Image by Marcelo Fabian MollarettiIt’s all over now but the shouting – Gov. Gavin Newsom has acted on all the massive number of bills sent his law by lawmakers this session. From AI to zero emissions, by now everyone knows the fate of their pet bills(s), and has weighed in accordingly.
Image by zimmytws via istockWhen the California Chamber of Commerce added Sen. Steve Glazer’s SB 1327 – a proposal to tax revenue from the sale of digital advertising as a way to help fund local newsrooms – to its annual list of “Job Killer” bills on May 7th, the measure became only the 14th this year to receive the designation. If that number doesn’t change, it would mark the fewest number of bills to receive the moniker since 2001, when only 12 bills were on the list.
Former California Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin. Photo by Scott Duncan, Capitol WeeklyDelaine Eastin, an impassioned and feisty advocate for public education and the first – and only — woman ever to serve as California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, has died at the age of 76. In a statement released after her death, Eastin was remembered not only as the state’s only female Superintendent of Public Instruction, but also only the fifth woman elected to statewide office in California.
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: We’re joined today by Democratic Senator Steve Glazer, who represents SD7 in the Bay Area. While Glazer was first elected to the senate in a 2015 Special Election, he has been engaged in politics for four decades, including stints working for Gray Davis, Chief Justice Rose Bird, and two stints – thirty years apart – for Governor Jerry Brown.
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Sacramento political communications expert Roger Salazar has deep roots in Democratic politics, but Salazar has even deeper roots in the off-roading/Jeeper community: The earliest known photo of his father shows Salazar senior in front of the family’s 1946 Willys Jeep. We asked him about his experiences, and how he navigates the trickiest terrain on the trail: the largely right-leaning politics of many of his pals in the Jeeper community.
Protesters at Laguna Beach complain about California's rules to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo: mikeledray, via Shutterstock)OPINION: The delusional conspiracy theories unleashed on Americans to explain the defeat of former President Donald Trump have done more than raise the threat level to U.S. democracy and to hardworking elections supervisors. They are fracturing the Republican Party in ways its own officials would prefer to overlook while angling to regain control of Congress.
San Francisco, USA. Sept. 14, 2021. California Governor Gavin Newsom, speaks to the press at a labor union event in San Francisco on Election Day, for the 2021 California gubernatorial recall electionOPINION: “Never strike a king unless you are sure you shall kill him,” Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in 1843. He couldn’t have foreseen the attempted recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom. But it is apropos: The recall not only failed miserably to yank Newsom from office, but actually immeasurably strengthened his political position.
A newspaper's election gives readers information about the Sept. 14, 2021, recall election. (Photo: Matt Gush, via Shutterstock)California’s attention was focused recently on the failed attempt to recall Gov. Newsom as a rare event of historical magnitude. In fact, recall elections happen all the time, and all but a relative handful of these obscure contests disappear into the limbo of history.
We are joined today by Anne Dunsmore, Campaign Manager for Rescue California, the organization that is heading the effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Photo by Tim Foster, Capitol WeeklyProminent political consultants Roger Salazar and Hilary McLean worked together in tiny digs in Gov. Gray Davis’ press office before the current crop of Capitol Weekly interns were even born. Those were trying times for the Davis communications team — you may ‘recall’ that Davis’ gig didn’t end well.