London Breed’s moment

From: POLITICO California Playbook - Wednesday Jul 20,2022 01:15 pm

Jul 20, 2022

By Jeremy B. White , Lara Korte and Sakura Cannestra

Presented by Charge Ahead California Coalition

THE BUZZ: SF Mayor London Breed is at the peak of her influence.

Few mayors reshape city governance to the extent Breed has with San Francisco, a city-county that already invests extraordinary power in its mayors. A partial list: She has now appointed a city attorney, a supervisor, three school board members and a district attorney — the latter four to replace recalled officials. She’s been in position to do so after surmounting left opponents’ repeated attempts to block her from the mayor’s office.

Breed has redrawn the contours of authority at a time of profound public discontent. She most famously channeled that restiveness with her December speech decrying the “bullshit” and the “reign of criminals who are destroying” her native city. She sided with public sentiment in backing school board recalls fueled by public fury over closed classrooms. And while she never publicly took a side in the election that led to progressive former SF District attorney Chesa Boudin’s ouster, she left little doubt of how she felt about him. She underlined that message by appointing recall champion Brooke Jenkins to Boudin’s old job.

About that speech: Conservative pundits fundamentally misread it as a progressive mayor rejecting a woke agenda. The Breed who spoke that day is the same person who, after growing up around violence, has always emphasized public safety and bristled at white progressives dictating the terms of criminal justice. Her clashes with Boudin grew out of those convictions.

In the viciously internecine Democratic arena of San Francisco politics, Breed has repeatedly been at odds with a progressive-majority board. Over housing . Over police surveillance . Over appointees and appointment powers . Over whether to move Breed’s re-election back a year, to 2024, which to proponents would merely boost turnout and to the mayor represented “a group of democratic socialists” vying for “more control and power of being able to get their people elected.”

Progressives look at Breed and see a depressingly familiar type: the latest “city family” centrist, descended from a line that includes former mayors Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom , who kowtows to business interests while similarly failing to allay intractable issues like homelessness and the ever-expanding wealth gap that feeds it. After affluent foes rallied to jettison Boudin, the status quo reasserted itself with Breed’s selection of Jenkins.

So now what? Breed is slated to be up for re-election in 2023. She will likely share the ballot with Jenkins, setting up a two-part gauge of how an antsy electorate feels about public safety and quality of life. Here’s Jeremy’s deep dive on how Breed stepped into the spotlight and how she’s using it to try and steer a troubled metropolis .

BUENOS DÍAS, good Wednesday morning. Anti-Monkeypox action continues this morning as Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and L.A. Supervisor Hilda Solis join LGBTQ advocates — including Assembly candidate Rick Chavez Zbur — to push for a stronger federal response. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been pushing for the same.

Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit us up: jwhite@politico.com and lkorte@politico.com or follow us on Twitter @JeremyBWhite and @Lara_Korte .

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “He’s running. He has my support. I guess I’m a pragmatist. Look, Jimmy Carter’s numbers were low and he still destroyed Ted Kennedy. Gerald Ford didn’t have high numbers and he beat an extraordinary political talent, Ronald Reagan. I don’t see anyone like Ted Kennedy out there in the field — beating an incumbent president is very difficult, Joe Biden beat Donald Trump, so my view is we’ve got to be for the sitting president.” Rep. Ro Khanna — whom Berniecrats have floated as a Biden backup — on why he backs the president, via Fox News.

TWEET OF THE DAY: Florida Gov. @RonDeSantisFL keeps the rivalry burning bright: “Forced masking is BACK in California. Leftist states cannot help themselves — they are philosophically addicted to mandates & restrictions. In Florida, we know what freedom looks like, & this isn’t it. We will never allow the Left to seize power & impose mandates on Floridians.”

WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

A message from Charge Ahead California Coalition:

LEGISLATORS AND GOVERNOR NEWSOM - GET US OFF GAS NOW! Millions of dollars are at stake for Californians still suffering from high gas prices. We can’t afford to chip away at the more than $10 billion dollars that have been promised to our clean, electric car programs. We need our leaders to protect these investments. It’s time to break free from volatile prices at the pump and clean up our air! Learn more: www.InvestInCleanAir.com.

TOP TALKERS

RODENT SEASON — “ California is feeling optimistic it’s winning the war on giant, destructive swamp rodents ,” by the Sacramento Bee’s Ryan Sabalow: “Scientists who deal with invasive pests were first alarmed when nutria — a beagle-sized rodent native to the wetlands of South America — were spotted in a private duck-hunting marsh in the spring of 2017 near the farming community of Gustine in Merced County.”

— “ Brooke Jenkins just fired me and 14 others. I have no idea how the D.A.’s office will run without us ,” opines Ryan Khojasteh in the San Francisco Chronicle: “She wasn’t concerned with what administration we came from. After leading a rancorous recall campaign against her predecessor and the man who hired me, Chesa Boudin, I appreciated the sentiment.”

CAMPAIGN MODE

— “S.F. voters will decide whether to change mayoral election schedule ,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s J.D. Morris: “Supervisor Dean Preston introduced the measure as a way to boost turnout in local elections for mayor and other offices that are currently decided in odd-numbered years.”

HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT ROE BEING OVERTURNED? JOIN WOMEN RULE ON 7/21: Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade , abortion policy is in the hands of the states and, ultimately, voters. Join POLITICO national political correspondent Elena Schneider for a Women Rule “ask me anything” conversation featuring a panel of reporters from our politics and health care teams who will answer your questions about how the court’s decision could play out in different states, its impact on the midterms and what it means for reproductive rights in the U.S. going forward. SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS AND REGISTER HERE .

CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR

BILL-BANDONED: We’ve seen lawmakers renounce their own, hostilely amended bills, but we’d never seen the governor veto a measure at the author’s request. Yet that’s what Gov. Gavin Newsom did yesterday to an Assemblyman Phil Ting bill about toxic substances hearing disclosure . The Senate mistakenly sent Newsom the bill on a 37-0 vote in late June before Ting was done working on it, his office said.

— “ Judge temporarily bars Herb Wesson from performing City Council duties ,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Benjamin Oreskes: “The move hands a victory to a civil rights group and allies of Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who was suspended after being indicted by federal prosecutors last fall.”

— Covered California’s 2023 premiums set to jump 6 percent , by POLITICO’s Victoria Colliver: The projected 2023 rates released Tuesday morning follow an usually low streak: a 1.8 percent increase for this year, a record-low 0.5 percent bump in 2021 and a 0.8 percent rise the previous year. But that’s set to change, not only in California’s health exchange but throughout the Affordable Care Act marketplaces nationwide.

— “ San Francisco DA Brooke Jenkins says she’s not behind ‘unprecedented’ actions in drug cases ,” by the SFGate’s Eric Ting: “New San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has been in office for less than two weeks since replacing the recalled Chesa Boudin, but her office has already filed more standalone charges for possession of drug paraphernalia than have been filed in San Francisco in the past 11 years, according to records reviewed by SFGATE and city data.”

MAKINGS OF A CITY — “ Is this the future of downtown San Francisco? ” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Noah Arroyo: “The Public Realm Action Plan, created by the nonprofit business group Downtown SF Partnership in collaboration with a team of designers and urban thinkers, seeks to entice office workers, tourists and others back to the area by revamping the landscape — closing streets to car traffic, fostering frequent outdoor events and green space, and otherwise making the area more attractive.”

— “ After ’92 riots, L.A. bought land in Watts and promised jobs. Now, it’s weeds and shanties ,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Doug Smith and Parth M.N.: “There have been at least five proposals to build facilities for furniture construction, food processing and light steel manufacturing among other labor-intensive industries. Something killed them all — lack of financing, burdensome city demands and better offers elsewhere.”

— “ Silicon Valley doctors demand changes after death of colleague ,” by the San Jose Spotlight’s Tran Nguyen: “Ongoing problems such as chronic staff shortages, heavy workload and long waits for life-saving procedures at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (VMC) are pushing doctors to their limits, health care workers say.”

— “ West Hollywood cut a few sheriff’s deputies. It fueled a national firestorm on crime, defunding ,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Hailey Branson-Potts and Alene Tchekmedyian: “The decision in this famously liberal city — a renowned LGBTQ enclave and home of the Sunset Strip — has become symbolic precisely because it involves some of the most charged issues in America this election year: The role of law enforcement. Crime. And homelessness.”

A message from Charge Ahead California Coalition:

BIDEN, HARRIS AND THE HILL

MARRIAGE MATH: The California GOP is heavily represented among the dozens of House Republicans who voted with Democrats yesterday to legalize same-sex marriage. The ayes included relatively safe Reps. Jay Obernolte and Darrell Issa and targeted Reps Mike Garcia, David Valadao and Ken Calvert, who has reversed his former opposition to same-sex marriage as he battles openly gay Democrat Will Rollins for a newly drawn CA-41, which is evenly split D-R and heavily LGBTQ. Frontline Reps Young Kim and Michelle Steel voted no.

— Pelosi plans trip to Taiwan in August , by POLITICO’s Lara Seligman: “The trip, which was rescheduled after Pelosi (D-Calif.) canceled an earlier visit planned for April, comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over the island.”

SILICON VALLEYLAND

— New internal documents could bolster antitrust case against Google, Amazon , by POLITICO’s John Sisco: The documents — which include emails, memos and strategy papers — were shared by the House Judiciary committee, which obtained them as part of its long-running antitrust investigation of Google, Apple, Amazon and Meta that wrapped in October 2020 with a 450-page staff report.

— Judge sets expedited Twitter v. Musk trial for October , by POLITICO’s Rebecca Kern: The lawsuit marks the latest in a monthslong back-and-forth between Twitter and Musk over his April offer to buy the platform for $54.20 per share and take the company private.

INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY .

MIXTAPE

— “ After making racist statement, S.F. school board member apologizes ,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Jill Tucker.

— “ Man hospitalized after stabbing at SFO baggage claim ,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Jordan Parker.

— “ The SoCal housing market is cooling. Here’s how far prices have fallen ,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Jack Flemming.

— “ How businesses have stolen the Hawaii brand ,” by the SFGate’s Jeanne Cooper.

— “ Transformer explodes at Hoover Dam, prompting emergency response; fire quickly extinguished ,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Felicia Alvarez.

A message from Charge Ahead California Coalition:

California’s record budget surplus was an opportunity to provide us relief from the soaring costs of owning a car. The investments promised to our clean car programs are at risk! Our legislators have a responsibility to protect promised investments that support equitable clean, electric car programs that will get us off the gas price rollercoaster.

Low-income communities and communities of color bear an unfair burden of fuel costs and harmful pollution, having suffered generations of systematic marginalization. Critical equity programs that make pollution-free travel an option for all Californians are chronically underfunded. As we finalize our state’s budget, we cannot give in to the pressure to chip away at the investments in these critical clean, electric car programs!

Learn more at www.InvestInCleanAir.com.

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