THE BUZZ: California’s newest progressive prosecutor reminded us Tuesday that the movement is removed from defeated.
Freshly elected Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price announced she would reopen investigations into eight deaths that involved contact with the criminal justice system: six of them cases where police officers fatally shotpeople, and two of them cases where suspects died in police custody or jail. Price solid those investigations, which will probably be overseen by a recent police accountability unit, as following through on her pact with voters.
When you only paid attention to the Chesa Boudin recall, you will have concluded that the previous San Francisco DA’s ouster decisively stymied the movement toward prosecutors who’re less willing to hunt lengthy sentences and more more likely to charge cops. But Boudin’s fall didn’t prevent ideologically aligned DA’s from winning and defending their offices in a few of California’s largest counties.
Price is the most recent addition to that class. Her win in November defied a political establishment that had largely coalesced behind prosecutor Terry Wiley. A well-recognized Oakland-based activist and repeat candidate, Price is arguably more of an outsider than any of the progressives who’ve won DA races in California over the previous few cycles. She pointedly broke yesterday from her longtime predecessor, Nancy O’Malley, by questioning O’Malley’s office concluding late last 12 months that three cases didn’t merit charges.
Policing the police is a central tenet for prosecutors like Price and Boudin. Criminal justice reformers have long argued the comfortable relationships between prosecutors and law enforcement make diligently investigating police misconduct all but unimaginable. A recent generation of prosecutors has gotten tougher partly because deep-pocketed allies offer a campaign counterweight to police unions. That dynamic helped Contra Costa County DA Diana Becton survive a union-backed challenge after her office convicted a sheriff’s deputy.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy to win convictions. Boudin’s historic excessive force prosecution of an on-duty SFPD police officer ended with an acquittal. Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón has not charged any of the 4 officers whose lethal force cases he reopened per a campaign vow, and he has declined to bring charges in other cases, citing a high burden of proof. Price’s office will face similar obstacles, including the period of time that has elapsed in some cases.
But Price’s victory and announcement offers reformers concrete gains amid reversals like Boudin’s recall, an anti-Gascón’s backlash, and a San Joaquin setback. “The importance of her win is demonstrated with a choice like this,” said Cristine Soto DeBerry, a former Boudin aide who now works for the Prosecutors Alliance. Bringing charges against law enforcement is difficult, she added. Nationwide, “there have been only a few filed and even fewer that lead to convictions — but that doesn’t mean they don’t require our greatest efforts.”
BUENOS DÍAS, good Wednesday morning. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is due on the White House today to satisfy with President Joe Biden. Asked Tuesday what he wanted from the Bakersfield Republican, Biden replied: “Show me your budget.”
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We’ve got seen many thoughts and prayers being bandied concerning the police murder of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee. The people of Tennessee want accountability — and so do the people of Alameda County” Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price on reopening investigations into eight deaths involving law enforcement.
TWEET OF THE DAY:
WHERE’S GAVIN? Announcing recent gun safety laws in Sacramento with Attorney General Rob Bonta and Sen. Anthony Portantino, who has a recent concealed carry bill this 12 months after last 12 months’s Bonta-sponsored version fell short.
OIL OPENING — Record oil earnings fuel California backlash against industry profits, by POLITICO’s Wes Venteicher: A boom in oil industry earnings has created a gap for Gov. Gavin Newsom as he pursues a first-in-the-nation cap on industry profits. … The timing is significant. Oil firms are rolling out earnings announcements as lawmakers in California are poised to carry hearings on a Newsom proposal to cap profit margins — an idea he floated last 12 months as pump prices in California rose to the best within the nation at the same time as the fee of a barrel of oil dropped all over the world.
—“This map of S.F. shows where driverless cars have caused ‘mayhem’,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Ricardo Cano: “San Francisco firefighters were battling a two-alarm apartment blaze on the corner of Hayes and Divisadero streets during a recent Sunday morning when a driverless Cruise automotive entered the energetic firefighting scene and nearly ran over fire hoses on the road.”
RECALL REFORM REDUX — Within the months after the 2021 Newsom recall failed, it looked likely lawmakers would ask voters to vary the recall process. But not one of the bills circulating within the Legislature got a vote. Now, Sen. Josh Newman is aiming for 2024 with a proposal that might make recalls a straight yes-or-no proposition, deleting the concurrent selection of alternative candidates. It could need two-thirds votes in each houses to get on the ballot.
