A San Bruno man has pleaded guilty to impersonating the former spokesman and senior advisor for Recall Newsom 2020, an organization that led the unsuccessful effort to remove California Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021.
Henry Kuhn, 37, reached a plea deal with the Riverside County District Attorney that allowed him to avoid jail but was sentenced to two years probation and a $300 fine May 30 for one felony count of impersonating spokesman Randy Economy.
The punishment seemed like a slap on the wrist after a series of death threats and racist messages created chaos and fear during the recall campaign, according to his victim.
“That really angered me because of all the mayhem he caused to me in my life and other lives,” Economy told The Epoch Times. “These people are all victims to this guy, and he only got one felony count.”
Requests for comment from Kuhn and his attorney were not returned by press time, but reports obtained by The Epoch Times detailed the events of the case.
In the notes, Kuhn threatened to kill the officials and sexually assault their spouses and children, as well as cancel the recall effort. He also used the n-word, a racial slur, and made violent threats.
Kuhn, who has autism and lives with his parents on permanent disability, admitted targeting popular Republicans because he was “sick and tired” of negative speech about Democrats, according to investigators.
Among those who received messages were radio talk-show host Larry Elder, who was running to replace Newsom; then-Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, now a congressman; conservative activist Laura Loomer; and conservative social media influencer Terrence K. Williams.
Kuhn targeted Williams because he was a Trump supporter and makes fun of Democrats, he told investigators. Using website “contact” pages, Kuhn sent emails laced with the n-word to Williams and entered Economy’s name and email, because he didn’t want to be caught, he told detectives.
In response, Williams posted the message on his Instagram page and doxed Economy by publicly posting the spokesman’s name, phone number, and email address with the message.
Economy was quietly sitting at home in Cathedral City, a desert town near Palm Springs, when his phone lit up with death threats, he said.
“One night, I was at home and started getting all these text messages, saying ‘I’m going to kill you,’” Economy told The Epoch Times. “I thought, what’s going on here? That’s when somebody sent me a copy of the Instagram post.”
His world began collapsing around him, he said, and he spent the next 24 hours trying to reach Williams and his agent to take down the message, which he reluctantly did. By then, thousands of followers had read it and responded.
“I’ve been in politics since I was a child, and I’ve never seen anything this vicious,” Economy said. “[Kuhn’s message] was so brutally racist.”
Investigation Leads to Charge
The Riverside County District Attorney’s office filed only one charge of impersonation against Kuhn because that’s what the evidence warranted, a spokesman for District Attorney Mike Hestrin told The Epoch Times.“The resolution proposed by the DA’s Office, and accepted by the defendant, holds the defendant accountable for his actions, while taking into consideration his circumstances and setting probationary condition that are most likely to prevent him from engaging in similar conduct in the future,” spokesman John Hall said in an emailed statement.
Attorney Eric Early, a Republican candidate running for retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat, worked with Economy on the recall campaign and filed a report for him with the District Attorney’s office.
“You always have to be prepared for everything in this day and age, but it was very unfortunate, and it was terrible, how this guy really abused Randy Economy,” Early said. “As far as I’m concerned, the criminal should be doing time behind bars, but that’s not what happened.”
Kuhn also sent an email threatening Florida-based political activist and congressional candidate Loomer in March 2020. He told an investigator he used an email address associated with a Portland Antifa group to send the message to Loomer, because she was a conservative and the “most banned woman in social media.”
Loomer, who said she felt threatened and wanted to press charges, reported the threat to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, but never received a response, she told Riverside County investigators.
When detectives asked Kuhn about his message to Elder, he told them he found the gubernatorial candidate’s information in a social media post written by CNN correspondent Brian Stelter on Twitter, according to the district attorney’s reports.
Kuhn also targeted another victim, Kiley, because he supported Newsom’s recall, he told law enforcement. The message to Kiley was sent using the state Legislature’s website and was intercepted by Capitol law enforcement.
The system captures contact information and the IP address, which identifies the computer and address of the person sending the email. This led the California Highway Patrol investigator to an address in San Bruno, a suburb of San Francisco, where they located Kuhn.
Kuhn’s family members were shocked when investigators arrived at their San Bruno home looking for the computer, according to a report by Riverside County district attorney. They explained that Kuhn had other mental disabilities besides autism.
Recall Attracts Attention
Recall supporters had often expressed frustration over Newsom’s COVID-19 lockdown policies and business closures during the pandemic. They accused the governor of flouting his own rules by attending a maskless dinner at the upscale French Laundry restaurant in the state’s wine country north of Napa with friends and lobbyists, while refusing to allow the public to eat at restaurants or visit their dying relatives.Newsom easily survived the recall effort, with 62 percent of voters electing not to approve the recall.
Organizers expected conflict as emotions ran high. Even so, Orrin Heatlie, who led the recall effort, said Kuhn’s messages were fairly frightening.
“I didn’t have any security or a security entourage following me around like politicians do,” Heatlie told The Epoch Times.
During the campaign, two carloads of students showed up at his house in the middle of the night screaming. Another protestor vandalized one of the campaign signs and booby-trapped the road leading to it using nail-spiked boards, Heatlie said.
“It’s a very emotional subject for a lot of people, and some people express themselves differently than others,” Heatlie said.
Economy said he thought he would be killed and still feels unsafe after Kuhn was given probation.
“It’s very haunting,” Economy said about Kuhn’s testimony. “He talks directly about why he wanted to hurt me and what he wanted to do to me. That’s kind of frightening that there’s somebody out there and wants to hurt you so bad.”
The judge presiding over the case, Judge Gary Polk, was appointed by Newsom in October 2022.
“I believe that judge should have recused himself,” Economy said.
Following the ordeal, Economy ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the California Board of Equalization. He said he is considering filing a lawsuit against Kuhn for restitution.
