THE BUZZ: The second-longest Assembly speakership in California history is nearing its close.
When Speaker Anthony Rendon relinquishes power — assuming he stays through June — the Lakewood Democrat could have overseen the Assembly longer than anyone aside from the legendary (and pre-term-limits) Willie Brown. Rendon ascended in 2016 on a promise to offer members more autonomy. Since then, he has presided over progressive policy wins and elections that built the largest-ever Democratic caucus. A caustic succession fight can be indelibly a part of his legacy. Some highlights from our conversation with him:
On whether to open the budget’s rainy day fund, which Gov. Gavin Newsom
has resisted, proposing as an alternative
On Newsom’s push for an
excess oil profits penalty
On whether his decentralized speakership was effective: “Yes, it was, and I believe the members consider that, too. I believe it’s the Third House and lobbyists who desire a centralized speaker. It’s the Third House and lobbyists who want to return to the speaker and say ‘I would like you to kill this bill.’ … (Members) wish to have power, the chairs wish to have power — I also think chairs wish to have the power to own a policy area.”
On whether speaker tensions will linger … “That’s human nature. Resentments all the time linger. Does it mean we won’t get stuff done? No. Last 12 months, the caucus was incredibly fractured. Numerous the stuff we talked about, the climate change bills — we got those done. You’re a giant baseball fan, right? The ’72, ’73, ’74 Oakland A’s used to beat the shit out of one another within the dugout and so they won consecutive World Series.”
… and why it got so
vitriolic
On what has modified over his tenure: “Third House has to spend more time with more people. I believe staff has been checked to a big extent: They used to run the show to a big extent, and I believe members have more confidence, more knowledge than they did up to now.
That’s all good things. The bad stuff that’s modified is truthfully, Covid has just — it’s not as fun anymore. It’s not as sociable. It modified the whole lot. I believe the 2 years or whatever broke down the sense of camaraderie and all of the fun stuff we used to do, and now everybody sort of goes home, and that’s sort of a shitty thing.”
On his biggest accomplishments … “Farmworker time beyond regulation was great, it took a generation to do. $15 minimum wage was awesome to get done. All the varied stuff on climate change … it’s not a chunk of laws, but we could have gone into our bunker when Trump got elected, but we got here out aggressive and swinging.”
… and what got away: “I would like to do more. We’ve invested $2 billion in early childhood education, I wish we invested $4 billion. We raised the minimum wage to $15, I wish we raised it to $20. I’ve been wanting to do an oil extraction thing since 2006.”
On what’s next: “Tap-dancing. I’ve sort of desired to do a profession in tap — start with, like, a Vegas lounge act after which, eventually, I’m going to go to the massive stage.”
BUENOS DÍAS, good Friday morning. Vice President Kamala Harris is back in California today to spotlight the administration’s flood and drought resilience work in Los Angeles County. She’ll be joined by Sen. Alex Padilla.
Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit us up at [email protected] and [email protected] or follow us on Twitter @JeremyBWhite and @Lara_Korte.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “If I’m going to turn into the one African-American woman serving within the Senate, I’ll need the strongest possible grassroots team behind me.” Rep. Barbara Lee sends her first Senate fundraising plea to supporters.
BONUS QOTD: “People hug me and say ‘I respect all you’ve done for the state’ — like I’m fucking dying or something.” Rendon on the tip of his speakership.
TWEET OF THE DAY:
WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.
— “Former LA City Councilman José Huizar agrees to plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy, tax evasion,“ by CBS Los Angeles: “Former Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar will plead guilty to federal charges that outline a City Hall-based bribery and money laundering scheme during which he took greater than $1.5 million in money, gambling trips and escorts in exchange for his support of a planned downtown hotel project, in response to court papers obtained Thursday.”
— “Melahat Rafiei, who was central to the FBI’s Anaheim investigation, takes plea deal,” by The Orange County Register’s Brooke Staggs: “As for Rafiei, the FBI states that she had promised two executives at an area cannabis company that she could help get a positive cannabis ordinance passed in Irvine in the event that they gave her money to bribe two council members.”
— “Alec Baldwin and weapons handler to be charged with manslaughter in deadly ‘Rust’ shooting,” by Los Angeles Times’ Meg James and Anousha Sakoui: “The district attorney said she plans to offer the juries two options for the costs. If convicted under the lesser charge, Baldwin or Gutierrez would withstand 18 months in prison and a $5,000 positive. The D.A. also will ask the juries to think about a harsher penalty, which carries a compulsory five years in prison, since the alleged crime involved using a firearm.”
