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Jeremy B. White and Lara Korte’s must-read briefing on politics and government in the Golden State | | | | |  | | By Jeremy B. White, Lara Korte, Sakura Cannestra and Owen Tucker-Smith | THE BUZZ: And here you thought we didn’t have to discuss redistricting for another decade. While the abhorrent racism featured on leaked tapes of three Los Angeles City Council members has generated the most outrage — and led Nury Martinez to succumb to public pressure and resign yesterday — the impetus for and theme of the conversation was using district lines to enlarge their power and undermine foes. It was a distillation of politics to its essence: who gets what for the next ten years. Now California’s preeminent law enforcer is examining whether the line-shaping crossed a legal line. Attorney General Rob Bonta said yesterday that a California Department of Justice investigation of potential illegality was “sorely needed to help restore confidence in the redistricting process for the people of LA.” He quickly drew an amen from Martinez’s temporary replacement, Acting Council President Mitch O’Farrell, who said he was unaware of a comparably egregious situation of “a few council members deciding amongst themselves on how redistricting should go.” | 
California Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote the law when he was in the state Assembly. | AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli | Whereas Los Angeles council districts are shaped and approved by council members, House and state Legislature seats are drawn by an independent panel. Californians created the citizens’ redistricting commission by passing a 2008 ballot initiative. The publicly streamed process preoccupied and often exasperated California candidates and campaign officials for months last year as the appointed panel drew and redrew lines in real time. The sometimes-chaotic mapmaking wasn’t free from chicanery or influence-building. Elected officials have used proxies to manipulate it. Communities of interest lobbied to keep voting blocs intact — including Black Angelenos who warned of coming “under attack,” LGBTQ advocates seeking to ensure representation, and — in a parallel to Martinez and co. discussing “assets” like the airport — people who live near LAX. The mayor of San Jose clamored for a map that looked to some like his vision of a future House seat (the mayor denied it). A prominent Republican attorney led an unsuccessful lawsuit alleging secretive communications. But the process was largely visible to the public and strove to be nonpartisan. Those upsides have driven state legislation to shift local line-drawing authority to independent panels. Gov. Gavin Newsom this year enacted those for Riverside County, Fresno County and Kern County. And the deplorable recording has Los Angeles lawmakers contemplating the same. State Sen. Ben Allen has already said he’s exploring a bill to create a non-partisan L.A. process. City Council Member Curren Price has floated the idea; mayoral candidates Rick Caruso and Rep. Karen Bass back it. O’Farrell wants to expand the number of council members. And outgoing City Attorney Mike Feuer wants the city council to put an independent commission before voters in a 2023 special election. That would reshape the field in 2024 — which, by the way, is when Martinez would’ve been up for reelection. BUENOS DÍAS, good Thursday morning. National Democrats are in the house today: President Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi are dipping into the California cash register, headlining a Los Angeles fundraiser for the DCCC, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will join a panel in San Francisco to boost Proposition 1, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. 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. Send us your political mailers! We’re looking to bring more transparency to the elections process. How you can help: Send us photos of the campaign ads you’ve gotten in the mail. You can upload photos here or email them to mailers@politico.com. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “As the first Latina Council President, I strived to serve with compassion and to give a larger platform to the communities I felt had been left behind … to all little Latina girls across this city - I hope I’ve inspired you to dream beyond that which you can see.” Martinez in a resignation statement. TWEET OF THE DAY:
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Today's Tweet of the Day | Twitter | BONUS TOTD:
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Today's Bonus Tweet of the Day | Twitter | WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | |  | Top Talkers | | MORE ON LA — Secret tapes expose LA's racial fault lines — and give Bass an edge, by POLITICO’s Alexander Nieves and Lara Korte: Bass has pitched herself as someone with boots-on-the-ground experience, drawing on her time with the Community Coalition, a group she co-founded in 1990 with the goal of uniting Black and Latino communities to fight poverty, addiction and crime in South LA. Until this week, however, race relations had not featured prominently in the contest. — “ Nury Martinez also makes crude comments about Jews and Armenians in leaked audio,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Summer Lin, Salvador Hernandez and Terry Castelman: “In the same leaked audio clips posted to Reddit in which former Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez made racist remarks about Black people and Oaxacans, she also made crude remarks about Jewish people and Armenians.” FIZZLE — “ Sacramento City Councilman Sean Loloee lives in his district, outside investigation finds,” by the Sacramento Bee’s Dale Kasler: “The investigation — prompted by multiple reports in The Sacramento Bee and other media that showed another family lived in Lolee’s house and that neighbors did not recognize him — found that the councilman does in fact live on Nogales Street in North Sacramento, within District 2.” — “Northern California officer fired over 2020 deadly shooting,” by the Associated Press: “A police officer who in 2020 fired a rifle five times through the windshield of an unmarked police vehicle, fatally shooting a San Francisco Bay Area man, was fired last week for violating several police department policies, authorities said.”
