Sirhan stays behind bars

From: POLITICO California Playbook - Friday Jan 14,2022 02:24 pm

Jan 14, 2022

By Jeremy B. White, Graph Massara and Chris Ramirez

THE BUZZ — A WEIGHTY CHOICE: Not many people decide the fate of their hero’s killer. Gov. Gavin Newsom just did.

Sirhan Sirhan will not be paroled, half a century after he shot down Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles and remapped the course of history. A parole board had recommended his release last year, citing new laws that required them to consider Sirhan’s current health and past youth. That put the ultimate decision in Newsom’s hands, who on Thursday blocked Sirhan’s release. He asserted Sirhan would still endanger public safety because he had not accepted responsibility or renounced violence. Newsom said in a statement that Sirhan had failed to “address the deficiencies that led him to assassinate Senator Kennedy” and “lacks the insight that would prevent him from making the same types of dangerous decisions.”

Sirhan Sirhan in 2016.

Sirhan Sirhan in 2016. | AP Photo/Gregory Bull

The Democratic governor’s reverence for RFK is well known. Newsom keeps several images of Kennedy in his horseshoe and home offices, including an image of RFK with his late father that Newsom called “precious to me,” and another of RFK’s funeral procession. He talked last year about being inundated with messages from people who were reliving the trauma of Kennedy’s assassination, acknowledging the case’s visceral resonance for many people.

Newsom telegraphed his decision a day earlier by noting he was standing with RFK’s survivors. While some of Kennedy’s surviving kin have backed Sirhan’s release, a greater number coalesced against it. “The overwhelming majority of the Shriver and Kennedy family members are opposed to Mr. Sirhan’s release,” the governor said on Wednesday.

It was a different story for the dozens of other people who received clemency or commutations. Newsom pardoned eight people who face deportation due to their criminal records, and he commuted the sentence of San Quentin podcast ‘Ear Hustle’ co-host Rahsaan “New York” Thomas.

In the LA Times, Newsom detailed why he rejected Sirhan’s parole: “The most glaring proof of Sirhan’s deficient insight is his shifting narrative about his assassination of Kennedy, and his current refusal to accept responsibility for it. … Perhaps it is easier for some to accept debunked false claims than confront the difficult truth: Sirhan, one man with a gun, acting alone, inflicted grievous harm to our country. I will not flinch from this truth.”

BUENOS DÍAS, good Friday morning. California Playbook will be off on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday and returning on Tuesday. It’s a good opportunity to re-read his letter From Birmingham Jail, one of the great rhetorical exercises of the 20th century and a piece that still resonates today.

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

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I really thought I was gonna die. I thought I was either gonna get killed by a crazy white supremacist — you know, they’re gonna show up to my house — or I was gonna kill myself. I was really preparing for death.” Black Lives Matter Global Network co-founder Patrisse Cullors tells the LA Times about a turbulent year.

TWEET OF THE DAY: RFK’s daughter @KerryKennedyRFK: “I am deeply grateful to Governor @GavinNewsom for his courageous commitment to justice and am moved by the outpouring of love and support we have received.”

WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

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TOP TALKERS

MONEY MOVES — “California officials secured record private-sector payments during pandemic response,” by POLITICO’s Jeremy B. White: “Facebook led the way by spending some $27 million, followed by Blue Shield of California ($20 million), Sierra Health Foundation ($14.7 million), iHeartMedia ($13.2 million) and the California Community Foundation ($12.6 million). Most of that money flowed to coronavirus response efforts.”

— “After quitting BLM, co-founder Patrisse Cullors is healing: ‘I really thought I was gonna die,’” by the LA Times’ Donovan X. Ramsey: “Cullors had endured threats and criticism for years, but the turning point came in April 2021, when news outlets reported that Cullors had been on a personal ‘million-dollar real estate buying binge.’ She was denounced by the usual critics on the right. But the stories also generated anger from inside the movement, including from family members of people killed by police.”

PIG OUT — “ Has the ‘Great California Bacon Crisis’ arrived? Not yet — but here’s what might happen in the Bay Area,” by the SF Chronicle’s Janelle Bitker: “Proposition 12 went into effect at the start of this year, and it increases the minimum square footage of livestock confinement areas. While the pork industry is most concerned — it argues millions must be spent to retrofit barns — any potential for a shortage isn’t expected until June.”

CAMPAIGN MODE

WELLP: GOP recall contender and former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer is apparently running for California governor in 2022, according to his local TV station, KUSI. It wasn’t the most dramatic rollout we’ve ever seen, and certainly lower-key than last year , but when anchor Paul Rudy introduced Faulconer as “running in the 2022 governor’s race,” the former mayor didn’t so much as flinch.