— ”UC regents fire tenured professor after finding he sexually assaulted highschool student,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Kathleen Quinn and Jeremiah O. Rhodes: “During all three alleged rapes, she recalled being frozen in fear, in response to court documents. Freezing, or “tonic immobility,” is a typical response to trauma when aggression and fleeing usually are not seen as viable options, in response to quite a few studies on the phenomenon.”
— Biden gets first-hand take a look at costly damage to California’s Central Coast by POLITICO’s Wes Venteicher: He said the federal government would help construct stronger infrastructure to face up to extreme weather that — driven by climate change — is becoming common within the state.
— “Oakland loses second homelessness chief in two years,” by The OaklandSide’s Natalie Orenstein: “The transition comes as Oakland prepares to shut the ultimate remaining portion of the town’s biggest encampment, on Wood Street. Cooper oversaw ongoing closures there and at other large camps just like the East twelfth median.”
— “Oakland police chief on administrative leave following scathing report,” by KTVU’S Lisa Frenandez and Henry Lee: “A 16-page report conducted by the law firm, Clarence Dyer and Cohen LLP, revealed that Armstrong didn’t hold a sergeant accountable for his misconduct after he ripped a neighbor’s automotive bumper off in 2021 and later fired his gun in an elevator at police headquarters the next 12 months.”
— Mayors: Reasonably priced housing demand is crushing us, by POLITICO’s Marissa Martinez: Leaders spanning places like Richmond, Va., and Albuquerque, N.M., aired concerns about establishing reasonably priced housing and strengthening community development throughout the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors this week in Washington, D.C.
— “In Beverly Hills, Police Surveillance Technology Takes Off,” by Bloomberg’s Patrick Sisson: “There, law enforcement officials can take a camera, zoom down Wilshire Boulevard, switch cameras, zoom down Canon Drive, and on and on; Stainbrook calls this “pre-crime, in search of suspicious activity.”
— “California storms feed systems set as much as capture rainwater,” by The Associated Press’ Saman Naishadham and Brian Melley: “Within the 4 years since Californians approved a measure to speculate lots of of thousands and thousands of dollars annually to construct small and medium-sized infrastructure projects that collect rainwater, experts say progress has been gradual, but not insignificant.”
— “State COVID testing sites begin to shut,” by CalMatters’ Kristen Hwang: “State Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said in a budget call with reporters that the majority of the proposed decrease comes from fewer state testing responsibilities, but he emphasized that the spending reductions usually are not “a press release about moving on from COVID in California.”
— “John Eastman is defiant as Trump-related investigations proliferate,” by The Recent York Times’ Danny Hakim and Michael S. Schmidt: “Mr. Eastman said his advice to the president and vice chairman was only that Mr. Pence should pause the certification of the election, giving legislatures more time to think about fraud allegations in certain states where Mr. Trump had lost.”
— ‘You’re hurting my country’: Manchin faces Europe’s wrath, by POLITICO’s Alexander Ward and Suzanne Lynch: Within the Swiss Alps, Manchin was determined to alter the minds of men and girls who see him because the face of a latest American rival, the explanation for an ideal rupture in transatlantic economic relations. Now, having made the trip across the Atlantic, he’s attempting to put the pieces back together. He has been in a single mode and one mode only here: sell, baby, sell.
— “Supreme Court poised to reconsider key tenets of online speech,” by The Recent York Times’ David McCabe: “In its lawsuit, the family said Section 230 mustn’t shield YouTube from the claim that the video site supported terrorism when its algorithms really helpful Islamic State videos to users. The suit argues that recommendations can count as their very own type of content produced by the platform, removing them from the protection of Section 230.”
— “Netflix founder Reed Hastings is giving up his CEO role,” by CNBC’S Rebecca Picciotto: “He leaves the helm because the streaming giant attempts quite a lot of pivots to spice up subscribers and rebound after its business sagged in recent quarters.”
— “Propping feet on Pelosi desk was mistake, man testifies,” by The Associated Press’ Michael Kunizelman and Lindsay Whitehurst.
— “Fremont to pay $2.6M to former firefighter to settle retaliation suit,” by The Mercury News’ Martha Brennan.
— “Actor Julian Sands missing as officials warn of ‘dangerous’ conditions on CA mountain,” by The Sacramento Bee’s Daniella Segura.
— “In search of an oasis within the Palm Springs desert with $350,000 to spend. Which home did he select?” by The Recent York Times’ Soumya Karlamangla.
Sam Dealey
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