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| California Secession Advocate Faces Scrutiny Over Where He’s Based: Russia | California Secession Advocate Faces Scrutiny Over Where He’s Based: Russia |
| (3 days later) | |
| YEKATERINBURG, Russia — This provincial Russian city, about 1,000 miles east of Moscow, is about as unlikely a place as any to find the leader of one of the more unlikely political causes to arise in opposition to President Trump. But Louis J. Marinelli, the 30-year-old English teacher who is the president of the Yes California movement, which seeks independence for the state, has decided to call it home. | YEKATERINBURG, Russia — This provincial Russian city, about 1,000 miles east of Moscow, is about as unlikely a place as any to find the leader of one of the more unlikely political causes to arise in opposition to President Trump. But Louis J. Marinelli, the 30-year-old English teacher who is the president of the Yes California movement, which seeks independence for the state, has decided to call it home. |
| Word of “Calexit,” a quixotic idea that has floated around California for years, spread on social media after the election of Mr. Trump in November. Even though it has virtually no chance of succeeding — it would require an amendment to the Constitution — it has gained some traction in the state. Several technology industry leaders have voiced their support, and a ballot measure is in the works for the 2018 election. | Word of “Calexit,” a quixotic idea that has floated around California for years, spread on social media after the election of Mr. Trump in November. Even though it has virtually no chance of succeeding — it would require an amendment to the Constitution — it has gained some traction in the state. Several technology industry leaders have voiced their support, and a ballot measure is in the works for the 2018 election. |
| Now with renewed attention on the movement, Mr. Marinelli is under scrutiny for living in a country that many in the United States see as an adversarial power. | Now with renewed attention on the movement, Mr. Marinelli is under scrutiny for living in a country that many in the United States see as an adversarial power. |
| Russians who meet Mr. Marinelli sometimes mistake him for a political refugee from the United States, assuming he would be repressed for his antigovernment positions at home. | Russians who meet Mr. Marinelli sometimes mistake him for a political refugee from the United States, assuming he would be repressed for his antigovernment positions at home. |
| And back in California, he is on the defensive for accepting travel expenses and office space from a Kremlin-linked nationalist group. That acceptance has raised the prospect that Russia, after meddling in the election to try to tip the vote to Mr. Trump, as United States intelligence agencies have said, is now gleefully stoking divisions in America by backing a radical liberal movement. | And back in California, he is on the defensive for accepting travel expenses and office space from a Kremlin-linked nationalist group. That acceptance has raised the prospect that Russia, after meddling in the election to try to tip the vote to Mr. Trump, as United States intelligence agencies have said, is now gleefully stoking divisions in America by backing a radical liberal movement. |
| Mr. Marinelli, who said he supported only nonviolent means of opposition, described his presence in Russia as coincidental, and he denied any links to Russian officials. Before the American presidential election, Mr. Marinelli said he saw no harm in taking a year off to teach English in Russia; his movement had been only creeping along anyway, financed with his credit card and run from his home in San Diego. | Mr. Marinelli, who said he supported only nonviolent means of opposition, described his presence in Russia as coincidental, and he denied any links to Russian officials. Before the American presidential election, Mr. Marinelli said he saw no harm in taking a year off to teach English in Russia; his movement had been only creeping along anyway, financed with his credit card and run from his home in San Diego. |
| Mr. Trump’s victory and the subsequent boom in interest in the push for secession caught him unprepared. | Mr. Trump’s victory and the subsequent boom in interest in the push for secession caught him unprepared. |
| “We just had that surprise event of Donald Trump winning, and it just dumped thousands and thousands of people behind our campaign all of a sudden,” Mr. Marinelli said in an interview in his home office here that doubles as a bedroom, and is festooned with a California flag. | “We just had that surprise event of Donald Trump winning, and it just dumped thousands and thousands of people behind our campaign all of a sudden,” Mr. Marinelli said in an interview in his home office here that doubles as a bedroom, and is festooned with a California flag. |
| His mailing list exploded to 160,000 names, and the number of registered volunteers surged to about 8,000 from around 400. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last month showed that about one in three Californians supported the idea of seceding peacefully from the union. | His mailing list exploded to 160,000 names, and the number of registered volunteers surged to about 8,000 from around 400. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last month showed that about one in three Californians supported the idea of seceding peacefully from the union. |
| The campaign got a new fillip in January when the state attorney general, Xavier Becerra, approved language for a Yes California-backed ballot measure for the 2018 election, clearing the way for signature gathering. It has also earned about $60,000 in donations, Mr. Marinelli said. The measure would ask voters to remove a reference in the state’s Constitution to California as an inseparable part of the United States and set a second vote, for March 2019, that would ask, “Should California become a free, sovereign and independent country?” But backers need to collect 585,407 valid signatures, a daunting task. | The campaign got a new fillip in January when the state attorney general, Xavier Becerra, approved language for a Yes California-backed ballot measure for the 2018 election, clearing the way for signature gathering. It has also earned about $60,000 in donations, Mr. Marinelli said. The measure would ask voters to remove a reference in the state’s Constitution to California as an inseparable part of the United States and set a second vote, for March 2019, that would ask, “Should California become a free, sovereign and independent country?” But backers need to collect 585,407 valid signatures, a daunting task. |
