Capitol Journal: Eric Holder could be California’s MVP, or he could be a bust
Reporting from Sacramento — A major league ball club signs an all-star free agent. An NBA team recruits a big-name basketball coach. You really can’t be sure how they’ll perform.
The ballplayer could become an MVP or a bust. The coach could lead his team to the finals or be a bad fit. But odds are it was a good move.
That’s how to look at the Democratic-controlled Legislature’s surprise signing last week of former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder to help it fight off the looming Trump administration and save many of California’s liberal public programs.
Holder certainly has Washington savvy and national gravitas. He knows his way around the Beltway.
Except for Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), a 12-term congressman chosen by Gov. Jerry Brown to replace new U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris as state attorney general, Sacramento conspicuously lacks Holder’s knowledge of federal lawmaking and dealing.
Sacramento isn’t a small Washington, after all. It’s a big Carson City.
That said, does Holder understand California politics and public policy very well? Probably not. And it probably doesn’t matter.
A law firm colleague of his, former Los Angeles congressman and state legislator Howard Berman, is a longtime master of California and Washington politics.
Will Holder really hustle for his new Sacramento team? We’ll find out.
But for now, his signing by state Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) seems smart.
It helps protect California public policy enacted by both Democrat Brown and his Republican predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s a crisp political message: California’s no pushover for Donald Trump. And it’s good national PR, at least in blue states. State politicians love national attention.
Republicans immediately reacted with knee-jerk, predictable whining about wasteful spending.
“Democrats should focus on solving real-world problems instead of wasting taxpayer money to score political points before the president-elect even takes office,” declared Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley.
Fair enough. But that off-the-shelf “wasting taxpayer money” bit cheapens his argument.
My favorite came from veteran state Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber): “How can the state afford to pay for an out-of-state overpriced lawyer when we could be using those funds to help the poor and those in need?”
Guess I’ve missed all those Republican efforts to help the needy. Please.
The Legislature’s three-month contract with Holder, Berman and a covey of attorneys from the Covington & Burling firm is for $75,000 plus expenses. That’s good for up to 40 billable hours per month. Do the math: It’s $625 an hour — high by most people’s standards, but a bargain compared with what many high-powered law firms charge.
If the three-month tryout works, they’ll negotiate an extension.
“Their normal rate is $1,700 per hour,” says Dan Reeves, De León’s chief of staff. “We’re not paying that.”
To put the $75,000 in perspective, the Legislature’s annual budget is around $300 million.
Any lawmaker really worried about overspending could cut back on the introduction of frivolous bills. It costs roughly $20,000 — an old estimate — to run a bill through the Legislature. Last year, 1,059 were sent to the governor. He vetoed 159 and 900 became law. Obviously, we’re all much better off.
Or legislators could trim their generous expense allowance, their per diem. It’s $176 per day, seven days a week while the Legislature is in session, whether members are in Sacramento or not.
But why, Republicans ask, should Democrats pay for any private counsel when there’s a state attorney general to handle state legal work?
Here’s a civics refresher: The Legislature and the attorney general aren’t one and the same. They constitute different branches of government, a separation of powers. The attorney general doesn’t answer to the Legislature.
Legislative leaders want their own astute lawyer at their beck and call — not to sue the Trump administration, but to advise what’s legal and what’s not.
Can a President Trump cut off federal funds to California “sanctuary” cities that shield undocumented immigrants from federal deportation? Can a Republican president and Congress gut California’s landmark environmental protections and climate change programs?
What can California do — besides spending an extra $20 billion, a political impossibility — to save Obamacare, which covers 6.5 million Californians?
“That’s not a trumped up number,” De León says.
Can the U.S. labor department eviscerate De León’s recently passed act to provide a retirement plan for low-income, self-employed people?
“Trump is a huge threat to California laws, quite honestly,” Rendon says. “I think he’s a threat to democracy, someone who doesn’t care much for checks and balances.”
And face it, Becerra, although first-rate, hasn’t practiced law in more than a quarter-century.
Moreover, he hasn’t even publicly committed to seeking election to a full four-year term in 2018. He’s leaving some wiggle room, presumably to possibly run for governor or the U.S. Senate if Dianne Feinstein retires.
That’s making some legislators nervous. And Becerra is sure to be pressed on it when the Assembly holds his first confirmation hearing Tuesday.
“He can’t show up for a year and just use the office as a springboard for his own political ambitions,” one influential Democratic senator told me, requesting anonymity.
Another Senate Democrat said flatly: “We need continuity in that office. We won’t confirm him if he doesn’t agree to run in 2018.”
Meanwhile, Holder is a good, low-cost pickup. If he performs as expected, sign him to a long-term deal. If he’s a bust, release him.
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