He was widely expected to attempt a Newsom rematch (despite coming in miles behind radio host Larry Elder in the recall tally) and said he was “absolutely seriously considering it ” as recently as last week. Duane Dichiara, an adviser to Faulconer, told POLITICO’s Kevin Yamamura that Faulconer hasn't actually announced for 2022, so we’ll be keeping an eye out for the real thing.

MOVING ON UP — Kamlager launches campaign for Bass seat, by POLITICO’s Jeremy B. White: “This could continue a swift rise for Kamlager, who won election to the Assembly in 2018 but moved to the Senate last year after winning a special election for the seat Los Angeles Supervisor Holly Mitchell vacated.”

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST — Cunningham will not seek another Assembly term, by POLITICO’s Jeremy B. White: He will join a mass exodus of Assembly incumbents, becoming the 18th assemblymember since the start of 2021 to secure an appointment, make plans to retire or resign, or run for another seat.

— “Palo Alto police chief enters race for Santa Clara County sheriff,” by the San Jose Spotlight’s Eli Wolfe: “Addressing the mental health crisis in the county jail system is one of Jonsen’s campaign platforms. In Palo Alto, he oversaw the recent rollout of a psychiatric emergency response team, which pairs mental health clinicians with officers to respond to mental health distress calls.”

SLIDE TO THE LEFT — “Progressive Working Families Party lands in California, and is targeting moderate Democrats,” by the SF Chronicle’s Joe Garafoli: “This year it is aiming to introduce itself to voters by focusing on a handful of legislative races, even if that means taking on more moderate Democrats in the hope of pulling the larger party further to the left - particularly on health care, criminal justice reform and wealth inequality.”

— Former Trump administration official Ricky Gill has suspended his campaign for Congress.

CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR

AFTER SCHOOL — “Newsom: School years may need to be extended due to Omicron closures,” by POLITICO’s Alex Nieves: “Newsom’s statement is his first public concession that some K-12 schools will likely be forced to temporarily shutter in the coming weeks as Covid cases rapidly increase due to the highly-contagious Omicron variant.”

— “Here's How Much Money LA Parents Are Fundraising For Schools, And What It Buys,” by the LAist’s Kyle Stokes: “In 2018-19, PTAs and booster clubs at LAUSD schools brought in more than $36.9 million in revenues. Compared to LAUSD’s annual $9 billion operating budget, that’s not that much money. But most parent fundraising revenues are concentrated in a relative handful of schools — and in those schools, cash from the PTA or booster club can be game-changing.”

COVID CYCLE — “Has omicron crested in the Bay Area? Sewage samples seem to suggests,” by the SF Chronicle’s Annie Vainshtein

— “Counting Covid: SF Doctors Worry Widely Used Metrics are Misleading in Omicron Surge,” by the SF Standard’s Kevin Truong: “Dr. Jeanne Noble, an associate professor of emergency medicine at UCSF, said about 40% of all Covid patients admitted to the hospital were there for something else. UCSF believes the distinction is important enough to separate out the patients who have been admitted ‘with’ versus ‘for’ Covid in their own internal data dashboard.”

GIMME MORE — “ Newsom’s latest housing fix: More Californians living downtown,” by the LA Times’ Hannah Wiley: “The administration’s goal is to push local governments to plan for and permit millions of new units in areas already ripe for development and use to their advantage current laws that speed up the process.”

— “San Francisco and Alameda County might delay homeless count amid omicron concerns, ” by the SF Chronicle’s Sarah Ravani and Kevin Fagan.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE — “Garcetti questions LAPD discipline for out-of-policy police shootings, orders review,” by the LA Times’ Kevin Rector: “Garcetti said he had ordered the inspector general to assess the issue once more — this time producing a public report that will outline the discipline received by officers found to have broken policy in shootings in recent years, as well as the outcomes of any appeals they made to those punishments.”

— “‘The system took my brother’: family demands answers in LA jail death,” by The Guardian’s Sam Levin: “[Jalani] Lovett’s mother and siblings, who have been fighting for months to get basic information from authorities about what led to his death, are left with major questions about the case.”

HIGHER ED — “Student loan provider wiping out $1.7 billion in debt after California, other states sue,” by the Sac Bee’s Gillian Brassil: “About $11.5 million of the direct restitution and $261 million of the private debt cancellation will be for Californians, according to the California attorney general’s office.”

FREEZE — “California’s EDD freezes 345,000 disability claims to battle fraud,” by the SF Chronicle’s Caroline Said: “The suspended accounts are associated with 27,000 suspicious medical providers, EDD said. It said it is working with regulators and medical provider groups to quickly verify which claims are legitimate, and is contacting all claimants whose accounts were frozen.”

