Gas, crime and California's clout

From: POLITICO California Playbook - Wednesday Mar 09,2022 02:23 pm

Mar 09, 2022

By Jeremy B. White, Chris Ramirez, Juhi Doshi and Graph Massara

THE BUZZ — ALL THE HITS: Gov. Gavin Newsom used his State of the State speech to once again trumpet California exceptionalism while promising progress on pressing concerns like crime and gas prices.

The Democratic governor offered a familiar vision of a progressive state that’s a model for the nation, seeking to cut through pervasive popular pessimism. But he also vowed help for problems that are at the forefront of voters’ minds. Here are five takeaways:

Gov. Gavin Newsom gives his State of the State address.

Gov. Gavin Newsom gives his State of the State address. | AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

1. GASSED: Newsom’s sole new proposal was a rebate offsetting fuel costs, offering some relief as prices hit $5 a gallon and a Russian gas ban threatens to exacerbate the pain. The rebate idea builds on Newsom’s ongoing push to suspend a planned increase in the gas tax, which has met resistance from both Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins. After Newsom’s speech, the leaders signaled they like the new idea better, promoting an outlay from the overflowing general fund over “a small cut to the gas tax that might not get passed on to consumers.” Newsom also rejected ramping up domestic oil production, touting California policies having “created this market” for electric vehicles.

2. CRIME CONCERNS: Newsom invoked his political idol Robert Kennedy in saying public safety is paramount, arguing “the health of a society depends on the ability of people to walk their own streets in safety.” He said California will not revert to the “heavy-handed” approaches of a more carceral era, but he conceded the primacy of crime fears — with a majority of voters now saying Newsom is handling the issue poorly — in touting efforts to combat retail theft and gun violence.

3. CALIFORNIA CLOUT: The governor made sure to get in his requisite favorable comparisons to other states. On the coronavirus, he argued that “our lockdowns, distressing as they were, saved lives,” with California’s death rate sitting below that of other large states — and made sure to name-check eternal rivals Florida and Texas. He talked up the state’s “unmatched” economy. The speech’s education portion swiped at red states, “where they’re banning books, where you can sue your history teacher for teaching history, and where you can’t say the word ‘gay.’”

4. DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Newsom echoed a theme of last weekend’s California Democratic Party convention in warning of democratic backsliding both abroad and at home. “California does democracy like nowhere else in the world,” Newsom said, but “we cannot take our democracy for granted.” He condemned “powerful forces and loud voices stoking fear and seeking to divide us, weakening the institutions of our democracy.”

5. LEGISLATURE’S LAMENT: It also was not lost on some lawmakers that, a year after choosing the backdrop of an empty Dodgers Stadium, Newsom once again eschewed the traditional SOTS location of Assembly chambers. This time he skipped the statehouse for a state agency building instead. It left some lawmakers feeling slighted. “Legislators like myself just don't understand the rationale of having the State of the State indoors, in a small room, just blocks from the Capitol,” a Democratic state lawmaker told POLITICO. “Does the governor not want to be seen as co-governing with us?”

BUENOS DÍAS, good Wednesday morning. California’s coronavirus rate dipped below 2 percent yesterday for the first time in months, the latest sign that the omicron surge is receding as we enter the final days of a statewide school mask mandate.

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

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “People have always looked to California for inspiration, and now, in the midst of so much turmoil — with stacking stresses and dramatic social and economic change — California is doing what we have done for generations: lighting out the territory ahead of the rest, expanding the horizon of what’s possible.” Newsom’s pitch for the power of California.

TWEET OF THE DAY: S.F. Chronicle politics editor @SaraLibby captures it succinctly: “Newsom’s address in a nutshell: California has problems, but we’re still better than everyone else!”

BONUS TOTD: Republican Assembly leader James Gallagher @J_GallagherAD3 on the speech: “I missed the part where he talked about the State of the State #SOS”

WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

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Top Talkers

GRIM — “Left Alone in Their Rooms: Death and dysfunction in Vallejo’s COVID housing for the homeless,” by the Vallejo Sun’s Scott Morris: “Family members of those who died and former Project RoomKey residents in Vallejo described neglect by program staff. They say that conditions at the hotels under Project RoomKey were filthy, with trash piled outside of doors and feces left in the halls for days.”

— “A poisonous legacy of racism and pollution still haunts this L.A.-area flood channel ,” by the LA Times’ Louis Sahagún: “The toxic spill that plunged thousands of Los Angeles County residents into misery late last year was scarcely unique. … It was just the latest in a long string of environmental disasters that have plagued the 15-mile Dominguez Channel.”

— “ A Politically Savvy Prosecutor Is Tanking Orange County’s Justice System Through Racism, Ego, And Retaliation, Insiders Say,” by BuzzFeed’s Salvador Hernandez: “The district attorney for Orange County, California, Todd Spitzer, is facing a growing list of lawsuits and accusations of racism.”