| | CAMPAIGN MODE | | — “Conservatives are waging a war for control over California school boards,” by EdSource’s Diana Lambert: “School board elections, once considered minor local down-ballot races by voters, have taken on new significance this year. Across California, conservative groups have leveraged parental angst, fueled by Covid-19 school closures, to recruit and train candidates to run for school boards.”
| | CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR | | — “Major California earthquakes preceded 1-3 days by magnetic field changes, study says,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Kellie Hwang: “A new study found an increase in magnetic field energy near some earthquakes in California one to three days before they hit, a finding that its authors hope is a step toward accurately predicting when quakes will strike — a goal both elusive and steeped in controversy.” — “Struggling L.A. students won’t get a longer school year but can seek help during vacation ,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Howard Blume: “Los Angeles parents who want their children to receive extra academic help can send them to school on the first two weekdays of winter and spring break, a revised learning plan that won teacher union support but also prompted Supt. Alberto Carvalho and several school board members to criticize the labor group.” JOB ALERT — “ California state Sen. Connie Leyva named new KVCR executive director,” by the Daily Bulletin’s Brian Whitehead: “State Sen. Connie Leyva will become the next executive director of KVCR when her legislative term ends Dec. 5, the San Bernardino Community College District announced Wednesday, Oct. 12.” — “ For undocumented students, job opportunities are scarce. This state program could help,” by CalMatters’ Carmen González: “College Corps fellows will learn from community-based organizations, taking on projects in the public schools, tackling food insecurity and combating climate change. Fellows receive as much as $10,000 for completing a year of service, which includes a living allowance and an education award.” HOUSING CORNER — “Rising mortgage rates are sending home prices lower,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Andrew Khouri: “For the first time in a decade, home prices in Southern California are definitively falling. After 10 years of largely uninterrupted gains, home values have turned negative, the result of rising mortgage rates that have squashed demand and caused sales to plummet.” — “Recent cyberattacks highlight the vulnerability of California schools ,” by CalMatters’ Joe Hong: “If Los Angeles Unified, the state’s largest school district, can be hit with a ransomware attack, how prepared are California’s public schools for the increasing threat of cyberattacks?”
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | BIDEN, HARRIS AND THE HILL | | MEANWHILE AT J6 — ‘Clear and present danger’: Jan. 6 committee to describe lingering Trump threat, by POLITICO’s Nicholas Wu and Kyle Cheney: Donald Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election didn’t end on Jan. 6, 2021, or even when he left office. Since then he’s gone to even further lengths to delegitimize his defeat. That ongoing effort will be a centerpiece of the Jan. 6 select committee’s next — and perhaps final — televised pitch to Americans on Thursday. — “ In Western swing, Biden looks to make Democrats’ case without making waves,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Eli Stokols: “Less than four weeks before the midterm elections that will decide control of Congress, President Biden is scheduled to hit the campaign trail in Los Angeles on Thursday, where his lone public appearance will be alongside mayoral candidate Karen Bass.” — “ Can ‘Kinship Care’ Help the Child Welfare System? The White House Wants to Try,” by the New York Times’ Erica L. Green: “Like all presidential budgets, Mr. Biden’s has little chance of being entirely funded by Congress, and it is unclear how much of the billions for child welfare reform — historically a yearslong, legislative effort — will survive. But Democrats in the House and Senate both included versions of Mr. Biden’s proposal in spending bill drafts.”
| | SILICON VALLEYLAND | | SILICON SLUMP — “Hundreds of tech and biotech layoffs rattle Bay Area job market,” by the Mercury News’ George Avalos: “Oracle America has decided to impose job cuts in San Mateo County while BioMarin Pharmaceutical intends to conduct layoffs in Marin County, according to documents filed with the state Employment Development Department.” — “Misinformation Swirls in Non-English Languages Ahead of Midterms ,” by the New York Times’ Tiffany Hsu: “In recent weeks, posts exaggerating the fallout from inflation have been aimed at Americans from Latin American countries that have been crippled by poor economic management.” — “Californians can now get a digital license plate for their car. Here’s how ,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Melissa Hernandez: “Drivers in California will be able to trick out their whips with digital license plates. Digital license plates, which have been piloted in California since 2018, with just 175,000 participants, are now available to all of the state’s 27 million drivers, thanks to Assembly Bill 984.”
| | MIXTAPE | | THIS AGAIN… — “Why S.F.’s spot with the $75 tasting menu for dogs is actually pretty great,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Soleil Ho. — “One S.F. neighborhood’s severe rat problem may have a single culprit: ‘Birdseed Lady,’” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Nora Mishanec. — “ Amazon Workers at California Warehouse Seek to Join Upstart Union,” by Bloomberg’s Matt Day and Josh Eidelson. — “Amid The Climate Crisis, A Southern California Tribe Works To Preserve Nature and Tradition ,” by LAist’s Erin Stone. — “No shock: Sacramento’s growing, 4-day Aftershock Festival sets new attendance record,” by the Sacramento Bee’s Michael McGough.
| | BIRTHDAYS | | First Partner Doug Emhoff … Meta’s Carrie Adams … Kris Anderson 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.
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