BACKED UP — “Internal Dept. of Building Inspection docs reveal massive backlog,” by Mission Local’s Joe Eskanazi: “The delays noted in the reports are often significant — many of the project plans have been gathering dust since September, October or November.”

INSURANCE — “California sues ‘sharing ministry’ health insurance plan,” by the AP’s Don Thompson: “But the state says Aliera is a for-profit corporation that collected hundreds of millions of dollars in premiums from thousands of Californians and others around the U.S. through unauthorized health plans and insurance sold through Sharity/Trinity.”

BIDEN, HARRIS AND THE HILL

BLOCKED — SCOTUS blocks Biden’s workplace vaccine rule, by POLITICO’s Eleanor Mueller and Josh Gerstein: But the justices ruled that a separate federal policy requiring many health care workers to be vaccinated could move forward.

VOTING RECORD — “Year after Trump impeachment vote, this California town believes their Republican congressman ‘stabbed us all in the back,’” by the Mercury News’ Julia Prodis Sulek: “For Valadao, vilification over the vote — and a redrawn congressional district that cuts out some of his conservative base and adds more Democratic voters — has left him in a political no man’s land. On the nation’s political map, the backlash in California’s cattle country could also cost the GOP a precious seat as Republicans hope to flip the Democrat-controlled House during the November midterm elections.”

— “ The nation’s immigration court system is a mess. Rep. Lofgren is teeing up an effort to overhaul it,” by the SF Chronicle’s Tal Kopan: “Lofgren, a San Jose Democrat, chairs the immigration subcommittee of the House judiciary panel and is a longtime leader on immigration policy in Washington. She has been working on legislation that would make the nation’s immigration courts an independent system.”

SILICON VALLEYLAND

SIGNING IN — “January 6 committee subpoenas Google, Facebook, Twitter and Reddit in probe of Capitol attack,” by CNBC’s Kevin Brueniger and Lauren Feiner: “The committee again demanded that Google parent company Alphabet, Twitter, Reddit and Meta — formerly known as Facebook — hand over a slew of records related to domestic terrorism, the spread of misinformation and efforts to influence or overturn the 2020 election.”

HOLLYWOODLAND

HEARTLESS — “Ye, a.k.a. Kanye West, under investigation after being accused of punching fan,” by the LA Times’ Richard Winton: “The incident is considered a misdemeanor battery, which carries a maximum jail sentence of six months in jail, authorities said. Any investigation results will be reviewed by the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.”

CARRY ON — “The man suing Nirvana on child-pornography charges is pressing forward with lawsuit,” by the LA Times’ Nardine Saad: “ It was reopened and amended Wednesday when the California resident filed a second amended complaint that alleged that the 1991 album’s cover art, which features him in a swimming pool with his genitalia showing, was taken and used without his consent.”

CANNABIS COUNTRY

IN PROGRESS … “California was supposed to clear cannabis convictions. Tens of thousands are still languishing,” by the LA Times’ Kiera Feldman: “At least 34,000 marijuana records still have not been fully processed by the courts, according to an analysis of data provided by court officials throughout the state. The number was more than twice that in August, before The Times began questioning the slow processing times.”

MIXTAPE

ONE GIANT LEAP — “Virgin Orbit successfully launches 7 satellites into orbit,” by the AP’s John Antczak.

— “ How Sacramento mayors Darrell Steinberg and Kevin Johnson raised money for their pet projects,” by the Sac Bee’s Lara Korte.

PAY UP — “New Taxes Boost SF Budget as Pandemic Pain Continues,” by the SF Standard’s Kevin Truong.

— “ Here’s the reason for the S.F. Bay Area’s poor air quality right now,” by the SF Chronicle’ Jessica Flores.

— “L.A. City Council will consider renaming a street in singer Vicente Fernández’s honor,” by the LA Times’ Christie D’Zurilla.

— “California Academy of Sciences debuts new outdoor play space connecting kids to nature,” by the SF Chronicle’s Ryce Stoughtenborough.

WHAT’S THAT SMELL — “LA County Seeks Civil Penalties Over Foul Stench In Dominguez Channel, Lawsuit Names 10 Defendants,” by the CBSLA Staff

IN MEMORIAM

— “Libby Cater, women’s liberation leader and ACT board member, dies in Marin County at 96,” by the SF Chronicle’s Sam Whiting: “Cater’s time in the Bay Area lasted several decades, in separate stints, but she made the most of it. First settling in a big brick house in Pacific Heights, her first new friend was her neighbor, Chronicle columnist Herb Caen.”

BIRTHDAYS

Amanda Callanan of the Claremont Institute … Michael L. Tuchin … Andrew Baris

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