Newman said in an interview that a time crunch inhibited last 12 months’s effort. You furthermore mght get a “more representative electorate in a presidential cycle,” he said. The Orange County Democrat, who was recalled in 2018 after which won his seat back in 2020, argued the one-question reform would restore the spirit of recalls as matters of “probity and ethics versus a stratagem for an opportunistic political campaign.” Even when the post-Newsom-recall momentum has dissipated, Newman said, “it’s higher to do it sooner somewhat than wait for the best time.”
PORTER PATRONS, via POLITICO’s Caitlyn Oprysko: Rep. Katie Porter will hold a fundraiser in Silicon Valley next month for her newly launched Senate bid, making her the most recent critic of tech giants to make the pilgrimage to their cash-flush backyards. Porter will headline a fundraiser on the Palo Alto home of Sarah Sands, whose husband is enterprise capitalist Greg Sands. Like a fundraiser hosted by Sands for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) earlier this month, the event was organized by the Bay Area fundraising group Electing Women Bay Area, in line with the invite. The suggested contribution amount is $1,000.
GETTING CROWDED — Los Angeles Unified School District board member Nick Melvoin is officially running to succeed Rep. Adam Schiff in CA-30. He’ll be vying with fellow Democratic officeholders Assemblymember Laura Friedman and Sen. Anthony Portantino.
— California offers plan for Colorado River, countering proposal from other states, by POLITICO’s Camille von Kaenel and Annie Snider: California is by itself again in negotiations over tips on how to handle the dwindling Colorado River, proposing on Tuesday afternoon that federal officials avoid additional cuts to California’s farmers and put the burden largely on cities and tribes in Arizona.
—“Winter storms destroyed Santa Cruz’s promenade. Is it value fixing?,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Kurtis Alexander: “Coastal communities across California are increasingly having to reply to the lack of shoreline, a results of rising seas and more intense storms driven by climate change.”
—“California Overturned Her Murder Conviction. ICE Still Desires to Deport Her,” by KQED’s Tyche Hendricks: “But Castañeda was not giving up. The truth is, she had found a recent sense of purpose. During her years in California prisons, she learned advocacy skills.”
—“Why epic California rains won’t prevent a dangerous fire season ahead,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Hayley Smith: “The predominant concern for this 12 months is the timing of the dryness, he said. The truth is, the wet begin to January could simply push the start of fireplace season later.”
—“LAPD Chief Michel Moore receives second 5-year term,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Libor Jany and Kevin Rector: “Before voting Tuesday, the panel heard from dozens of people that called in to the distant meeting and were overwhelmingly against Moore’s reappointment.”
—“Dems name recent members to combat GOP investigations — including Schiff,” by POLITICO’S Jordan Carney: “Democrats will get their first test run on pushing back against Republicans on the panel, chaired by McCarthy-antagonist-turned-ally Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), on Wednesday through the committee’s first hearing, centered on the border. Along with investigations, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee will probably be on the forefront of any impeachment inquiries, as Republicans have called for forcibly removing Mayorkas over his handling of the border.”
—“The CEO who quoted Martin Luther King Jr. in her layoff email apologizes to staff,” by The Wall Street Journal’s Alyssa Lukpat. “The chief executive of a San Francisco startup apologized for quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a layoff announcement, saying her email to employees was “inappropriate and insensitive.”
—“S.F. to Twitter: Fix your constructing permit inside 15 days to maintain beds at HQ,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Roland Li: “Musk and Twitter face more legal challenges connected to its headquarters. Its landlord, an affiliate of Shorenstein and JPMorgan Chase, sued the corporate this month over two allegedly missed rent payments totaling $6.8 million.”
—“KPCC is changing its name to LAist 89.3,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Matt Pearce: “The brand new name for the broadcaster’s flagship radio channel will probably be the largest change noticed by loyal KPCC listeners, who can still expect the identical mixture of national NPR programming, local news reports and on-air personalities like Larry Mantle.”
—“UC Berkeley fires swim coach Teri McKeever” by The Orange County Register’s Scott M. Reid.
—“Warden at troubled California women’s prison faced sexual harassment, misconduct lawsuits,” by The Sacramento Bee’s Sam Stanton
—“Prosecutors charge Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter, citing safety violations and ‘recklessness’ behind ‘Rust’ shooting,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Anousha Sakoui and Meg James
—“S.F. pizza parlor fires cashier who refused to serve to police officer,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Annie Vainshetin
—“California’s leading conductors come together for a recent festival,” by The Latest York Times’ Adam Nagourney
— Katie Merrill will probably be general consultant for Rep. Barbara Lee’s Senate campaign
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