Mike McGuire, call your office

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Sep 04, 2024 View in browser
 
POLITICO California Playbook

By Lara Korte and Dustin Gardiner

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State Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg questions Ken Pimlott, chief of the California Forestry and Fire Protection, about his agencies response to last year's devastating wildfires, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. Fire officials told McGuire and other members of two Senate committees that more funding is needed to call in extra firefighters and dispatchers when weather conditions are ripe for a conflagration. (AP   Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

State Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, in 2018. | AP

THE BUZZ: AGREE TO DISAGREE? — Things between Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Gov. Gavin Newsom are awkward — and, based on their public remarks, only getting more so.

It's not the first time Newsom has called a special session to deal with gas prices — but it's the first time a legislative leader has ever refused such a request, according to longtime Capitol observers.

McGuire's refusal to convene is made even weirder by the fact that he, Rivas and Newsom all agree there’s a need to address gas price spikes. He just doesn't want to do it in the special session.

“The Senate always had the votes and was ready to get these important measures across the finish line this legislative year and deliver the relief Californians need at the pump and on their electricity bills,” he said in a statement Saturday night, later telling reporters “we will be very focused on this issue here in the fall, and look forward to picking it back up.”

It's happening against a backdrop of deepening distrust between the two legislative houses. Assembly Democrats are on board with the special session after complaining last week that they didn’t have enough time to vet the bills by Saturday. Now, they’re moving ahead with the governor despite the Senate’s cold shoulder.

Rivas and Newsom last night announced that they are preparing to introduce special session legislation — carried by Assemblymembers Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and Gregg Hart — that will “tackle the problem of gasoline price spikes.”

“I'm glad to see the Assembly is moving this important proposal forward to save Californians hundreds of millions of dollars at the pump,” the governor said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Senate Dems appear to be in lockstep behind McGuire. They're all being as diplomatic as the situation could possibly permit:

"I respect that the Assembly wanted to take more time," state Sen. Scott Wiener told our Jeremy B. White Tuesday. "In the Senate, we were prepared to move."

But that just raises more questions about why exactly the Senate isn’t playing ball now, and what kind of outcome McGuire is hoping to achieve.

We sent him the following questions, but he didn’t respond.

So, we’re asking them anyway:

Can the Senate legally not convene? 

The fact that McGuire is refusing to convene must mean he thinks it's legally defensible — but it’s murky territory at best. Rivas or Newsom could take him to court if they feel what he’s doing is illegal, though neither has indicated a willingness to do so. The strongest response has come from Newsom, who has asserted that McGuire doesn’t have the latitude to avoid a special session.

Why not just gavel in and refuse to pass anything out? 

A governor can call a special session, but that doesn’t mean lawmakers have to do anything. Some special sessions have been incredibly short as a result; the quickest one, in 1973, lasted just one hour, as Alex Vassar of the California State Library noted.

But McGuire’s outright defiance appears to be unprecedented. And even though he emphatically voiced his respect for Rivas and Newsom on Saturday night, it’s being viewed as an intentional snub towards the other two.

What do you hope to accomplish by refusing to convene?

This is the big question mark for McGuire. He had previously resisted the idea of a special session on the grounds that the Senate had the votes and the ability to get the bills out the door during the regular session. With a special session, lawmakers could still get those proposals to Newsom’s desk — albeit a bit later than McGuire might’ve wanted.

But without Senate participation, anything the Assembly does will languish.

McGuire, speaking to reporters early Sunday morning, seemed to express doubt that a special session could make any expeditious changes. He noted that the sessions can drag on for months, and unless a bill is passed with an urgency clause, it’ll take 90 days to go into effect.

Is the entire Democratic caucus on board with this? 

We have yet to track down any dissent from Democratic senators about McGuire’s decision to buck a special session. The pro tem this weekend described the caucus as “united.” Republican Minority Leader Brian Jones praised McGuire in a statement for “defending the integrity of the legislative process and telling the governor NO.”

Are you worried this protracted fight over oil costs could hurt down-ballot Democrats? 

Calling lawmakers back to Sacramento during peak campaign season could hurt those in tight races, and drawing continued attention to high gas prices could also prove to be a liability for Democrats.

We’ve already seen the National Republican Congressional Committee find a way to slam former state legislator Rudy Salas, who hasn’t served in the Capitol since 2022, for being “conspicuously silent” on Newsom’s plan, which the committee argues would raise gas prices.

GOOD MORNING. Happy Wednesday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook.

You can text us at ‪916-562-0685‬‪ — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts. Or drop us a line at lkorte@politico.com and dgardiner@politico.com, or on X — @DustinGardiner and @Lara_Korte.

WHERE’S GAVIN? Newsom is scheduled to do a press conference with Attorney General Rob Bonta in Sacramento today regarding an Elk Grove housing settlement.

 

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CAMPAIGN YEAR

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 29: Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the California GOP Fall convention on September 29, 2023 in Anaheim, California. Presidential candidates set to speak at the convention include former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and entrepreneur, Vivek Ramaswamy. The event takes place from   September 29 through October 1.   (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the California GOP Fall convention on September 29, 2023 in Anaheim, California | Getty Images

TRUMP TRAIN — Former California Democratic Assemblymember Sebastian Ridley-Thomas is all-in for former President Donald Trump, and he’s got a long list of grievances with his party.

“The Democratic Party seems to have left a lot of people behind, and I’m one of them,” Ridley-Thomas told SacTown Talks podcast host Jarhett Blonien in an interview published Tuesday.

