Nunes ousts Nunes

From: POLITICO California Playbook - Tuesday Dec 07,2021 02:16 pm

Dec 07, 2021

By Jeremy B. White, Isabella Bloom and Graph Massara

THE BUZZ — WHAT’S NEXT FOR NUNES: Rep. Devin Nunes has accomplished on his own terms — with an assist from a former president — what millions of dollars and years of Democratic fervor could not: getting Devin Nunes out of Congress.

News that the Central Valley Republican would resign at the end of the year and not seek another term jolted California’s political landscape on Monday. Few Republicans have attracted as much enmity from the left as Nunes, a stalwart ally of former President Donald Trump whose unstinting loyalty fueled well-funded campaign challenges. They shared a worldview and an animosity toward the media.

Surging anti-Nunes enthusiasm over the last few cycles was not sufficient to dislodge him. Nunes demonstrated his staying power in a solidly red district by handily beating back Democratic challengers. It was a demonstration of his enduring popularity on the right — as were his brimming campaign accounts, which contained around $12 million as of September.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) testifies in Congress.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) testifies in Congress. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

But redistricting altered the equation. A draft map would place Nunes in a much more challenging district. That’s not cemented yet, as final drafts are set to drop later this month. But because House members don’t have to live in the districts they represent, many Valley politicos believed Nunes would simply shift to running in a friendlier district.

So much for that. Nunes said in a letter to constituents that he was departing at the end of this year to pursue “a new opportunity to fight for the most important issues I believe in.” But any mystery about that alluring opportunity evaporated when we learned Nunes would become CEO of Trump’s fledgling Trump Media & Technology Group (related to a company now facing an SEC investigation). It’s a fitting landing spot for a politician whose public identity in the past years has become so tightly entwined with the former president.

WHAT’S NEXT? Special election time! Voters in Nunes’ current district will choose a replacement for the balance of his term. Then voters in a to-be-released new district — presumably some, though not all, of whom are Nunes’ current constituents — will elect a Congress member in November. It’s hard to assess what an incumbent advantage would mean in that fluid context. Multiple state lawmakers winked at potential runs but said they’re waiting on new district lines and GOP state Sen. Andreas Borgeas could get in; GVWire has a list of contenders.

BUENOS DÍAS, good Tuesday morning. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is visiting the San Ysidro port of entry and then meeting with San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria today. And after presiding over another recall reform hearing on Monday, Assemblymember Marc Berman will tackle the same subject at an American Constitution Society event tonight.

Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit jwhite@politico.com or follow me on Twitter @jeremybwhite.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “What I want is there to be a living wage in California, and we need to encode in law that’s going to increase with inflation every year thereafter. If the Legislature and governor pass that into law, that’s great. If not, we’ll take that before voters.” Affluent progressive activist Joe Sanberg says he’s determined to get an $18-and-up minimum wage into law — more below.

TWEET OF THE DAY: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy @GOPLeader on Nunes’ departure: “Devin Nunes is an American patriot and his service in Congress will be remembered by his singular goal of the search for truth. Every step of the way, he was proven right. Devin’s departure leaves a gaping hole in this institution but his dedication to our country will persist.”

BONUS TOTD: The California Democratic Party @CA_Dem: “Devin Nunes has long been an embarrassment to California. It’s only fitting that he now leaves Congress to debase himself even further to Donald Trump. We look forward to supporting a candidate in CA-22 who will actually work for the people.”

WHERE’S GAVIN? In New York, promoting his book, “Ben and Emma’s Big Hit ,” which tells a semi-autobiographical story of a kid overcoming dyslexia and comes out today. Prior trips to Mexico and Nevada have had Newsom out of state for part or all of 10 of the last 15 days.

