THE BUZZ: SUPERSIZE ME — After enduring years of repeated repudiation in statewide fights, California’s fast food business owners are beefing up their political operations, pouring several million dollars into city and county races in the final weeks before the election. The group, the California Alliance of Family Owned Businesses, last month funneled $4.15 million into four newly-created PACs that are spending in contests in San Diego, the Bay Area, Orange County, and Los Angeles, according to campaign finance records. The group, which is funded mostly by McDonald’s franchise owners in California, started a PAC in January after what some felt was a disappointing compromise with state Democrats over wages and working conditions last year. The spending isn’t quite as sexy as former President Donald Trump’s recent McDonald’s photo op, or as headline-fetching as Vice President Kamala Harris’ supposed stint at the iconic chain, but it does underscore the lingering tensions between labor and the restaurant industry as California's food fight continues. “Local policy can be just as important as statewide policy for these owner-operators,” said Rob Stutzman, a spokesperson for the business alliance. “Part of their plan for political engagement will certainly include local offices up and down the state now and in the future.” Fast food groups for years have been clashing with labor-friendly Democrats in the state Capitol over regulations for California’s more than 700,000 fast food workers. An effort by Los Angeles Assemblymember Chris Holden last year to hold franchisees and fast food corporations jointly liable for workplace violations was fiercely opposed by local owners and the parent companies, including McDonalds. A truce between fast food corporations and labor unions struck in the fall of 2023 appeared to defuse a yearslong power struggle, but left many McDonald’s franchisees feeling sidelined and sore. Now, the restaurant owners, independent of the McDonald's corporation, are looking to create inroads on a local level. The CAFOB committee spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in a few primary races, including $629,000 to thwart Holden's bid for Los Angeles County supervisor, which he lost. But the group appeared to stay out of general election races until late last month, when the four new committees formed and the franchisees began funneling money to local contests. One of the new PACs, “A Better California,” pitched in $350,000 last month in support of Nathan Hochman’s campaign to oust progressive Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón, citing the safety of their restaurants’ customers and employees. Another committee, “A Better Orange County,” has spent nearly $170,000 supporting a candidate for Anaheim City Council and a candidate for Orange County supervisor. Further south, “A Better San Diego” has given $170,000 to boost former Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s bid for county supervisor, and opposing his incumbent opponent, Democrat Terra Lawson-Remer. A campaign consultant for Lawson-Remer characterized the contributions as “big money Trump donors” who are spending heavily to put Faulconer on the board. “Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer’s donors are the regular, everyday San Diegans who don’t have LLCs and trust funds, but dig deep to contribute,” Parke Skelton said in a statement. The fourth franchisee-funded PAC, A Better Bay Area, has pitched into a wide gamut of issues. The group dropped $20,000 in support of former Oakland police chief LeRonne Armstrong ’s bid for city council, and is backing three San Mateo County supervisor candidates, including former Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier. The PAC has also donated to local ballot measures that would fund improvements to San Francisco infrastructure and give tax cuts to small SF businesses. “They’re going to play for the long term,” Stutzman said of the restaurant owners. The PACs could wield significant influence as the fast food fights continue to play out at the local level — and they already have some labor groups prickling. The Bay Area PAC is also targeting Betty Duong, the former head of Santa Clara County’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement who isrunning for the board of supervisors. Jean Cohen, executive officer of the South Bay Labor Council, which has endorsed Duong, said she views the spending as powerful corporations trying to suppress the rights of workers. The South Bay area has one of the highest concentrations of fast food workers outside of Los Angeles, she said, and Santa Clara County has been on the “cutting edge” of workers’ rights for decades. “There's an effort to infuse corporate money into these conversations because the fast food industry doesn't want to see workers gain protections, gain information and gain rights to make their lives better at the expense of their corporate bottom line,” she said. 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? Nothing official announced.
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