RV retailer Camping World defies order by California officials to take down giant American flag



A major recreational vehicle retailer was ordered to take down a giant American flag. However, the RV retailer has defied the order mandated by officials in California.

Camping World RV Sales is located in French Camp, California — about 80 miles east of San Francisco. The RV retailer had flown a giant American flag above its dealership until April when county officials ordered it to be taken down over concerns over the flagpole.

The Camping World CEO declared that the American flag would stay up — no matter what the county says.

San Joaquin County officials told KTLX that there were concerns regarding the flag pole's foundation and the pole's proximity to property lines and Interstate 5, should the pole collapse.

“Camping World’s flagpole was installed with neither a building permit nor planning approval, therefore they are in conversation with the code enforcement division," the county said in a statement to the outlet.

On Monday, Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis ordered the dealership to restore the American flag to the top of the pole. Lemonis said Camping World's flagpole is installed securely and "rooted deeply in the ground."

Lemonis noted that there are "hundreds" of Camping World locations with giant American flags, and there are no issues.

"If we felt like we were putting people in danger or causing any issues with air traffic, which would absolutely not be okay, then I wouldn’t do it," Lemonis told KTLX.

"It's symbolism about how we feel about this country. We have a lot of veterans who work for us, and a lot of veterans who shop with us," Lemonis added.

He declared, "I happen to be an immigrant. I was given the blessing of being able to enter this country and become a citizen, and I'm grateful for it. It's been part of my life since I was a little child down in Miami, Florida, where we had the largest flag pole in Miami at our car dealership."

Lemonis conceded that he may have kept a flag down if it was used for marketing purposes while ironing out the permit issue with the county. The Camping World CEO declared that the American flag would stay up — no matter what the county says.

San Joaquin County officials said Camping World has applied for a building permit for the flagpole and the application is under review.

This is not the first time that Camping World has faced government scrutiny for flying a massive American flag.

In May 2019, the American flag was declared to be too large at the Camping World location in Statesville, North Carolina — roughly 40 miles north of Charlotte.

Camping World defied the order by Statesville officials to take down the flag. The business was fined $50 a day for the flag violation.

Lemonis told Fox Business at the time, "We have flown this flag for a long time. As I told the city ... it’s not coming down under any circumstance."

Attorneys for Lemonis declared in a filing that the huge American flag "represents the fundamental values — freedom, courage, and equality before the law — that unite all Americans and transcend party politics. ... In keeping with this tradition, The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized that the act of flying the flag is a form of political expression protected by the First Amendment."

Attorneys for Statesville cited a North Carolina state law that declares there can be size restrictions on flags "for the purpose of protecting the public health, safety, and welfare."

In a settlement with the city, Camping World was allowed to keep the American flag up, but had to pay more than $14,000 in fines for originally breaking the town's ordinance, plus pay an additional $2,000 in legal costs.

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Larry Elder picks up endorsement from former Democratic leader in California recall election



Leading Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder picked up a major endorsement from the former Democratic majority leader of the California state Senate Wednesday in the recall election for Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

Gloria Romero, who served as the Democratic majority leader in the state Senate from 2001 until 2008 before stepping down to serve on the Education Committee, endorsed Elder for governor in a video published Wednesday. An education reform activist, Romero declared her support for Elder's position on school choice.

"Our public schools need big change. I'm Gloria Romero; I was the majority leader of Democrats in the state Senate. I believe in charter schools and school choice. So does Larry Elder – but not Gavin Newsom. He shut our public schools while he sent his kids to private schools," she says in a video.

"Yes: I'm a Democrat. But the recall of Newsom is not about political party. It's about Newsom. Larry Elder for governor," she adds.

Democrat Gloria Romero, a former CA legislator & longtime charter school advocate, cut an ad supporting GOP candida… https://t.co/AUziQGZ9p1

— Laurel Rosenhall (@LaurelRosenhall) 1629838642.0

Elder, a libertarian-minded talk radio host, currently leads the pack of Republicans vying to challenge Newsom in the Sept. 14 recall election. While Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-to-1 in California, Elder is believed to have a strong chance of becoming governor under the rules of the recall election, should voters decide they've had enough of the current governor.

Newsom won the largest share of the vote of any Democrat in state history when he was elected governor in 2018. But his heavily criticized handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as his scandalous hypocrisy in ordering Californians to observe the coronavirus restrictions while flouting those restrictions at a private birthday party in a French restaurant, gave his opponents enough support to trigger a recall election.

