Newsletter: Essential Politics: Trouble ahead for Republicans who voted for the healthcare bill

I’m Christina Bellantoni, returning from maternity leave and grateful to Sarah D. Wire, who covers the California congressional delegation, for covering this newsletter for the last few months.

It has been interesting, to say the least, to observe the opening months of the Trump administration while away from the newsroom. From the outside looking in, it seems California has approached the business of opposing the president with gusto, and Democrats are suddenly feeling confident again.

With that deep thought, welcome to the Monday edition of Essential Politics.

One big question is how the healthcare vote might follow lawmakers home over recess. Will there be a repeat of the town hall showdowns that plagued Democrats in 2009 and 2010? Our team will be watching, and covering any California happenings on our Essential Politics news feed and what’s going on nationally at Essential Washington.

Locally, the Los Angeles City Council on a 10-0 vote passed a resolution asking Congress to investigate whether President Trump violated the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause or committed any other high crimes and misdemeanors that could lead to impeachment.

THE DECIDING VOTE

Any House Republican who supported the American Health Care Act before Congress left town last week could well be painted as the deciding vote given the razor-thin margin it passed the chamber. That may just be the line of attack coming from Democrats eager to wrest back control in 2018.

All 14 of California’s Republicans joined their GOP colleagues to pass the bill, and Wire reports that Democrats are already planning how to use the vote against the seven most vulnerable members of the delegation. She details how some Californians were headed home right after the vote, while others went to the White House to celebrate alongside President Trump.

The vote prompted some political analysts to shift four Republican-held seats in California toward Democrats, an early warning of potential fallout.

Cathleen Decker examined over the weekend how healthcare votes historically have contributed to shifts in congressional power, and what might be ahead in the upcoming special elections and beyond.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, whom some have urged to primary Trump in 2020, called the healthcare bill “woefully inadequate” during a book-tour stop, Seema Mehta reports from the Nixon Library.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders swung through Beverly Hills this weekend, accepting an award from nonprofit Consumer Watchdog on Saturday. He also spoke at the sold-out Saban Theatre on Sunday, telling a crowd of more than 1,500 people that the House GOP bill to repeal Obamacare “is never going to pass” the Senate, Christine Mai-Duc reports.

Want to see how your lawmaker voted? Try out our searchable database.

McCARTHY DRAWS A CHALLENGER

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) has an unexpected challenger from the right. Republican Joe Aleman says the healthcare bill is an “injustice” and told Wire he is mounting the campaign because the bill protects the wealthy over the poor. He has not yet opened a campaign committee, but has a website.

STATE PARTY RACE GETS EMOTIONAL

Eric Bauman, a top contender to be the next chair of the California Democratic Party, sent out a shocking email to party members Sunday saying that he had been targeted by false rumors that he had been “engaging in inappropriate behavior with 14 and 16 year old boys.”

Phil Willon talked to Bauman about why he chose to speak out. He said at least four party delegates told his campaign workers that they heard the rumors, which he dismissed as “despicable lies.”

ARE STATE LEGISLATORS BEING PULLED TO THE LEFT?

The surge of liberal activism that started after the 2016 presidential election appears to have some staying power, and in California, the ripple effects go beyond heightened interest in national politics. Newly invigorated Democrats are turning their attention to Sacramento, Melanie Mason reports, in an effort to pressure sitting legislators to embrace more progressive policies such as single-payer healthcare.

As lawmakers scramble to respond to these energized new players in state politics, now, as Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher says, “it’s suddenly very cool to be the progressive.”

GO WEST, YOUNG POL

There’s a new Gold Rush. Veteran political strategists from both parties are heading west to make societal change — and enjoy a big paycheck and balmy weather — working in the tech, social media and sharing economy industries. Seema Mehta has the story.

STAFFING UP

California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra has hired a host of staffers to fill out his office with immigration and healthcare experts, and some of his hires come from the world of politics.

Among the 14 executive appointments are some operatives who were involved in Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

TURNING THEIR BACK ON PARIS?

Trump is considering whether to yank the United States out of the Paris agreement for fighting global warming. Gov. Jerry Brown and 11 other governors, all of them Democrats, sent him a letter last week urging him not to withdraw.

CHAOS AT THE STATE TAX BOARD

Faced with allegations of mismanagement and using employee for political benefit, the state tax board has been stripped of powers, faces an investigation by the state Department of Justice and pressure from some to undergo a major overhaul. Lawmakers are wondering if the state Board of Equalization should remain the only elected tax board in the nation. Patrick McGreevy lays out the story.

CRACKING DOWN ON DISABLED PARKING FRAUD

After George Skelton wrote about the state auditor’s investigation of disabled parking placard fraud in California, he received passionate emails from readers about the topic, one of which was from TerriAnn Ferren, the girlfriend of “Born on the Fourth of July” author Ron Kovic. She wrote the columnist about the difficulty faced by people with disabilities when they’re unable to easily access their cars. For his part, Kovic said that the people who cheat “just aren’t thinking.”

But, Skelton writes in his Monday column, it seems as if they just don’t care. Two UCLA professors have come up with a proposal to take the financial incentive out of fraudulently using disabled parking spots, and state lawmakers have promised to address the problem. Now it’s time for something to be really done about the issue, Skelton says.

POLITICAL ROAD MAP: THE FIGHT OVER SCHOOL RESERVE FUNDS

With Brown expected to unveil a new state budget plan later this week, school districts across the state hope this is the year they undo a three-year-old cap on their savings accounts.

In his Sunday column, John Myers takes a look at how the state imposed new limits on school district reserve funds, and at a decision by Brown to abandon his professed desire for more flexibility by local leaders to make school decisions.

TODAY’S ESSENTIALS

-- This week’s California Politics Podcast takes a look at the high political stakes for UC President Janet Napolitano over a recent audit, and for legislative Democrats in the debate over single-payer healthcare.

-- Mark Z. Barabak introduces readers to San Francisco congressional candidate Stephen Jaffe, who thinks Pelosi isn’t liberal enough.

-- Also in San Francisco, veteran politician Mark Leno kicked off his 2019 mayoral campaign.

-- In what is shaping up to be a running theme in California’s 2018 election, Trump takes a lashing in the first online ad released by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), who is running for state Insurance Commissioner.

-- Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez got a major boost Thursday, when Brown endorsed him in his race for Congress against attorney Robert Lee Ahn. He’s also got the backing of Maria Cabildo, who finished third in the April primary.

-- And Ahn is getting support from spending by an outside group, backed by wealthy donor and entrepreneur Myung K. Hong.

-- A bill that would allow cities to force developers to build more low-income housing passed the Assembly last week.

-- Just in case this might come in handy sometime this year, Kurtis Lee rounds up the key players and fallout from recent government shutdowns.

-- Trump signed an executive order he said would protect politically active churches from losing their tax-free status. But as has repeatedly been true during his young administration, the actual text proved more modest than his words.

-- An assemblyman wants California voters to have a shot at repealing new gas tax and vehicle fee increases. He is working to collect 365,000 signatures from registered voters in 150 days to put the measure on the ballot.

-- Trump will try to break his losing streak in court on Monday when his lawyers go before the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia and urge its judges to revive his temporary ban on foreigners arriving from six majority Muslim countries.

-- This group wants to stop the Olympics from coming to Los Angeles in 2024.

-- The art of the deal meets the dilemma of the compromise when it comes to Trump’s presidency so far.

-- Barbara Demick looks closely at how much it’s costing for Trump to travel.

LOGISTICS

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