SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Republican Assemblymember Kevin Kiley said a bulletin board-type announcement informed him he had been removed from the Education Committee altogether and stripped of his vice-chair title. He has arguably been one of the loudest critics of Governor Gavin Newsom's administration.
"I have been a major critic of the corrupt education policies of this legislature and this Governor, Gavin Newsom, in particular," Kiley said, "and so this appears to be related to that. It's retaliation for fighting against the corrupt school shutdown."
Kiley is a former teacher himself and was vice chair for five years.
"Just to sort of be summarily taken off without any explanation, that is something that is really only done if you want to send a message," Kiley said. "If you're trying to quote-unquote punish someone or try to get them to start acting differently."
Kiley said a vice chair is the most senior Republican member of any committee. The vice chair steps in when the chair can't be there as well.
"I've introduced bills to expand parental choice for kids. I've introduced bills to stop sexual harassment in our schools. I've introduced bills to provide mental health services to kids," Kiley said, "But none of that matters."
Speaker of the Assembly Anthony Rendon is in charge of committee appointments. In a statement, his office said this is just routine procedure.
"The Speaker makes regular changes to the makeup of Assembly committees and does not consult the Governor when making these decisions. This change was one of more than 20 changes made to committees yesterday- none of which were retaliatory."
Now, Republican Assemblywoman Meghan Dale is listed as the vice chair on the committee's website.
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