Republican candidate for governor in the recall election John Cox was served a subpoena Tuesday at the start of a debate with two other Republican candidates, and it had something to do with a debt he apparently never paid from his 2018 campaign against Newsom.
The debate happened at the Guild Theater in Sacramento, California, and only three candidates showed up out of seven who were invited. As CNN reports, during Cox's opening remarks, there was an awkward moment in which a man yelled "John Cox, you've been served [by the] San Diego Superior Court, ordered by the judge."
The man was later identified as a private investigator by the Los Angeles Times.
The subpoena, reportedly, pertained to a February judgment by San Diego Superior Court Judge Daniel F. Link, who ruled that Cox's 2018 gubernatorial campaign never paid a Virginia-based firm $55,000 for political ads and $43,000 in attorney costs other fees. Cox dismissed the subpoena incident as "a garbage thing."
Video of the awkward moment shows John Cox, a Republican candidate challenging California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, being served with a subpoena while onstage during a debate in Sacramento on Tuesday. https://t.co/IUHZQCMNdw
— CNN (@CNN) August 18, 2021
The two other candidates participating in the debate were former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, and Rocklin Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, both running as Republicans.
Republican frontrunner and enemy of the minimum wage Larry Elder declined to participate, as did Governor Gavin Newsom. Reality TV figure Caitlyn "Put-All-the-Homeless-in-a-Field-Somewhere" Jenner never responded to her invitation.
The other candidate invited, former Republican Congressman Doug Ose, dropped out of the race after suffering a heart attack on Sunday.
The minimum wage came up as a debate topic, as the LA Times reports, with the candidates using this as one angle from which to attack Elder. Cox, a businessman from Rancho Santa Fe who's largely funding his own campaign and isn't exactly a man of the people, made some interesting remarks about wages, though. He said he believes there should be a federal minimum wage and that's it — the federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour, half of California's minimum wage of $14 per hour.
And, Cox added, "Frankly, the minimum wage right now isn’t an issue because people are getting paid beaucoup bucks for doing things that used to get minimum wage because of a shortage of labor. Certainly, the federal government can set a minimum wage so there isn’t sweatshops and things like that. That’s fine."
The candidates also came after Elder for some 21-year-old sexist remarks he made about women voters. Writing in Capitalism Magazine in 2000, Elder said the reason that more women voted Democrat is because "women know less than men about political issues, economics and current events."
Faulconer used the strongest language to blast Elder, calling the remark "bullshit," and saying he felt so strongly because he is a "girl dad" and the son of a mother who worked as a secretary while going to night school.
All three candidates said they'd roll back mask and vaccine mandates if they became governor, though Faulconer took the most moderate stance saying he'd leave it up to local officials. And they all voted for Trump, and Cox recently refused to answer the question when asked if he thought Trump was a liar.
Anyway, we can look back on this whole silly charade and laugh so long as enough people mail in ballots or show up to vote on September 14!
The idea of any of these people being governor should scare the shit out of you!
Image: @BeastJohnCox via Twitter
