'Calexit' Proposal Withdrawn, Blames Media Coverage

The man who launched an initiative to split California from the United States has withdrawn his proposal, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Marcus Ruiz Evans, who began collecting signatures for the initiative three months ago, sent an email Monday to the secretary of state asking to cancel the proposal.

The initiative would've asked voters in November to call a special election in March 2019 – when they would be asked to vote on formal secession.

"The biggest obstacle to Calexit is having a professional grass roots administration," Evans told the Times in an email, adding he hopes to revive the issue with a new organization.

The Times reported Evans launched the effort shortly after the election of President Donald Trump, and by December, former San Diego resident Louis Marinelli opened what he called a California embassy in Moscow.

He blamed the initiative's failure on media coverage that "simultaneously sensationalized, exaggerated, and dramatized information about our campaign and particularly about myself in an effort to delegitimize our effort and demoralize our supporters," the Times reported.

"The truth is Calexit, like any campaign, is entirely possible with the right amount of public support," he told the Times. "With the right amount of public support, anything can be accomplished regardless of legal or constitutional barriers."

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