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TOP TALKERS

WHAT’S IN A WORD — Democrats fall flat with ‘Latinx’ language, by POLITICO’s Marc Caputo and Sabrina Rodriguez: As Democrats seek to reach out to Latino voters in a more gender-neutral way, they’ve increasingly begun using the word Latinx, a term that first began to get traction among academics and activists on the left. … More problematic for Democrats: 40 percent said Latinx bothers or offends them to some degree and 30 percent said they would be less likely to support a politician or organization that uses the term.

CAMPUS ‘CHAOS’ — “ Understaffed. Burned out. Teachers at Sacramento high school injured breaking up fights,” by The Sac Bee’s Sawsan Morrar: “It’s unclear what caused the fights that have plagued the school since the start of the school year, but several teachers said the pandemic has likely caused stress and tension among students.”

PARKLET PERIL — “ S.F. made parklets permanent — but added so many rules that many restaurants plan to tear them down,” by the SF Chronicle’s Janelle Bitker: “Though the Board of Supervisors voted in July to make parklets permanent, the city also imposed new rules and regulations that may force many restaurants to tear their outdoor dining structures down.”

— “ From maggots to sex abuse, nursing homes sue California to overturn citations, fines,” by Barbara Feder Ostrov for CalMatters: “California nursing homes have filed more than 400 lawsuits since 2016 to appeal state citations and fines alleging poor patient care. Regulators downgraded nearly a third of sanctions involving a death. Advocates say the appeals system favors nursing homes.”

CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR

RECALL — “Lawmakers mull a threshold for California recalls,” by POLITICO’s Jeremy B. White: State lawmakers met Monday as they consider whether to ask voters to impose a reason beyond political disagreement for triggering such elections. There are two key questions: the standard itself, and who oversees it.

UNION FOOTHOLD — "UC avoided one big strike, but more are in the works at California colleges. Here’s why," by The Sac Bee's Jeong Park: "Union membership has been decreasing for the last few decades, both in California and the country. But higher education has been among the few bright spots for the organized labor movement. Between 2013 and 2019, more than 60,000 faculty, researchers and graduate students in higher education became a part of a union nationwide, according to the Hunter College center’s analysis."

EDUCATION — " Loophole allows California school districts to shield what they pay teachers, administrators," by the East Bay Times' Jason Henry: "'If we can't access that information, we can't keep them accountable. We saw the consequences in the city of Bell,' says a state lawmaker."

NEW YEAR, NEW LAWS — “Here are 22 new laws Californians must start following in 2022 ,” by the SF Chronicle’s Alexei Koseff: “Many of them take effect on Jan. 1, changing the rules on everything from how we vote to whether you can order a margarita with your Mexican takeout.”

WATER AND MILK — “California Dairy Farmers Struggle to Stay in the ‘Got Milk’ State,” by The Wall Street Journal’s Jesse Newman: “Dairy farmers in California, the nation’s top milk producer, face pressure from rising costs, increasingly complex environmental regulations and a quest for water—challenges all magnified by a historic drought. For some, the challenges are existential.”

INFLATION — "California Democrats say they can help lower prices for the holidays. Can they?" by The Sac Bee's David Lightman: "The backup at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which handle 40% of the nation’s imports, persist. The disruptions have helped create gaps in supplies of a range of consumer products. And the growing economy, and increased demand, helped push the annual increase in consumer prices to a 31-year high last month. There is very little Congress can do before Christmas to ease the situation, experts said."

Q&A — “ Are the Bay Area’s car-free downtown streets, expanded outdoor dining here to stay?” by The Mercury News’ Maggie Angst: “Finding new ways to activate public spaces, such as the scattered use of parklets, has been a hot topic for years — even before the COVID-19 pandemic. But the lockdowns, which led to severely diminished vehicle traffic, allowed cities to quickly implement these initiatives.”

— “ Report finds California death penalty system ‘beyond repair,’ but changes are hard to come by,” by the SF Chronicle’s Bob Egelko: “Short of abolition, which would require voter approval, the committee recommends lowering the number of condemned prisoners, now 697, by removing mentally disabled inmates from Death Row and encouraging Attorney General Rob Bonta and county district attorneys to reduce death sentences to life terms in appropriate cases.”

INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY — “Half Moon Bay's 'Big Wave' Community Welcomes Adults With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities,” by KQED’s Polly Stryker: “The idea is to provide a place where their adult children and other residents who join will soon be able to live independently, in a community of their peers.”

GRIM STORY — “ A heartbreaking tale of madness and death on a quiet Santa Rosa street,” by the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat’s Lori A. Carter: “On a cool, clear evening in March, a woman flagged down a Santa Rosa police officer near the main station. … ‘I think I found a skull in my bushes,’ she said.“

— OP-ED: “Can We Help the Homeless?” opines Jay Caspian Kang in NYT.

CAMPAIGN MODE

FIGHT FOR $18? — California minimum wage would rise to $18 per hour under 2022 ballot initiative, by POLITICO’s Jeremy B. White: As with California’s ongoing minimum wage increases, Sanberg’s measure would have the minimum wage rise by a dollar an hour every year, with smaller firms seeing a slower phase-in than companies with 26 or more employees.

SHERIFF SHUFFLE — Monday’s California Playbook noted that longtime law enforcement official Art Acevedo might challenge Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva. What we missed: Acevedo decided not to join that teeming field in a last minute change of heart, the LA Times reported.

ENDORSEMENTS: Retiring Rep. Jackie Speier has endorsed former aide and Assemblymember Kevin Mullin to succeed her in Congress … activist Dolores Huerta has backed Rep. Karen Bass to be the next mayor of Los Angeles.

SILICON VALLEYLAND

— “Inside Tesla as Elon Musk Pushed an Unflinching Vision for Self-Driving Cars,” by The NYT’s Cade Metz and Neal E. Boudette: “Unlike technologists at almost every other company working on self-driving vehicles, Mr. Musk insisted that autonomy could be achieved solely with cameras tracking their surroundings. But many Tesla engineers questioned whether it was safe enough to rely on cameras without the benefit of other sensing devices — and whether Mr. Musk was promising drivers too much about Autopilot’s capabilities.”

— “ Tesla is replacing faulty Autopilot cameras in some cars, internal documents say,” by CNBC’s Lora Kolodny: “While the company has not yet issued a recall, it has authorized service employees to replace the faulty cameras for eligible Tesla owners on a goodwill basis — that is, on the company’s dime.”

— “How TikTok Reads Your Mind,” by The NYT’s Ben Smith: “It has chosen to optimize for two closely related metrics in the stream of videos it serves: ‘retention’ — that is, whether a user comes back — and ‘time spent.’ The app wants to keep you there as long as possible.”

BIG BROTHER — “The Popular Family Safety App Life360 Is Selling Precise Location Data on Its Tens of Millions of Users,” by The Markup’s Jon Keegan and Alfred Ng.

HOLLYWOODLAND

— “‘Try Harder!’ Review: California Overachievement Test,” by The NYT’s Beandrea July.

MIXTAPE

— “Former head of DWP agrees to plead guilty to bribery charge,” by the LA Times’ Dakota Smith.

SNAPCHAT THREAT — “ Student at Santa Monica High School Removed from Campus After Alleged Threat,” via NBC Los Angeles.

— “28% of L.A. County Metro employees haven’t reported COVID-19 vaccination,” by the LA Times’ Emily Alpert Reyes.

— “ Bagel drama boils over in northeast L.A. over alleged misquote about what makes an ‘authentic’ bagel,” by LA TACO’s Hadley Tomicki.

— “Tolls on seven Bay Area bridges will soon go up. Here’s what you need to know,” by the SF Chronicle’s Gwendolyn Wu.

— “More than $30 million in fake designer goods seized at ports of L.A. and Long Beach,” by the LA Times’ Gregory Yee.

TRANSITIONS

— KQED reporter Katie Orr is leaving journalism for a gig as a senior strategist with Pascal Roth come January.

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