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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 and Lara Korte | THE BUZZ: Much has changed since Gov. Gavin Newsom opened his first term — but not his use of conservative foils. Here are some of the things that were yet to happen when Newsom was inaugurated in 2019: a global pandemic that unleashed an attempt to recall him, the worst wildfire season in California’s recorded history, Pacific Gas & Electric’s bankruptcy, the defeat of President Donald Trump and the subsequent elevation of California compatriot Kamala Harris to the vice presidency and the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The two-year-old Newsom toddler who interrupted his first speech is now elementary school aged. Unlike when Newsom opened his governorship by denouncing a hostile Trump administration, there is now a Democrat in the White House. But Newsom still used his opening act to denounce “red-state politicians,” their media allies and election deniers arrayed against democracy and liberal values. While 2019 flipped to 2023 and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis replaced Trump as a top recipient of Newsom’s ire, his framing — California contrasted with its opponents — endured. Newsom ensured his inaugural coincided with the Jan. 6 insurrection, marching Friday from Tower Bridge to a stage silhouetted by the Capitol and warning of “forces in America that want to take the nation backward” and “erase so much of the progress you and I have witnessed in our lifetimes,” from election deniers to people who seek to clamp down on voting and speech, expand access to “illegal guns” and “subjugate women.” While Newsom didn't name DeSantis, he likened the Florida Republican’s “Don’t Say Gay” law to California’s failed 1978 “Briggs Initiative” seeking to bar LGBTQ people from teaching in public schools. He castigated Republicans who “demonize Mickey Mouse,” who “attack the Special Olympics” and who “kidnap migrants.” An anti-vax protester interrupted Newsom’s oath of office and manifested the unspoken context with a DeSantis 2024 sign. Whether or not the DeSantis versus Newsom, hair spray versus hair gel presidential showdown materializes, Newsom is continuing to advance his argument that California — not red rivals — is the nation’s true bastion of liberty. In Newsom’s telling, California is the place where teachers are “free to teach,” people enjoy “freedom to access healthcare” regardless of their immigration status and citizens have “freedom to vote without intimidation.” By contrast, DeSantis used his inauguration address last week to decry how other states “consigned their people’s freedom to the dustbin” and drove a “mass exodus” to Florida. We can’t know what the next four years hold any more than we did in 2019. But you can count on Newsom continuing to make his case for California as the nation’s model, with himself at the vanguard. As he said on Friday, echoing a famous California Republican: “the battle lines are drawn. It is time for choosing.” BUENOS DÍAS, good Monday morning. Welcome to a wet budget week. Newsom is set to unveil his preliminary fiscal blueprint Tuesday, as the National Weather Service warns of a “relentless parade of atmospheric rivers.” Meanwhile, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff is in Los Angeles today to visit a film and TV magnet school with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and then talk with celebrity board members George Clooney, Mindy Kaling, and Don Cheadle. 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.
| | | | 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. | | | | | QUOTE OF THE DAY: “ While they cry freedom, they dictate the choices people are allowed to make. Fanning the flames of these exhausting culture wars. Banning abortion, banning books, banning free speech in the classroom, and in the boardroom. They sell fear and panic when it comes to crime and immigration. But they sell calm and indifference when the threat is greenhouse gases destroying our planet, or big oil raking in windfall profits at your expense. But California offers reason for hope.” Newsom makes his case. TWEET OF THE DAY:
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| WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.
|  | Top Talkers | | LUCKY NUMBER 15 — McCarthy claims speakership on 15th ballot, by POLITICO’s Anthony Adragna: But McCarthy’s four-day slog to a win underscores the challenges he will face in guiding the GOP’s narrow House majority through the rest of this Congress. In order to secure the votes, he made a series of concessions to conservatives that significantly empower his right flank. 2024 WATCH — Katie Porter weighs Senate bid launch as Feinstein stays mum, by POLITICO’s Burgess Everett, Sarah Ferris and Holly Otterbein: Fresh off a bruising battleground reelection win, the third-term Porter is now considering a bid for what is likely to be an open Senate seat in deep-blue California as a next step, according to five Democrats familiar with her plans. — ‘Kevin Who?’ How the McCarthy Drama Is Playing in His Hometown, by POLITICO’s David Siders: In Washington, the McCarthy speakership saga had become the spectacle of the new year — non-stop, required viewing for the politics-obsessed. But in his district in California’s Central Valley, which would seem to have more invested in McCarthy’s speakership than any other place outside the Beltway, it was hardly bringing Bakersfield to a standstill.
| | CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR | | GET READY — Newsom asks Biden for emergency declaration after extreme storms batter California, by POLITICO's Lara Korte: The governor also said he plans to ask the Legislature for an additional $200 million to shore up the state’s aging levees in his 2023 budget proposal, which he will release on Tuesday. — “California water officials say they are prepared for record flooding as rain continues,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Jordan Parker: “Speaking to reporters via zoom Saturday evening, Department of Water Resources officials stressed the state’s preparedness for a second atmospheric river storm expected to usher in more power outages for residents still recovering from last week’s deluge.” GUN PUSH — California is working hard to pass gun laws — and even harder to defend them, by POLITICO’s Owen Tucker-Smith: A group of Democratic legislators insist they are unfazed by the legal threats as they pursue laws they know other blue states are likely to emulate. They’ve already introduced at least five bills, with more on the way. Here’s what you need to know about California gun safety advocates’ hopes for 2023 — and the obstacles they may face. — “Exclusive: California union president threatened staff and stole records, report finds,” by The Sacramento Bee’s Maya Miller: “The investigator’s report, obtained by The Sacramento Bee, is the latest setback for Richard Louis Brown, the already-suspended leader of SEIU Local 1000, the largest public employee union in California state government.” UPROOTED — “Wild weather swings are robbing California of its trees,” by The New York Times' Shawn Hubler and Jill Cowan: “Stressed by drought, whipped by wind and weakened at the roots by relentless rain and flooding, trees — tall and short, ancient and young, in mountain preserves and suburban yards — have toppled across California this week in breathtaking numbers, the most visible sign of a state veering between environmental extremes.” — “L.A. lets rain flow into the Pacific Ocean, wasting a vital resource. Can we do better?” by the Los Angeles Times’ Hayley Smith: “The region’s system of engineered waterways is designed to whisk L.A.'s stormwater out to sea — a strategy intended to reduce flooding that nonetheless sacrifices countless precious gallons.” AG OVERTIME — “Overtime law was supposed to help these California workers. Many make less money now,” by The Sacramento Bee’s Melissa Montalvo: “As a 2016 California law requiring agricultural employers to pay overtime continues to roll out in 2023, farmworkers and employers alike say the policy is costing them money.” — “As speaker bid falters, mixed views of McCarthy in hometown,” by The Associated Press' Michael R. Blood: “In his Central California hometown of Bakersfield — where oil derricks blanket hillsides and country music fans flock to Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace hall — some voters are asking if what has become an embarrassing bid to succeed Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came at the expense of the twin engines of the local economy — oil production and agriculture.” — “Get ready for a massive SoCalGas bill this month, as natural gas prices soar,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Russ Mitchell and Rob Nikolewski: “Anyone who heats their home with natural gas is likely to see a January bill that is more than double what they paid a year earlier, SoCalGas said.”
| | BIDEN, HARRIS AND THE HILL | | HOW WE GOT HERE — Inside the House GOP's speakership crisis, by POLITICO’s Olivia Beavers, Sarah Ferris and Jordain Carney: The exultant moment ended a dayslong theatrical display of GOP tensions that played out on national TV, with C-SPAN cameras allowed to show every angle of a temporarily rule-free chamber. The House saw it all that week: Public heckling, dogs on the floor, a near-fistfight, accusations of drinking in the chamber, selfie videos and crying toddlers. — “Why big-money donors can’t reel in GOP rebels,” by The Wall Street Journal’s Julie Bykowicz: “About half the Republicans opposing Mr. McCarthy’s bid for House speaker fund their campaigns through small, online contributions instead of counting on major donors and corporate political-action committees, a Wall Street Journal review of Federal Election Commission reports found.”
| | SILICON VALLEYLAND | | — “Elon Musk attorneys aim to move trial from California to Texas, citing ‘local negativity’,” by CNBC’s Lora Kolodny: “Musk, and other current and former Tesla board members, are set to face a jury in a shareholder class action that claims the CEO manipulated Tesla's stock in 2018 when he tweeted that he was considering taking his electric vehicle company private at $420 per share, and had ‘funding secured’ to do so.” MENLO PARK MESS — “Facebook’s bridge to nowhere,” by The New York Times' Issie Lapowsky: “The story of how Facebook nearly catalyzed one of California’s most transformative infrastructure projects in a generation is a case study in how fast-growing tech giants have sought to radically shape the communities where they’re based and how local governments, starved for resources, have hungrily accepted the help.”
| | | | JOIN NEXT TUESDAY TO HEAR FROM MAYORS AROUND AMERICA: 2022 brought in a new class of mayors leading “majority minority” cities, reshaping who is at the nation’s power tables and what their priorities are. Join POLITICO to hear from local leaders on how they’re responding to being tested by unequal Covid-19 outcomes, upticks in hate crimes, homelessness, lack of affordable housing, inflation and a potential recession. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | MIXTAPE | | — “Why a three-strikes felon — on bail twice over,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Richard Winton and Matthew Ormseth. — “129 migrants dropped off on Riverside County streets,” by The Press-Enterprise’s Jeff Horseman. — “Suspected burglar arrested at Billie Eilish’s childhood home in Highland Park,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Nathan Solis. — “Empress Tavern just reopened in downtown Sacramento. It’s not the restaurant you remember,” by The Sacramento Bee’s Benjy Egel.
| | BIRTHDAYS | | SATURDAY: The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf … Meta’s Nick Clegg … former Rep. Loretta Sanchez … Jeremy Ragent … Max Mallory of Penta … Britta Ritter-Armour 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 | | | | |  |
