The gift of influence

From: POLITICO California Playbook - Friday Apr 07,2023 01:11 pm

Apr 07, 2023

By Jeremy B. White, Lara Korte, Ramon Castanos and Matthew Brown

THE BUZZ: Gift disclosure forms offer a map of clout and influence — so we drew one.

In a business defined by relationships, gifts, trips and events help build vital interpersonal ties, creating pathways to influence and consolidating blocs in the Legislature. Lawmakers are spending their recess in Denmark as we speak, reminding us that the beyond-the-building influence game never really ceases.

POLITICO’s crack data team has put together a handy graphic for s visualizing and quantifying that world. But here are some other nuggets to digest:

FOUNDATIONAL: Lawmakers spent an enormous amount of time at events convened by groups like California Issues Forum and the California Foundation for the Environment and the Economy. The groups hosted at least 20 gatherings in locales around the state, the nation and the world. Some curious legislators attended several. A dozen more went to Hawaii for the annual Independent Voter Project confab.

TECH TIME: As the tech industry faces unprecedented scrutiny over issues like privacy and harms to kids, companies are working hard to bond with legislators. The Foundation for California's Technology and Innovation Economy spent more than $40,000 in August to bring dozens of members to Napa. Several lawmakers had just held off monumental legislation that would have penalized platforms for harms to kids — an idea that has resurfaced this year.

MOD SQUAD: Once the votes were in, interest groups worked to cultivate the centrist Democrats who are often business entities’ best path to leverage. The Western States Petroleum Association and the California Independent Petroleum Association hosted newly elected Democrats in December. A half-dozen new mod Dems also joined a caucus retreat in Napa in mid-December.

BLOC PARTY: The nascent California Problem Solvers Caucus also invested in an April golf outing that cost thousands of dollars and brought together Democrats and Republicans. The Problem Solvers Caucus Foundation’s funders in recent years have included oil companies, AT&T, and the odd pairing of the California Medical Association and Altria.

FOLLOW THE LEADER: We got a glimpse behind the curtain of the Assembly’s caustic speakership fight: Five Assembly Democrats attended a July meeting dinner in Sausalito hosted by the Democratic Leadership Coalition PAC, a political action committee controlled by allies of Speaker-elect Robert Rivas that was a rival, parallel effort to Speaker Anthony Rendon’s operation.

EARLY START: Interest groups were forging bonds with a huge incoming class of members before they joined the Legislature. Assembly members who won office in November were already accepting value during the election cycle from Native American tribes, the California Medical Association, the tech foundation and the California Teachers Association.

QUIZ TIME! On Monday, we’ll reveal some superlatives for non-s. Take a guess at:

Which lawmaker took the greatest value of travel?

Which lawmaker took both the most gifts and the highest value of gifts?

BONUSES: Which lawmaker’s staff went in on a banjo as a birthday present?

BUENOS DÍAS, good Friday morning. A good Good Friday and a happy Easter to all who celebrate. Reps. Nancy Pelosi, Scott Peters and Kevin Mullin are joining California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot today to talk about the impacts of a salmon fishing shutdown.

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

WHERE’S GAVIN? Taking time for personal travel.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Tweeting is not policy.” Gov. Newsom spokesman Anthony York on the governor’s online declarations, via California Healthline.

TWEET OF THE DAY:

Twitter

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TOP TALKERS

NEWSOM’S BIG BET — Why Gavin Newsom may give red state Democrats the blues, by POLITICO’s Lara Korte and Jeremy B. White: “Like a California cabernet left out on a humid afternoon, the Newsom brand may not travel all that well. Montgomery is a long way from Sacramento, and Newsom’s political machine has only been tested in friendly territory, where his party enjoys a supermajority. Many Democrats will be glad to spend his money, but it’s far less clear that they’ll want his advice or his obsessive focus on the culture-war contrasts between Democratic and Republican states.”

— “A failure to communicate: California government cuts back press access,” by CalMatters’ Alexei Koseff: “Changes that reporters and public information officers adopted to do their jobs virtually in a strange new stay-at-home world became ingrained, encouraging practices, such as written statements instead of interviews, that offer less clarity and greater distance between state government and the people it serves.”

