South California' proposed as 51st state by Republican supervisor
The 51st state should be named South California, says Jeff Stone, a Republican on the the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. But the proposed 13 southern California counties that would split off from the Golden State would not include Los Angeles.
Stone told the Times' Phil Willon that the ommission is intentional and is part of a plan that would make for a new conservative Californian state.
"Los Angeles is purposely excluded because they have the same liberal policies that Sacramento does. The last thing I want to do is create a state that's a carbon copy of what we have now,'' Stone said.
"Los Angeles just enacted a ban on plastic grocery bags. That put three or four manufacturers out of business,'' Stone, a pharmacist from Temecula, said.
Stone plans on formally proposing secession Tuesday during a meeting of the Board of Supervisors.
South California would encompass Fresno, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Tulare counties, totaling approximately 13 million people.
The proposed 51st state would be the fifth largest by population, more populous than Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania. South California would take nearly a third of the population away from California, making the Golden State the second-largest state after Texas.
Eleven of the 13 proposed counties in South California traditionally vote Republican, a fact noticed by California Gov. Jerry Brown's office.
"If you want to live in a Republican state with very conservative right-wing laws, then there's a place called Arizona," Brown spokesman Gil Duran said.
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It's so weird for me because it's literally so close to home. I live right by Temecula, where Jeff Stone is, and he's been a big help overturning some unconstitutional laws that were banning churches in the Temecula wine country. It's because of him my church can expand, so I always thought he was a great guy, even though I really didn't know much about him. Now I realize he's a nutcase. It's crazy to propose to split CA just because of political differences. It's also crazy because no one would ever go for it. And it's also poorly thought out because he isn't proposing to include Los Angeles county in South California (because it's LIBERAL!). There's probably other SoCal counties I'm forgetting, too.
And it's also poorly thought out because he isn't proposing to include Los Angeles county in South California (because it's LIBERAL!). 