The political makeover of Gavin Newsom proceeds apace. He recently seemed to agree that Trans boys beating the hell, figuratively and actually, out of girls in sports wasn’t exactly fair. Talk, of course, is cheap, and to date, Newsom hasn’t tried to do anything to put his new-found respect for the sensibilities and health of women into practice in the People’s Republic of California.

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Many are concerned that Newsom’s bizarre gesticulations and shoulder shimmying are evidence of rapidly advancing neurological disease, but that’s another article.

Apparently, all that grease on his head hasn’t totally penetrated his brain, and he’s capable of paying attention to all those 80+/20- issues out there, among them millions of government employees “working” from home. 

Suddenly, Democratic leaders across America are channeling their inner DOGE, ordering government workers back to the office in droves. On March 3, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an order, calling for state workers to return to the office at least four (4) days a week.

The accompanying press release reads, in part,

Governor Gavin Newsom today issued an executive order requiring all agencies and departments within his Administration to update their hybrid telework policies to a default of at least four days per week by July 1, 2025.

Normal Americans go to work at least five days a week. Many, if not most, incur substantial overtime. Most Americans expect to have to work the occasional day off and expect to remain at work as long as necessary to get the job done. In those expectations, they’re part of a generational chain of the American work ethic which has built this country. California’s dedicated public servants would rather break that chain:

The Sacramento Bee reported last week,

A protest led by scientists and other state employees Wednesday afternoon wasn’t as loud as one earlier this month. But the 100 or so workers who marched in downtown Sacramento carried the same angry message: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s return to office order needs to be defeated.

The Bee reports that some labor groups have filed legal challenges to the move.

Normal Americans are wondering at the order to return to work only four days a week. Why only four? Why don’t they have to work like actual Americans? Californians consider it an outrage. Amazingly, even Governor Tampon Tim Walz of Minnesota is getting on the work accountability bandwagon:

To be outdone, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has ordered state workers back in the office at least half the time (2 1/2 days per week?). Predictably, state workers are losing their minds. KNSI Radio reports,

The President of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees union [Megan Dayton] is voicing her displeasure with Governor Tim Walz’s abrupt return to office policy for state workers and is calling for an escalation within its membership to fight back.

The station goes on to report,

Dayton added the [Walz] move “reeks of Musk,” citing the decision as “eerily reminiscent of the disruptions our public servant counterparts are facing at the federal level.”

“Fight back?!” Over actually having to do some work for their salaries provided by taxpayers? Actually having to show up for work, and presumably being able to demonstrate they’re actually doing something is a disruption like that facing their federal lay-about compatriots?

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Newsom and Walz’s motivations for their abruptly discovered respect for sanity are obvious. Newsom is desperately trying to set up a run for the Democrat nomination in 2028. Minnesota has no term limits on Governors, and Walz has an election on the horizon. The Funding Our Future fraud trials have been a major embarrassment, and Walz’s stupidity in trying to drive down Tesla’s stock value, considering Minnesota has a huge stake in Tesla stock for its retirees, have made headlines, even in the Democrat Minnesota press. Walz was forced to backtrack, pathetically claiming he was only joking, and he has been unable to come up with a plausible explanation for why everyone in Minnesota government let hundreds of millions in obvious fraud slip out the door.

Newsom is desperate to distract the public away from his wildfire negligence. He has been signing a flurry of executive orders that will supposedly fix what his negligence caused, but the results have been lethargic and downright absurd. The LA Times recently reported LA has issued only three rebuilding permits in the Pacific Palisades, and there are innumerable reports of homeowners struggling with California’s usual bureaucratic nightmares.

Still, Newsom and Walz are making gestures toward sanity. Whether anyone will believe a word they say remains to be seen.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.