California Politics: Senate candidates split on a few key points

WASHINGTON —  Hey everyone! It’s Ben Oreskes filling in from Washington while Laurel Rosenhall is on special assignment. The air quality here is giving off major California wildfire vibes. It’s interesting to observe East Coasters as they learn what an Air Quality Index is and why a mask can do more than prevent the spread of COVID-19.

For now let’s take a run through the week that was in California politics.

Senate split screen

Last week’s debate over the debt ceiling provided a potent moment for voters to observe how their three Democratic candidates for Senate differ.

Rep. Adam Schiff was one of the 314 members of the House to vote for the compromise struck by President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) that will suspend the nation’s borrowing limit until 2025 and impose cuts on certain federal programs that are popular among Democrats.

The two other candidates, Rep. Barbara Lee and Rep. Katie Porter, both voted no on the deal. Schiff framed his decision to vote for the deal as something he did reluctantly but to avoid “a disastrous default.”

Porter said the “vote wrongly pitted important things against each other: Preventing default and protecting our environment,” she wrote.

“Both of these things are non-negotiables in my eyes, but this legislation was filled with giveaways for Big Oil companies.”

For Lee her no vote “was about standing up to extreme MAGA Republicans holding our economy hostage and standing up for my constituents and the 20 million Californians that are one paycheck away from poverty.”

The Times touched on another disagreement between the candidates this week. It has to do with congressional earmarks — a small but significant funding mechanism to get direct infusions of cash into local communities. They’re now known as Community Project Funding, which was brought back in 2021 after a decadelong ban in Congress.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is using them to address homelessness and has asked L.A.-area members of Congress — including Schiff — to put in these requests. The Burbank congressman and Lee are all in on earmarks. Porter is the only House Democrat who didn’t submit any requests during the last Congress.

Her opposition to what many conservative members call “pork” represents one of the clearest differences between the Irvine congresswoman, who won in a hotly contested swing district, and her two opponents who represent safe Democratic territory.

Porter argues this method of funding can be a wellspring of corruption, citing former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Rancho Sante Fe), who went to prison for taking millions in bribes to direct earmarks to certain projects.

“The folks in the administrative branch have all the data on what programs work best, and where the money is most needed, and how best to deliver it,” Porter said. “I think they are better positioned and can do it in a more transparent and fair way.”

Several members of the California delegation noted that when earmarks returned, there were new restrictions on what was eligible and more disclosure requirements, as well as a ban on funds going to for-profit entities.

Schiff sees it differently, arguing: “If I can help my constituents, I’m going to do it, and that’s more valuable to me than a talking point.”

It’s a family affair

When California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) steps down from his powerful post at the end of the month, he’ll leave behind a legacy as one of the state’s longest-serving legislative leaders, having helped Democrats secure stronger labor protections for gig workers, launch universal preschool and extend a marquee program to combat climate change during his seven-year tenure.

The Times’ Hannah Wiley and Katie Licari explain how, off the Assembly floor, Rendon is also one-half of a political power couple that includes Annie Lam, a successful consultant and nonprofit executive who’s dedicated her career to diversifying California politics and other institutions of power. The two have flourished together during Rendon’s unusually long time as speaker. He’s held the position longer than anyone but Willie Brown, who led the Assembly in the 1980s and 1990s.

As Rendon’s influence grew, financial and lobbying disclosures show that Lam’s consultancy business similarly boomed. Over the years Rendon served as speaker, Lam has founded a nonprofit, taken on several new clients and became the executive director of six total organizations, work that allowed her income to swell and public profile to soar.

Schwarzenegger retrospective

Anyone who has been listlessly flipping through Netflix these days like me may have noticed a new series starring our former governor called FUBAR. I’m not Times film critic Justin Chang, but suffice to say it’s worth skipping.

What’s essential viewing, though, is a new three-part documentary about the life and times of Arnold. It includes some familiar faces including our own Mark Z. Barabak who covered his tenure and is basically an oracle on California politics. The big revelation from the show is hearing the former politician’s reflection on his affair and secret child that rocked California when it was revealed.

The documentary also dives into the groping allegations that The Times first reported on when he was running for office nearly 20 years ago. Carla Hall, one of our editorial writers, broke these stories and writes that “It’s interesting to hear Schwarzenegger more fully apologize in [documentary’s director Lesley] Chilcott’s series. Admitting he had once been defensive about the accusations, he says in one episode, ‘Forget all the excuses, it was wrong.’ I’m glad to hear that. I hope he means it.”

Keeping up with California Politics

Newsom launches long-shot push for U.S. constitutional amendment on gun control
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday called for a U.S. constitutional amendment on gun control that would ban assault weapons and mandate background checks and waiting periods for purchasing firearms, a long-shot proposal with little chance of passing in a nation deeply divided on the issue.

Florida says it’s responsible for transporting migrants to Sacramento
This week Florida officials took responsibility for chartered flights that transported migrants to Sacramento, following days of silence since the first group landed in California on Friday. The transport had been lambasted as potentially illegal by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who raised the potential for kidnapping charges in a Twitter message directed to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday.

Police flex political power at the California Capitol
After George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, California’s Democratic-controlled Legislature passed a wave of new laws to change how cops do their jobs, from banning chokeholds to decertifying officers with misconduct records and increasing investigations into fatal police shootings. Despite those wins for progressives, law enforcement groups flexed their power last week by blocking two controversial measures and securing changes to other bills that aim to limit the scope of their work.

How California, land of Nixon and Reagan, turned blue and changed American politics
In 1992, Arkansas’ five-term governor became the first Democratic presidential candidate in nearly three decades to carry California, the political birthplace of Richard M. Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Few, if any, considered Clinton’s victory in California the start of a political realignment; he won just 46% of the vote. But his victory and a repeat in 1996 — the product of relentless courtship and a fire hose of federal spending — helped color California a lasting shade of blue and dramatically reshaped the fight for the White House.