| David A. Carrillo, the director of the California Constitution Center at the University of California, Berkeley, is not among the supporters. “California seceding is so unlikely to happen it’s a waste of our time even to discuss it,” Mr. Carrillo said in a telephone interview. “Even if the state could secede, it’s a terrible idea.” | David A. Carrillo, the director of the California Constitution Center at the University of California, Berkeley, is not among the supporters. “California seceding is so unlikely to happen it’s a waste of our time even to discuss it,” Mr. Carrillo said in a telephone interview. “Even if the state could secede, it’s a terrible idea.” |
| In the United States Constitution, Mr. Carrillo said, “there is no procedure for allowing states to leave, and if you want a practical example, there is the Civil War.” | |
| Still, Mr. Marinelli said he believed the support was there. | Still, Mr. Marinelli said he believed the support was there. |
| A former Republican turned liberal political activist, he said he turned to teaching English in Russia to pay the bills and because his wife is Russian. They met during an earlier teaching stint, and he said he intended to return to California when his contract expires in June. | A former Republican turned liberal political activist, he said he turned to teaching English in Russia to pay the bills and because his wife is Russian. They met during an earlier teaching stint, and he said he intended to return to California when his contract expires in June. |
| He co-founded the California secession movement in 2014 in San Diego, flirting first with the name Cal-Leave-Fornia before settling on Calexit, after the successful “Brexit” campaign for Britain to leave the European Union. | He co-founded the California secession movement in 2014 in San Diego, flirting first with the name Cal-Leave-Fornia before settling on Calexit, after the successful “Brexit” campaign for Britain to leave the European Union. |
| While no indications exist of a direct Russian government hand in Mr. Marinelli’s organization, a group that is nominally independent but nonetheless state financed, and supports only causes that dovetail with the Kremlin’s foreign policy, paid for a hotel room in Moscow during a congress of secessionist groups from around the world in September 2016. These included the Texas Nationalist Movement, backers of Puerto Rican independence and a group wanting to restore the Hawaiian monarchy. A Russian group, known as the Anti-Globalization Movement, which like Mr. Marinelli advocates the breakup of the United States, also offered him office space in Moscow to open an “embassy” of California in Russia, and Mr. Marinelli accepted. | While no indications exist of a direct Russian government hand in Mr. Marinelli’s organization, a group that is nominally independent but nonetheless state financed, and supports only causes that dovetail with the Kremlin’s foreign policy, paid for a hotel room in Moscow during a congress of secessionist groups from around the world in September 2016. These included the Texas Nationalist Movement, backers of Puerto Rican independence and a group wanting to restore the Hawaiian monarchy. A Russian group, known as the Anti-Globalization Movement, which like Mr. Marinelli advocates the breakup of the United States, also offered him office space in Moscow to open an “embassy” of California in Russia, and Mr. Marinelli accepted. |
| He described it as largely a cultural center, where he will promote what he refers to as liberal Californian values like marriage equality and an easing of immigration policy. | He described it as largely a cultural center, where he will promote what he refers to as liberal Californian values like marriage equality and an easing of immigration policy. |
| “A lot of misinformation goes out about us, such as I know President Vladimir Putin or work in the Kremlin,” Mr. Marinelli said. “It’s kind of funny, because if we had secret Russian support, we wouldn’t be open. I live in Russia. I would have to hide that, not promote it. We have nothing to hide. We’re doing some good work here. We’re going to continue to do that.” | “A lot of misinformation goes out about us, such as I know President Vladimir Putin or work in the Kremlin,” Mr. Marinelli said. “It’s kind of funny, because if we had secret Russian support, we wouldn’t be open. I live in Russia. I would have to hide that, not promote it. We have nothing to hide. We’re doing some good work here. We’re going to continue to do that.” |
| Working from his Russian apartment, Mr. Marinelli is busy now coordinating the signature drive. He believes the most fruitful opportunities to enlist support in California will be found where opponents of Mr. Trump are thickest, such as outside organic grocery stores or farmers’ markets. | Working from his Russian apartment, Mr. Marinelli is busy now coordinating the signature drive. He believes the most fruitful opportunities to enlist support in California will be found where opponents of Mr. Trump are thickest, such as outside organic grocery stores or farmers’ markets. |
| “We still have progress to be made on women’s rights and equality, and L.G.B.T. rights, and the justice reform we have been fighting for,” Mr. Marinelli said. Breaking up the United States is the solution, he said. “I feel like achieving this would be like killing seven or eight birds with one stone. As an independent country, we could do these things.” | “We still have progress to be made on women’s rights and equality, and L.G.B.T. rights, and the justice reform we have been fighting for,” Mr. Marinelli said. Breaking up the United States is the solution, he said. “I feel like achieving this would be like killing seven or eight birds with one stone. As an independent country, we could do these things.” |
| He also wants to prohibit outside meddling in California politics with a rule banning out-of-state campaign donations — something courts have previously struck down on free-speech grounds — though presumably no ban on foreign-based organizing. “The people of California alone should determine their own future,” he said. | He also wants to prohibit outside meddling in California politics with a rule banning out-of-state campaign donations — something courts have previously struck down on free-speech grounds — though presumably no ban on foreign-based organizing. “The people of California alone should determine their own future,” he said. |