What a surprise! Four years after California voters passed Proposition 12 and due the Golden State’s regulatory burden has chalked up another win for the leftist’s who dominate the state’s politics. Smithfield Foods, who is the world’s largest pork producer, has announced they’re puling out of California by shutting down a Farmer John plant located in Vernon, a suburb of Los Angeles. From the Associated Press:

[Smithfield vice president of corporate affairs Jim] Monroe said operating costs in California are much higher than in other areas of the country, including taxes and the price of water, electricity and natural gas.

“Our utility costs in California are 3 1/2 times higher per head than our other locations where they do the same type of work,” he said.

Obviously, California politicos decided to conduct a harassment and intimidation campaign against Smithfield Foods during the COVID-19 outbreak which was not only the final nail in the plant’s coffin, but also complimented animal rights opponents:

The Vernon plant has been the target of repeated protests by animal rights activists over its treatment of hogs. It also was hard-hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, with some 300 employees exposed to infections in 2020. Several were hospitalized.

California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health fined Smithfield Foods about $60,000 for safety violations that exposed workers to infection.

The company also announced they’re reducing operations in Utah and Arizona in which both states enacted similar measures to Proposition 12. There is a time when gold can lose its luster, and now 1800 people will be unemployed and their lives ruined thanks to California’s leftist mafia machine.