Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a candidate for governor, attends a 2017 nurses union gathering in support of singe payer. (Photo: Chris Allan)It goes by various names: Universal Healthcare Access; National Healthcare; Medicare for All; government-run health care; Socialized Medicine. Most news reports call it Single Payer. It threatens to tear asunder California’s Democratic Party.
Environmental activist Tom Steyer at a conference of the Center for American Progress. (Photo: File/Associated Press)While media reports keep predicting that billionaire Tom Steyer will run for California governor in 2018, Steyer says he has not made a decision yet. There are a lot of factors to consider first, including the coming election, said the 59-year-old former hedge fund manager. “I’m going to keep working on the issues. I’m passionate about it,” he said. “I don’t know the best format to do that yet.”
California presented in the colors of the state's official flag. (Photo: Savelyev, Shutterstock)It was, as always, a mixture of hope and disappointment, deals made and unmade, the bizarre and the mundane. For the Capitol community, 2015 was also a year of anticipation. Initiative creators were busy in 2015. The latest available figures tell us that 63 initiatives and referenda have been cleared for circulation by the Secretary of State’s office. Not all of them will make it to the Nov. 8 ballot, but four have already, including a proposal to overturn the state’s ban on plastic bags.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, foreground, with House Speaker John Boehner. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)He had texted them birthday greetings; he had gone into their districts to campaign for them and raise money; he probably would have washed the dishes. But in the end, it wasn’t enough as the affable and handsome Kevin McCarthy ended his once seemingly inevitable march toward becoming speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
Kevin McCarthy, minutes after announcing he was withdrawing his bid to be House speaker. (Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)Kevin McCarthy, whose meteoric rise in the California Assembly’s GOP ranks was matched only by his rise in Congress, halted his upward trajectory by abruptly withdrawing from the race for House speaker — a stunning move that threw his GOP colleagues into disarray.
Former state Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy, from the August 2004 California Journal. (Illustration: Tim Foster)The most difficult job in the Legislature is that of an Assembly rookie. Mastering Sacramento is learning curve is akin to scaling Mount Everest, where the summit is shrouded in a fog of policy and politics and the climb must begin even before one is sworn into office. It must be made with a minimum of missteps, and there are few veterans to help show the way.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, right, rushes past reporters Friday moments after House Speaker John Boehner's resignation announcement. (Photo: Lauren Victoria Burke)California’s Kevin McCarthy is on track to become the next speaker of the House. If it happens, the affable Republican will achieve one of the fastest ascents in House history — or California political history, for that matter. He would be the second House speaker from California. The other is San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi.
Demonstrators protesting police conduct at a gathering in Capitol Park, Sacramento, October 2014. (Photo: Rachael Towne)An effort is under way to make California the first state in the nation to have its top law enforcement officer independently investigate deaths in police custody, bypassing the prosecutors in California’s 58 counties. Under the plan, the state attorney general would appoint a special prosecutor to direct an investigation when a civilian dies as a result of deadly physical force by a peace officer.
State Senate Leader Kevin de León on Feb. 1, 2014, at the Golden Dragon Parade in Los Angeles(Photo: Betto Rodrigues, via Shutterstock)GRIZZLY BEAR PROJECT: After some hard feelings and bruised egos, De León accepted his defeat and ran for the Senate seat that he never really wanted. But in the Senate, de León has matured and grown as a legislator. Early on, he helped ease roadblocks between the Senate and the governor’s office. In the meantime, he reconstructed and expanded his personal relationships, and was elected by his colleagues last year as the new leader of the state Senate.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, shortly after being named House Majority Leader. (Photo: Associated Press)Kevin McCarthy, the newly minted House Majority Leader, rose speedily through the GOP ranks during his time as a California legislator – and used political instincts he honed in Sacramento to achieve power in Congress. During his time in the state Assembly, McCarthy was known as a deal-maker. He became Assembly minority leader only two months after Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took office in 2003, and worked closely with him to unite the party by engineering difficult votes on controversial issues.