CAMPAIGN MODE

SCHIFF STASH — Rep. Adam Schiff led the California Senate field by raising $6.5 million dollars in the months after he announced. That outpaces Rep. Katie Porter ($4.5 million) and Rep. Barbara Lee ($1.5 million). Schiff’s fundraising exploded during the Trump years, when he became one of the president’s principal antagonists. And a Senate endorsement from Rep. Nancy Pelosi further boosted his cash-collecting clout.

SAN DIEGO SHUFFLE — Assemblymember Akilah Weber is running to replace outgoing Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, stepping into an SD-39 field that's wide open after San Diego Supervisor Nathan Fletcher dropped out while he battles sexual misconduct allegations. La Mesa Vice Mayor Colin Parent swiftly announced a run for Weber’s 79th Assembly district seat.

CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR

— “Gov. Newsom wanted California to cut ties with Walgreens. Then federal law got in the way.,” by California Healthline’s Samantha Young: “Newsom’s administration confirmed it will “continue to comply” with federal law by paying Walgreens through Medi-Cal, which provides health coverage to roughly 15 million residents with low incomes and disabilities.”

— “'We own this': California homelessness strategy hinges on L.A. encampments,” by CalMatters’ Jim Newton: “The temptation for those concerned only with politics is to solve homelessness by making it invisible – by breaking up encampments and shooing the homeless to other locations where they won’t be seen.”

— “D.A.s Brooke Jenkins and Pamela Price have wildly different approaches — but both want to disqualify judges,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bob Egelko: “Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price and San Francisco D.A. Brooke Jenkins come from different sides of the street politically, but they have at least one practice in common — using a state law to disqualify a local judge from hearing any of their cases.”

— “Scott Wiener became a right-wing target — and leaned into it,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Dustin Gardiner: “Yet in the three years since, he has continued to lean into some of the far right’s biggest fears by pushing legislation expanding protections for transgender people and LGBTQ youth and moving toward a path to decriminalize sex work and some psychedelic drugs. The attacks have predictably escalated.”

— “California climate groups feel burned after backing Big Oil windfall bill,” by Capital & Main’s Aaron Cantu: “But a week ago, the language worked out by Newsom and the Legislature set out a much more limited approach. Instead of a cabinet-led process, the law directs two junior agencies — the Air Resources Board and the Energy Commission — to prepare a refinery transition plan by the end of next year.”

— “Planned construction could forever change the California Capitol’s west steps. What would that mean for protests and events?,” by CapRadio’s Nicole Nixon: “A lawsuit delayed the Capitol remodel project, but the building and area mostly remain a construction zone, and excavation for the new visitor’s center could begin later this summer. It would close public access to much of the west side of the Capitol for up to three years, according to the event permitting office.”

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BIDEN, HARRIS AND THE HILL

— “A once reluctant Harris embraces her biracial identity in Africa,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Courtney Subramanian: “She had delivered a rare unscripted speech at Ghana’s Cape Coast Castle, where slaves were imprisoned and tortured before they were forced onto ships to make the transatlantic voyage to the Americas and Caribbean island nations like her father’s Jamaica.”

— “Rep. Young Kim travels to Taiwan hours after Speaker McCarthy met with President Tsai,” by The Orange County Register’s Hanna Kang: “In Simi Valley, McCarthy stressed it was not “our intention to escalate” tensions with China and did not rule out a future trip to Taiwan when asked by reporters.”

SILICON VALLEYLAND

— “Special Report: Tesla workers shared sensitive images recorded by customer cars,” by Reuters’ Steve Stecklow, Waylon Cunningham and Hyunjoo Jin: “But seven former employees told Reuters the computer program they used at work could show the location of recordings – which potentially could reveal where a Tesla owner lived.”

MIXTAPE

— “Hostage killed, CHP officer injured in Roseville shooting. Suspect arrested,” by The Sacramento Bee’s Michael McGough, Rosalio Ahumada and Molly Jarone

— “UC Riverside ends controversial research center relationship with Beacon Economics,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Suhauna Hussain

— “Dramatic photos show how storms filled California reservoirs,” by The Associated Press’ Terry Chea, Noah Berger and Josh Edelson

— “Players say UC Berkeley mishandled bullying claims against women's soccer coach,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Nanette Asimov

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