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Presented by Clean Air California: Jeremy B. White and Lara Korte’s must-read briefing on politics and government in the Golden State | | | | |  | | By Jeremy B. White, Lara Korte and Sakura Cannestra | Presented by Clean Air California | THE BUZZ: Now behind us: capacity campgrounds and late-night Sacramento floor votes. Still ahead: a whole lot more campaigning. We’ve exited legislating time and entered the heart of election season. Staffers who spent their spare August hours shepherding bills will devote their weekends to volun-tolding for vulnerable incumbents. Independent expenditure committees with anodyne names will pack mailboxes in battleground districts. If you thought you were sick of seeing ads for sports betting ballot initiatives, just wait until you see what record spending will yield. Both parties are pouring escalating amounts into key House and Legislature races, identifying the critical contest on both defense and offense. County Democratic parties in recent weeks have channeled $1.2 million to Democratic state Sen. Melissa Hurtado as she defends her Central Valley seat and $750,000 to Catherine Blakespear as she vies with Republican Matt Gunderson for an open Senate seat. The main California Democratic Party has directed cash lately to open-seat candidates Esmeralda Soria, Christy Holstege and Paula Villescaz; challengers Joseph Rocha, Kim Carr and Pilar Schiavo; and Assembly members Sabrina Cervantes, Brian Maeinschein, Eduardo Garcia and Jacqui Irwin. The California Republican Party recently made six-figure outlays to GOP staffers Joshua Hoover and Greg Wallis. Hoover seeks to unseat endangered Democratic Assembly member Ken Cooley — a top recipient of defensive cash from fellow Assembly Democrats — and Wallis is vying with Holstege for a D+6 seat that looks to be one of the cycle’s most competitive. The GOP also channeled sizable sums to incumbents Sen. Brian Jones, who is seeking to fend off Rocha, and Assembly member Suzette Valladares, whose redrawn district looks much bluer than the version Valladares flipped in 2020. Interest groups are ramping up for Democrat-on-Democrat fights that will determine the ideological shape of the majority caucuses. A recent example: Healthcare players are spending big in a Democrat-on-Democrat Assembly race in the Central Valley. Medical interests have dropped into a PAC $750,000 (plus $150,000 from car dealers) to push Dr. Jasmeet Bains past Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez in AD-35. Political leadership will also hinge on campaign outcomes. Will Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield wrest the mantle from Speaker Nancy Pelosi? That will hinge partially on California House races, with McCarthy’s GOP just uncorking millions more for Reps. Mike Garcia, David Valadao, and Michelle Steel. But you don’t need a new majority party for a leadership shakeup: while Assembly Democrats will likely retain a supermajority, the membership of the incoming class — and efforts undertaken to elect them — will help decide when and if Speaker Anthony Rendon gives way to Assembly member Robert Rivas. Voting will commence sooner than you may think. Every Californian gets mailed a ballot now. Counties will start sending them out by Oct. 10 at the latest, with some jurisdictions getting started earlier. So if you’re not yet functioning with campaign brain, perhaps it’s time for a perspective shift. BUENOS DÍAS, good Monday morning. A brutal heat wave has finally broken as rain arrived in Southern California. But with more extreme temperatures surely in the future forecast, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed legislation to create a warning system and to track severe heat’s impact on workers and pregnant people. 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 would come to us, ‘Oh I’ve got to do this so I can control the crazies.’ He’ll be the worst speaker and he won’t last because he’s going to be led around by insurrectionists.” Outgoing Rep. Adam Kinzinger on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, via the WSJ. TWEET OF THE DAY
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Today's Tweet of the Day | Twitter | WHERE'S GAVIN? Nothing official announced. | | | | A message from Clean Air California: We have always had wildfires, but as California gets hotter and drier, the fires are getting worse. Prop 30 is the solution we need to prevent catastrophic wildfires and polluted air throughout the state. It provides more state firefighters and firefighting equipment to stop fires before they grow, better forest management to reduce dry fuels, and increased protective space around our homes. Prop 30 : the solution we need to prevent wildfires and clean our air. | | | |  | TOP TALKERS | | — “Two firearms stolen in burglary at home of L.A. mayoral candidate Karen Bass,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Libor Jany, Dakota Smith and Benjamin Oreskes: “Bass said she came home Friday to find signs of a break-in and called police. The thief stole firearms that had been “safely and securely stored” but left behind cash, electronics and other valuables, she said.” SPEAKING UP — “Kevin McCarthy’s Fraught Path to Power ,” by the Wall Street Journal’s Natalie Andrews: “If Republicans take control, Mr. McCarthy’s high-wire act will be tested. The members on his right flank have a list of demands and will be watching him closely to make sure he doesn’t try to hold them back or compromise too much with Democrats.” — “ The rice capital of California is ‘now just a wasteland.’ Satellite images show how bad it is,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Yoohyun Jung: “The Sacramento River Valley is among the top producers of rice, an important staple, in the United States, second only to the Grand Prairie in Arkansas.”
