one day give up politics, he could easily go on the speaking circuit. He is kinetic, charismatic, and extremely affable. Kiley brought a positive and vibrant energy to what is a charged cause, and his “happy warrior” vibe spilled over everyone in attendance.

The event began with Kiley signing books and talking up each guest. There was nothing assembly line about it; he genuinely wanted to connect with each and every individual who took the time to come out.

Then Kiley took a break from signing books to give remarks. Most authors simply read passages from their book, and Kiley did a bit of that. But he weaved the reading into his speech on how it started with Newsom, how it’s going, and how Newsom can be thanked for unifying Californians in this groundswell of a movement.

Kiley started with a tale of two governors with higher aspirations. Both Newsom and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo think they will run for president, so the COVID-19 pandemic presented both of them an opportunity to try and hog the spotlight with daily press conferences, and circuits on daytime and nightly news and talk shows.

“Newsom and Cuomo seem to be competing over who can be removed from office first, but in the early going, you know, Newsom was desperately competing to try to get some of the national spotlight away from him,” Kiley said.

He continued to outline Newsom’s missteps:

“The biggest scandal in our state’s history: When Gavin Newsom, behind the back of the legislature, secretly reached a $1 billion, No-Bid deal for masks with one of the world’s shadiest companies: BYD China, which is run by the Chinese Communist Party. Which has ties to forced labor. Which has a history of defective products, and indeed its masks that Newsom bought did fail federal safety tests twice. Newsom wired half the money in advance, $500 million, which is unheard of. And he did this all so that he’d be able to go on the Rachel Maddow Show and in primetime declare that California is no longer just a state. But it’s now a nation state.

“Surely Cuomo couldn’t compete with that. And it worked—initially it actually worked. The following morning, if you listened closely, you could almost hear the sound of champagne corks popping.

“ ‘President Newsom’, started trending on Twitter.

“Well, I can assure you this my friends, we will never see President Newsom trending on Twitter again. We’re going to be seeing hashtag ‘Former Governor Newsom’ by the end.”

This rendered lots of cheers and applause from the audience, which were fully engaged, and even a little bit raucous.

Kiley expressed concern about future generations. That if all young people see is authoritarian government, they will come to view it as,

“the way things are supposed to be. I think it’s so important that they come out of this, not with a tolerance for authoritarianism, but with an appreciation for its evils.”

Kiley said something that has greatly warmed his heart is hearing from freshly-minted 18-year old young adults that their first act of civic engagement is signing the Recall Gavin Newsom petition. After all, who are we saving California for, if not the future generation?

Kiley, in partnership with his colleague, Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City), filed a lawsuit and successfully prosecuted a legal case against Newsom, challenging the constitutionality of Newsom’s executive orders and alleging abuse of power. Kiley and Gallagher won their judgment from a California Superior Court that agreed the Governor abused his emergency powers and violated the Constitution.

Kiley reflected on the case,

“You know, in the closing argument in our trial, the opposing counsel for Governor Newsom said that my ideas about separation of powers, checks and balances work well in theory. Two-plus centuries of American history shows they work pretty well in practice as well, and Gavin Newsom has tried to tell us over the last year that his voice is the only one that matters; that this is a one-man rule.”

“But the Recall is about all of us saying, ‘NO’. Our voices still matter. This is still a government of, by and for The People.”

If you really want to know what is going on in California, and why We The People have risen up to Recall Gavin Newsom, buy this book. It’s an easy and engaging read, as well as Kiley’s Capitol Quagmire blog where you can follow his adventures to bring sanity and decency back into government.