Posts Tagged: moderate

Opinion

Fruitless recall boosted Newsom’s political position

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 election

OPINION: “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.

Analysis

Housing is core issue in SF’s Wiener-Fielder Senate race

Housing in a San Francisco neighborhood. (Photo: Bertl 123, via Shutterstock)

ANALYSIS: While most electoral contests in San Francisco are a fierce fight, incumbents up for reelection tend to have an easy run. A year ago, few thought that State Senator Scott Wiener would have difficulty defending his District 11 seat. When activist and first-time candidate Jackie Fielder came in second in the spring primary – 33% to Wiener’s 56% — people started to comment on the race.

News

CA120: The magic and mystery of ‘electability’

Kickoff campaign rally for presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Oakland in January. (Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald, via Shutterstock)

With the second release of the Capitol Weekly 2020 Tracking Poll we can dive into some details of the survey.  Each month we will strive to find something in the data that speaks to a major topic targeted by policy wonks, pundits and political strategists, and we’ll look at the data from California respondents.

News

In 16th AD, Catharine Baker navigates carefully

Assemblywoman Catharine Baker (R-Dublin). (Photo: Screen capture, KQED interview, via YouTube)

During a Town Hall meeting in Orinda, one of the most affluent corners of her 16th Assembly District, Catharine Baker (R-Dublin) holds her own, leading the conversation and proudly explaining her votes and positions on the issues to a largely receptive audience made up of mostly older white constituents. “She seems pretty malleable and works across the aisle with Democrats,” said Linda, an Orinda Democrat who did not give her last name.  “But, she might have been sugar coating it, because it’s a more liberal audience.”

Podcast

Capitol Weekly podcast: Rob Lapsley

Rob Lapsley, president and CEO of the California Business Roundtable. (Photo: Tim Foster)

Rob Lapsley, the president and CEO of the California Business Roundtable, joins Capitol Weekly’s John Howard and Tim Foster to discuss one of the biggest policy issues of the year — the extension of California’s cap-and-trade auction program.

Podcast

Capitol Weekly podcast: Scott Lay

Scott Lay, editor and founder of The Nooner, the widely read online information source that tracks campaign cash and offers political analyses. (Photo: John Howard)

Recorded May 20, 2017: In the heat of the convention battle for the state Democratic Party leadership, The Nooner’s Scott Lay sat down with Capitol Weekly Editor John Howard to chat about the intense fight among the party delegates to pick a successor to John Burton, the party chair since 2009.

Opinion

Moderate Democrats: the slaves of big oil?

Pumpjacks in a Kern County oil field, November 2013. (Photo: Christopher Halloran)

OPINION: The Paris talks brought into clearer focus just how many so-called moderate Democrats who sided with the oil industry this year re out of touch with their caucus, their party and their state. This small tribe of transactional politicians, whose campaign coffers have been filled with oil company dollars for years, did the shameless bidding of Big Oil once again this year, failing to protect Californians from greater environmental harm.

News

Proposition 13 revamp eyed for ballot

Changing Proposition 13, the landmark, tax-cutting ballot initiative that California voters approved in 1978, is the goal of a constitutional amendment aimed at next year’s ballot. The plan by two Senate Democrats – Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles and Loni Hancock of Berkeley – would allow commercial and business properties to be regularly reassessed for tax purposes, with an exemption for properties worth less than $500,000. Under current law – Proposition 13 – those properties are only reassessed when there is a change in ownership.

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