| | CAMPAIGN MODE | | BOTTOM LINE: Affluent Californians continue to drop significant sums to keep their income taxes from rising. A score of individual donors has channeled $3.9 million to fight Proposition 30 since the start of September, a few of them giving in the $475,000 to $1 million range. Around 50 people or businesses have now supplied $6.6 million, with an average contribution of $144,000. — House Republicans add $28M to fall TV reservations, by POLITICO’s Ally Mutnick: But in a sign the House battlefield has tightened in recent weeks, thanks in part to a Democratic base motivated to defend abortion rights, the NRCC also placed a new defensive reservation and increased its spending in a handful of other seats it hopes to protect. STACKED ODDS — “Sports betting ballot measure ads are blanketing TV — here’s what’s misleading,” opines the San Francisco Chronicle’s Joe Garofoli: “The prize: an industry that could be worth $3 billion to $4 billion in California, according to gambling analysts.” | | | | A WOMEN RULE CONVERSATION ON LEADING FROM THE GROUND UP: Join POLITICO’s Women Rule on Sept. 15 for conversations focused on creating and leading sustainable, healthy and inclusive communities. The program will feature a Member Exchange panel followed by a keynote discussion exploring the most pressing issues facing women in their communities and women in leadership roles who are best positioned to solve these problems. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR | | — “Mosquito Fire: The battle for Volcanoville,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sarah Ravani and Matthais Gafni: “At one property, the only color remaining among the gray ash were three American flags, still tacked onto a wood fence. Nearby, officials stapled a yellow piece of paper to a stump that read, ‘1 small cabin — loss’ and ‘1 outbuilding — loss.’” — “Guaranteed Income Programs Spread, City by City ,” by the New York Times’ Kurtis Lee: “Since 2020, four dozen pilot programs have started, with Los Angeles running one of the largest to provide cash assistance.” NOT-SO-GLACIAL PACE— “Here’s the alarming amount of ice California’s longest glacier just lost in the heat wave, ” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Kurtis Alexander: “The renowned Whitney Glacier — the longest glacier in California — lost up to 9 inches of ice depth a day during this month’s record heat, according to Mauri Pelto, director of the North Cascades Glacier Climate Project and a professor of environmental science at Nichols College in Massachusetts.” FIRE AND WATER — “ Tropical Storm Kay breaks heat and rain records across Southern California,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Alexandra E. Petri, Libor Jany and Emily Alpert Reyes: “Several spots in Los Angeles County, including Los Angeles International Airport, Long Beach Airport and downtown L.A., saw new daily rain records, but the amounts were fairly small.” PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE — “ Planned Parenthood maps strategy to protect abortion rights,” by the Associated Press’ Sophie Austin and Adam Beam: “Their goal is to emulate the success liberals have had in California, where state lawmakers passed some of the most robust abortion protections in the country this year, culminating in a statewide election this fall that would make abortion a constitutional right in the nation’s most populous state.” LAWN LOYALTY — “Column: Has a UC Riverside researcher created the Holy Grail of drought-tolerant lawns?” by the Los Angeles Times’ Gustavo Arellano: “As California and the American West suffer through the worst dry spell in a millennium and municipalities are ordering residents to let their grass die of thirst or rip it out altogether, a lawn evangelist like [Jim] Baird seems as heretical a sight in Los Angeles as an Angels hat at Dodger Stadium.” — “ War breaks our veterans. Psychedelic drugs can ease their pain — yet they remain illegal,” opines the Sacramento Bee’s Yousef Baig: “Instead, because of ingrained stigmas, biases and generations of ignorant lawmakers, far too many veterans like Martinez face a difficult choice: break the laws of the country you bled for by using effective but illegal drugs, or follow antiquated rules and one-size-fits-all treatments and risk death.” | | | | A message from Clean Air California:   | | | | | BIDEN, HARRIS AND THE HILL | | THE PRIVATE AND THE PUBLIC — Election deniers damage U.S. reputation on the world stage, Harris says, by POLITICO’s Olivia Olander: The remark was in response to a question by host Chuck Todd about the message that internal threats to American democracy send to the outside world, part of a wide-ranging interview. — “Vice President Harris pushes to broaden U.S. space industry workforce,” by