HAMASAKI’S HAD ENOUGH — “ S.F. Police Commissioner John Hamasaki, a fierce critic of law enforcement, will step down next month,” by the SF Chronicle’s Megan Cassidy: “The announcement came in a series of tweets Hamasaki posted Monday afternoon, after a jury found San Francisco Police Officer Terrance Stangel not guilty in a baton-beating case.”

CLAPPING BACK — “ London Breed-Chesa Boudin spat in San Francisco takes a strange turn,” by SFGATE’s Eric Ting: “Boudin said that Breed's criticisms are driven by a desire to appoint his successor if he is recalled, as well as finding a scapegoat for San Francisco crime.”

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CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR

— “California mask mandate: Is it ending too soon for little children?” by CalMatters’ Elizabeth Aguilera: “While wearing masks is still strongly recommended, some medical experts worry removing the state mask mandate could be risky for tots.”

— “One California University Has Unified Town and Gown to Fight Covid. Why Haven’t Others?” by Mark Kreidler for California Healthline: “Davis has a population of about 70,000, with an additional 15,000 people living on campus, yet through a joint city-university effort, it has administered more than 740,000 tests.”

THAT DIDN’T TAKE LONG — “Effort to repeal Proposition 47 crime law fails in committee at Capitol,” by KCRA’s Mike TeSelle: “A group of state and local lawmakers, law enforcement officers and crime victims advocates stood on the steps of the State Capitol Tuesday to begin an effort to repeal the impacts of the voter-approved Proposition 47 in 2014. By the end of the day, that effort had stalled in the California Assembly.”

OCCUPY SEIU? — “ California union files for restraining order to remove suspended president from headquarters,” by the Sac Bee’s Wes Venteicher: “A union official asked a judge for a temporary restraining order Tuesday to try to remove SEIU Local 1000 president Richard Louis Brown and a small group of his supporters from the organization’s Sacramento headquarters, where they have been holed up since Saturday.”

— “ Some L.A. schools face uncertain futures as student enrollment declines dramatically,” by the LA Times’ Melissa Gomez: “With state funding based on the number of students in the classroom, districts across California are bracing for the effect of declining enrollment.”

— “ Lawmakers must move quickly to prevent UC Berkeley enrollment cuts, university says,” by the Sac Bee’s Andrew Sheeler: “Prospective university students are looking to make a decision on where they will attend in the fall.”

TAKE A SLICE — “ By carving out projects from California environmental law, the state has created ‘Swiss cheese CEQA,’” by the SF Chronicle’s Dustin Gardiner: “In recent years, California lawmakers have added a plethora of amendments to blunt the impact of state-required environmental reviews on housing production and other construction by adding exceptions to prevent those projects from becoming entangled in drawn-out legal battles.”

— “Longtime California state union president resigns, citing anti-incumbent attitude,” by the Sac Bee’s Wes Venteicher.

SILICON VALLEYLAND

AV FATALITY — “‘I’m the Operator’: The Aftermath of a Self-Driving Tragedy,” by Lauren Smiley for Wired.

— “Tens of thousands of Russian gig workers left behind as tech platforms pull out,” by WaPo’s Nitasha Tiku and Gerrit De Vynck: “Russian video game streamers on Twitch, gig workers on Upwork, adult-content creators on OnlyFans and computer programmers working on contract have all lost their livelihoods, at least temporarily.”

MEDIA MATTERS

— “Vox Media Poaches Another NPR Host, Sam Sanders, for New Podcast at Vulture - Bloomberg,” by Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman.

— “New York Times pulls journalists from Russia amid media crackdown,” by WaPo’s Jeremy Barr.

MIXTAPE

— “Is an international crime operation targeting the Bay Area’s wealthiest cities with ‘burglary tourism’?” by the SF Chronicle’s Rachel Swan.

— “San Jose: Pedestrian dies after earlier collision; grim traffic year continues,” by the Mercury News’ Robert Salonga.

— “ When will gas prices return to normal? Here’s what experts are saying,” by the SF Chronicle’s Jessica Flores.

— “Climate change, nuclear war occupy Jerry Brown in retirement, ” by the AP’s Kathleen Ronayne.

— “Bay Area tech company says an employee and her 2 children killed in Ukraine,” by the SF Chronicle’s Ryce Stoughtenborough.

IN MEMORIAM

— “Gary Hoff, Long-Time Fresno County Judge and Mentor, Dies at 73,” by GVWire’s David Taub.

Transitions

— Paul Rosen has been nominated to be assistant secretary for investment security in the office of international affairs at the Treasury Department. He currently is a partner at Crowell & Moring LLP, where he co-chairs the firm’s national security practice and works as a cybersecurity and government investigations lawyer.

BIRTHDAYS

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