The recall ballot will ask two questions. First, should the governor be recalled? And if so, who should be governor? If a simple majority of voters answer "yes" to the first question, then the candidate with the most votes on the second question becomes governor. These rules enable any candidate with a plurality of votes to win the election, which gives Elder a real chance of becoming governor should Democrats split the vote among the more than 40 candidates on the ballot while Republicans stay united behind him.

Most California voters are not conservative. They don't share Elder's positions on the issues. But recent polls have shown that voters are split on whether Newsom should remain governor, with 47% saying he should be recalled and 50% saying he should stay. Other surveys have suggested that Republicans are more motivated to vote in the recall election than Democratic voters, who if they stay home could cause Newsom to lose the first ballot question and open the door for Elder to becoming governor.

With Democrats nervous and Republican rivals envious of his frontrunner status, opposition research is flying to take down Elder's candidacy before the election.

The Sacramento Bee and Republican candidates Kevin Falconer, the former mayor of San Diego, and Caitlyn Jenner, a reality TV star and former Olympic athlete, have each called on Elder to drop out of the race after his ex-fiancee claimed that he once waved a gun at her while high on marijuana in 2015, prompting her to break off their engagement.

Politico first reported the account of Elder's former fiancee, Alexandra Datig, 51, who said the incident occurred during an argument.

The alleged gun incident occurred in the midst of a heated conversation as their relationship was unraveling, according to Datig. "He was in the bedroom, and I was standing by the door," she said. "We talked to each other.'' He became silent, she said, and then slowly "walked over to the nightstand, opened the door, took out the gun,'' a .45 pistol.

"And he checked if it was loaded — while I was talking,'' she said. "He wanted to make sure I saw that he had it."

"It was an act of silent scorn — and anger,'' she said.

Elder denied the accusations, calling them "salacious" in a tweet thread condemning "this type of politics of personal destruction."

"I am not going to dignify this with a response — it's beneath me," he added.

The media attention on Elder, as well as the Newsom campaign's pivot to attack him as "to the right of Donald Trump," could very well backfire by signaling to Republican voters that Elder is the candidate Democrats fear most and therefore the man to rally behind.

The recall election will be held on Sept. 14. California has already sent a mail-in ballot to every active registered voter in the state. Returned ballots must be post-marked by Sept. 14 and received by Sept. 21 to be counted.

Adam Schiff reportedly wants Gov. Gavin Newsom to make him California attorney general and get him out of Congress



House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is reportedly hoping to leave Congress — by getting a promotion from California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

According to Axios, Schiff is currently lobbying Newsom to be appointed as California's next attorney general, a position vacated by President Joe Biden's nomination of Xavier Becerra to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Schiff's effort is reportedly supported by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has come to rely on him as a close ally in the House, despite the fact that his departure from Congress could potentially make the Democrats' narrow 221-211 majority even smaller.

Axios noted that as state attorney general, Schiff would be in a better position to launch a campaign for U.S. Senate in 2024 if 87-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) decides not to run for re-election. This wouldn't be without precedent. Vice President Kamala Harris served as California's attorney general before running for U.S. Senate and winning the seat vacated by Sen. Barbara Boxer's retirement.

If Schiff were to be appointed attorney general, a special election would be triggered for California's 28th Congressional District to fill the vacancy. The district, which is comprised of Hollywood, Burbank, and parts of Los Angeles, is a Democratic stronghold with little chance of flipping to the Republicans, even with the lower turnout generally associated with special elections.

Newsom has not yet made any indication if he's likely to appoint Schiff or the various other persons jockeying for the open position. Other potential candidates mentioned for the job by the San Francisco Chronicle include Rob Bonta, a member of the state Assembly, and Rick Chavez Zbur, director of Equality California, a LGBTQ advocacy group

"It's pretty clear that there are advocates for their favorites," California political strategist Bill Carrick told Axios. "But it's not clear that that will have any influence on the one person who will make the decision: Gov. Gavin Newsom."

California's current attorney general, Becerra, faces fierce opposition from conservatives as Biden's nominee for HHS secretary. Becerra has no public health experience as an executive or administrator of public health programs. He is a career politician, serving 12 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2017 before being appointed attorney general of California by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Becerra has a reputation as a culture warrior for progressive causes and conservatives believe that if placed in charge of HHS, he will work tirelessly to erase President Donald Trump's pro-life Title X policies, reinstating government funding for abortion providers, as well expand Obamacare to cover gender-reassignment surgery and abortion.