Reuters’ Akanksha Khushi: “U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday announced a new coalition of companies involved in the space industry, aimed at increasing job opportunities in the sector, notably for people from traditionally under-represented backgrounds.” MINING MISSTEPS — “Crypto Mining Is Threatening US Climate Efforts, White House Warns ,” by Bloomberg’s Allyson Versprille: “While the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy stopped short of prescribing specific regulations, the report it released on Thursday said the US must take action to mitigate pollution tied to crypto production. The federal government should collect more data on power usage and work with states and the crypto industry to set standards, the office said.” | | SILICON VALLEYLAND | | FINDING A TRUTH — What the Truth Social Flop Says About Trump, opines POLITICO’s Jack Shafer: Once upon a time, Trump fed his 89 million Twitter followers a several-times-a-day mash of insult, provocation and bombast. But he has attracted only an estimated 3.9 million to his Truth Social account, making him one of the biggest social media flops of the decade. — “Before the holiday season, workers at America's busiest ports are fighting the robots ,” by NPR’s Andrea Hsu: “In this high-stakes moment at America's busiest ports, robots are a hot-button issue in contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents 22,000 dockworkers up and down the West Coast, and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents 70 ocean carriers and terminal operators.” | | | | Join POLITICO Live on Tuesday, Sept. 20 to dive into how federal regulators, members of Congress, and the White House are seeking to write the rules on digital currencies, including stablecoins. The panel will also cover the tax implications of crypto, which could be an impediment to broader adoption and the geopolitical factors that the U.S. is considering as it begins to draw regulatory frameworks for crypto. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | MIXTAPE | | — “Why San Francisco city workers are making so much money in overtime pay,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Nami Sumida. — “Lawsuit filed against Weed lumber company over possible role in deadly Mill Fire,” by the Sacramento Bee’s Dale Kasler. — “ Fire destroys 11 tiny homes that housed homeless vets at West L.A. Veterans Affairs campus,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Nathan Solis. — “Class action accuses San Francisco sheriff of illegal search and surveillance practices ,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bob Egelko. — “A racial reckoning over a festival’s disrespect toward Asians in Monterey Bay: Will its demise bring healing?” by the Los Angeles Times’ Tyrone Beason. — “Scientists are looking at the 40,000-foot-tall clouds pumped out by the Mosquito Fire,” by SFGate’s Amy Graff. | | BIRTHDAYS | | SUNDAY: Alan Bergman … SATURDAY: Emily Berret of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office MONDAY: former Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) … Amazon’s Natalie Raps Farren WEEKEND WEDDING: California Playbook alum Graph Massara got hitched to Saoirse O’Neill at Port Costa’s lovely Bull Valley Roadhouse on Saturday.
| | | | A message from Clean Air California: We have always had wildfires, but as California gets hotter and drier, the fires are getting worse. The smoke from wildfires combined with pollution from tailpipe emissions has resulted in our state having the worst air quality in the country. Prop 30 is the solution we need. It was drafted by climate experts to address the problems at the source, by reducing tailpipe emissions that cause pollution, and preventing the wildfires that create toxic smoke. It will provide better forest management to reduce dry fuels and more state firefighters and equipment, to contain fires before they grow. Prop 30 will help clean the air we all breathe.
That’s why environmental groups, state firefighters, public health groups, consumer advocates and climate experts are supporting Prop 30 — the Clean Air Act. Join us and be a part of the solution. Learn more at www.Yeson30.org. | | | CALIFORNIA POLICY IS ALWAYS CHANGING: Know your next move. From Sacramento to Silicon Valley, POLITICO California Pro provides policy professionals with the in-depth reporting and tools they need to get ahead of policy trends and political developments shaping the Golden State. To learn more about the exclusive insight and analysis this -only service offers, click here. Want to make an impact? POLITICO California has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Golden State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness amongst this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
