Election Aftermath in California
On November 5, California voters approved Proposition 36, which reforms the 2014 Proposition 47, the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,” so named by then-state attorney general Kamala Harris, which looked the other way at theft of property valued at less than $950. So once again crime is illegal in the Golden State, but voters weren’t done. (READ MORE from Lloyd Billingsley: California’s Identity Problem)
They rejected Proposition 5, which would have reduced the two-thirds vote to pass bonds to 55 percent, making property tax hikes more likely. The ballot measure was an attack on the “People’s Initiative to Limit Property Taxation,” the famous Proposition 13 from 1978. As the media failed to note, a similar measure had qualified for the November 5 ballot, but Gov. Gavin Newsom and Gov. Jerry Brown teamed up against the voters.
The Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act gave voters the final approval on future taxes and fees imposed by state and local governments. Newsom and Brown claimed the measure was a “revision” rather than an amendment to the state constitution, a distinction without a difference. The Newsom-compliant state supreme court agreed, and cut out the voters.
The results of the vote for president provoked strong reactions from state politicians. Gov. Newsom called a special legislative session to “Trump-proof” California, “safeguard California values,” and so forth. Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas wanted a piece of the action.
After an October 27 NFL game, San Francisco 49ers pass rusher Nick Bosa crashed a television interview while wearing a MAGA hat. Speaker Rivas expressed the hope that 49er owner “trades Nick Bosa to Mar-A-Lago.” So far, no deals for Bosa in the works.
Fans had to wonder why Rivas, who claims to be a lifelong 49er fan, kept quiet after 49ers rookie receiver Ricky Pearsall was shot in the chest during a robbery in downtown San Francisco. Gov. Newsom and Kamala Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney and state attorney general, failed to decry the August 31 shooting as “gun violence.”
As it turns out, Speaker Rivas’ brother Rick is a member of the California Coastal Commission, an appointed body that overrides scores of elected city and county governments on land-use issues. The Commission recently voted to block Elon Musk’s SpaceX launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.
The commissioners claimed it was all about protecting coastal flora and fauna, but let slip that they objected to Musk speaking out on the election. Musk responded with a lawsuit, and president-elect Trump has now tasked him to help trim the federal bureaucracy. California could use some of that but recently got help on the crime front.
California Crime Revolt
Los Angeles County voters booted criminal-friendly district attorney George Gascon, to the delight of crime victims and police officers statewide. LA voters also tossed Los Angeles city councilman Kevin de Leon, who once served as California’s Senate president pro-tem. On his watch, in 2017, the senate held an event for New Left icon Tom Hayden, a former state senator and husband of actress Jane Fonda, who supported the Communist regime in Vietnam. (READ MORE from Lloyd Billingsley: Government Efficiency Is a Tall Order for Musk)
Republican Janet Nguyen, a refugee from that regime, spoke out against Hayden. Senate Democrats first cut off her microphone, and when she continued to speak had her escorted out of the senate chamber. De Leon described Hayden as a “maverick,” an “independent thinker,” and “a true progressive.”
That same year, de Leon began to claim that his father was a Chinese cook born in Guatemala, a story nobody had ever heard. In 2018 de Leon failed to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein, but in 2020 he gained a seat on the LA city council. In 2022, he was heard on tape comparing the black adopted son of fellow council member to “a Louis Vuitton bag.”
De Leon survived a recall attempt but has now lost to newcomer Ysabel Jurado. The former state senate boss could possibly run for governor in 2026, perhaps as a bi-racial “Latinobama” figure. Based on his recent actions, Gov. Newsom may set his sights on the White House in 2028. As Trump likes to say, we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Lloyd Billingsley is a policy fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California.
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