For Ridley-Thomas, the Harris-Walz campaign “leaves a lot to be desired” when it comes to economic policy, particularly for Millennials and Black families grappling with inflation. He said Democrats’ affordable housing plans don’t sufficiently address housing supply issues (context on that here), and he joined Republicans in criticizing a California bill that would help undocumented immigrants buy homes.

If you recall: The former Los Angeles-area lawmaker resigned from his Assembly seat in 2017 while he was the subject of two sexual harassment complaints. He later moved to Nevada, a fact he brought up in Tuesday’s interview before dunking on his former home state.

“Their groceries are out of control. Gas, out of control,” he said. “California’s policies are so taxing that they are draining the energy, the enthusiasm for Democrats out of places like Arizona and Nevada.” — Tyler Katzenberger

CASH DASH

SPOTTED: BIRDS OF A FEATHER — Former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso has pitched in $250,000 to a committee backing Nathan Hochman for Los Angeles’ next district attorney.

Caruso, the billionaire former Republican who spent more than $100 million of his personal fortune on an unsuccessful 2022 mayoral race against Karen Bass, is raising his profile among Democratic voters and is largely seen as a potential candidate for high-profile offices, like governor.

Hochman, another former Republican, is running for DA as an independent this year, hoping to build a coalition of frustrated conservatives and centrist-leaning Democrats to unseat progressive DA George Gascón. 

Caruso’s donation, while notable, isn’t totally out of character for the real estate mogul — he also backed the unsuccessful recall attempt of Gascón in 2022.

 

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CLIMATE AND ENERGY

GAS PRICE GAMBLE: Newsom's decision to call a special session to deal with gas price spikes is pushing lawmakers into a campaign-season oil fight. Read more in last night's California Climate.

Top Talkers

BIG CHECK — Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is supporting San Francisco Mayor London Breed's November reelection fight in a big way, giving $1 million to an independent expenditure committee backing the incumbent, the San Francisco Standard reported.

Breed and the billionaire businessman have been allies for years. Breed endorsed Bloomberg for president in 2020, after Kamala Harris left the race, and Bloomberg contributed $200,000 to the committee behind Breed earlier this year.

SO MUCH FOR THAT — Another attempt to recall Newsom fizzled Tuesday after organizers failed to gather the necessary signatures, the Sacramento Bee reported. The effort launched earlier this year, hoping to capitalize on anger over the state’s yawning budget deficit and arguing that the governor must be stopped before he can make a presidential run of his own.

Republican organizers had also run into legal trouble during the campaign with a deep-pocketed Bitcoin pioneer filing a $1 million lawsuit stemming from the failed 2021 recall effort.

OVER A BARREL — Richmond, the Bay Area city home to major oil refineries, extracted a whopping $550 million payout from Chevron, money that will improve the city’s financial outlook for a decade. But as our colleague Will McCarthy reports, it didn’t take a lawsuit, or a refinery disaster, or years of negotiations. Richmond leveraged the threat of a local initiative that would have taxed every barrel of oil Chevron produces within city limits.

 

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AROUND THE STATE

— Chinese operatives played a central role in organizing San Francisco demonstrations that were designed to disrupt protests when President Xi Jinping visited the city for the APEC summit last fall. (The Washington Post)

— Outgoing Assemblymember Brian Maienschein is running for San Diego city attorney, a gig that would allow him to “double dip” and collect both a pension and salary from the city. (inewsource)

— State lawmakers are taking on conservative local governments in California, passing bills to shut down GOP-led cities that have tried to claw back LGBTQ and abortion rights. (CalMatters)

PLAYBOOKERS

PUT A RING ON IT — Assemblymember Isaac Bryan married his “favorite person on earth,” Lamara Parnell, on Tuesday. Bryan tweeted that the wedding would be an intimate backyard affair, with just the couple’s immediate families. Big congratulations, assemblymember!

PEOPLE MOVES — Nicole D. Bernard is now a special assistant to the mayor of Los Angeles. She most recently was an area representative for the city.

Stacey Leavandowsky and Kaadé Wallace are joining Federal Street Strategies. Leavandowsky most recently was chief of staff for Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.). Wallace previously was the primary Democratic lobbyist for the Consumer Brands Association.

Benjamin Kingsley will join the firm Fenwick as a partner in the government investigations practice in its San Francisco Office. He previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney, where he was chief of the special prosecutions section and chief of the Oakland branch.

STORK ALERT — Erin Landers Peters, communications and public affairs manager at Meta, and Jay Peters, principal at NewEdge Wealth, recently welcomed Emery O’Brien Peters. Pic ... Another pic

BIRTHDAYS — Amber Parrish, executive director of UFCW (Western States Council)… DoorDash’s Chad Horrell … Airbnb’s Liz DeBold Fusco Chase Clymer...

BELATED B-DAY WISHES — (was Tuesday): former Rep. Michael Huffington (R-Calif.) … John Mercurio of the MPA

WANT A SHOUT-OUT FEATURED? — Send us a birthday, career move or another special occasion to include in POLITICO’s California Playbook. You can now submit a shout-out using this Google form.

CALIFORNIA POLICY IS ALWAYS CHANGING: Know your next move. From Sacramento to Silicon Valley, POLITICO California Pro provides policy professionals with the in-depth reporting and tools they need to get ahead of policy trends and political developments shaping the Golden State. To learn more about the exclusive insight and analysis this subscriber-only service offers, click here.

Want to make an impact? POLITICO California has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Golden State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness amongst this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Rebecca Haase to find out how: rhaase@politico.com.

 

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