Rough&Tumble California Policy and Politics

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McCarthy defends Trump tariffs -- House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Sunday defended the administration for leveraging tariffs on close allies as “standing up” for free trade. Jacqueline Klimas Politico -- 6/3/18

'This is the weirdest race in the country' -- Gil Cisneros and Andy Thorburn, two millionaire Democratic candidates for a battleground House district in Southern California, had been attacking each other so ruthlessly that party leaders encouraged them to meet at an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles earlier this month to force a truce: Play nice, or risk forfeiting a top district to Republicans. Elena Schneider Politico -- 6/3/18

In San Francisco mayor’s race, being No. 2 could be key to winning the race -- With San Francisco’s mayoral campaign clock ticking down, tracking polls show Board of Supervisors President London Breed remains the top choice for the most voters, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Given San Francisco’s ranked-choice voting system, there’s still room for either Supervisor Jane Kim or former state Sen. Mark Leno to overtake Breed with second- or third-choice votes and come out the winner. Matier & Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/3/18

Antonio Villaraigosa’s chance to be California governor hinges on Latino vote -- The California governor’s race has narrowed into a battle for second place, and Republican John Cox’s campaign is “cautiously optimistic” that he has secured that spot after recent polls show the San Diego County businessman stretching his lead over a field that includes former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/3/18

The Big One could leave 250,000-400,000 quake refugees in California. Where will they go? -- When a catastrophic earthquake hits California, buildings will topple and potentially hundreds could be killed. But what gets less attention is the wrenching aftermath of such a huge temblor, which could leave whole neighborhoods torched by fires uninhabitable and hundreds of thousands of people without a home. Rong-Gong Lin Ii, Sarah Parvini in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/3/18

Vandalism, threats, broken friendships: The heated campaign to recall judge in Brock Turner case -- A campaign to recall a judge for a lenient sentence in a high-profile sexual assault case has fractured long-term friendships, divided the liberal Democratic community of Santa Clara County and pitted feminists against feminists. Maura Dolan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/3/18

Who's Running for State Schools Chief and What's with All That Money? -- California’s primary is just a few days away and education is proving to be a key issue in the governor's race — driving millions in funding and rising to the top of voters lists of concerns. But when it comes to the state's top education official — the Superintendent of Public Instruction — most voters have said they don't know how to cast their ballot. Vanessa Rancano KQED -- 6/3/18

SDG&E losing ground to public-energy proposal with vote looming in San Diego -- San Diego Gas & Electric has recently suffered several setbacks in its bid to provide the city of San Diego with 100 percent renewable energy — a proposal competing with a government-run alternative known as community choice aggregation. Mayor Kevin Faulconer has pledged to have the city adopt either community choice or SDG&E’s blueprint to help fulfill the city’s goal of using all green power by 2035. Joshua Emerson Smith in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/3/18

Smolens: Will San Diego be the 'blue wave' canary in a coal mine? -- November will be the real test of how strong the Democratic "blue wave" is, but we may get an early sign from Tuesday’s primary election. And San Diego could be a key indicator. Michael Smolens in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/3/18

As mental health subsides in older generation, what to do about their guns? -- The knock at the bedroom door of the North County home was innocent enough — a daughter calling out to her father on the other side to see if he was OK. But to him, it was the unrecognizable voice an intruder. He armed himself and fired a shot through the door, striking his daughter in the leg. Kristina Davis in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/3/18

Need a little extra money? You'll soon be able to sell and rent your DNA -- Consumers will soon be able to sell or rent their DNA to scientists who are trying to fight diseases as different as dementia, lupus and leukemia. Bio-brokers want to collect everything from someone’s 23andMe and Ancestry.com gene data to fully sequenced genomes. Gary Robbins in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/3/18

Press Democrat Poll finds sharp division in Sonoma County over cannabis cultivation -- Sonoma County voters embraced marijuana legalization when it was on the ballot two years ago, but now that it’s a reality — a rapidly evolving industry and source of ongoing dispute — nearly half of those surveyed say they don’t want cannabis cultivation anywhere near their homes, according to The Press Democrat Poll. Guy Kovner in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat -- 6/3/

Kettmann: The Californization of America -- Across the country, Democrats are winning primaries by promoting policies like universal health insurance and guaranteed income — ideas once laughed off as things that work only on the “Left Coast.” Steve Kettmann in the New York Times$ -- 6/3/18

The latest migrant tool of resistance on the border? A video app -- Filming police with cellphones or body cameras became so common after high-profile shootings of black men in Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore and Chicago that there’s a word for it: “copwatching.” But the practice never spread to the U.S.-Mexico border — until now. Molly Hennessy-Fiske in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/3/18

California Policy & Politics This Morning

Gavin Newsom returns money from a controversial GOP donor -- At a "Gavin for Governor" fundraiser last summer hosted by Republican donors in Newport Beach, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom accepted a $1,000 donation from a controversial Soviet émigré with an extensive history of misrepresenting his business dealings to investors and the U.S. Justice Department. Angela Hart in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/3/18

Antonio Villaraigosa's allies add $1.7 million to their late campaign attacks on Gavin Newsom -- Wealthy supporters of Antonio Villaraigosa reported Saturday spending an additional $1.7 million to oppose Gavin Newsom, bringing their total efforts against the Democratic front-runner to more than $4 million in less than one week, according to campaign finance reports filed with the state. Seema Mehta in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/3/18

In a north-south matchup, Villaraigosa's and Newsom's mayoral records show how they might govern California -- The whiff of rivalry arrived almost as soon as Gavin Newsom and Antonio Villaraigosa ascended to lead California’s two most famed cities. Phil Willon and Seema Mehta in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/3/18

Gavin Newsom warns of threats to unions at campaign stop in Oakland -- Public-sector unions are facing an existential threat and need stronger support from elected officials, candidate for governor Gavin Newsom argued at a firefighter union’s block party Saturday, three days before the primary election. Casey Tolan in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/3/18

Fired-up Bay Area volunteers are secret weapon for Democrats working to flip Central Valley congressional seats -- Before Donald Trump was elected president, Scott Carlson would have been hard-pressed to find the Central Valley town of Ceres on a map. The 63-year-old writer from Palo Alto had rarely set foot in the Valley before, unless you count driving through on the way to Yosemite. Casey Tolan in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/3/18

Candidate, her father have spent millions to elect her California's lieutenant governor -- Sacramento developer Angelo Tsakopoulos and his daughter Eleni Kounalakis have donated $9 million to help her become California's next lieutenant governor. Taryn Luna in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/3/18

Gavin Newsom's wife says she'd 'love' to move into historic governor's mansion -- Jennifer Siebel Newsom said Saturday that if her husband, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, is successful in his bid to succeed Gov. Jerry Brown, moving into the historic governor's mansion in downtown Sacramento would be appealing. Angela Hart in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/3/18

Willie Brown: Gavin Newsom is looking out for No. 1. California Dems need to deal with it -- Gavin Newsom’s backhanded effort to boost Republican businessman John Cox into the second-place slot for the November runoff for governor is not “gaming the system” — it’s simply playing to win. And like it or not, in politics, winning is the name of the game. Willie Brown in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/3/18

Final campaign push in San Diego: walking and phoning -- For weeks, political ads have dominated the local airwaves, and oversized campaign fliers belittling and praising rival candidates have crowded our mailboxes. But on Saturday it all came down to this: knocking on doors and making phone calls — around the clock. Lori Weisberg in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/3/18

LA County Republicans see signs of hope in congressional, legislative district elections -- In the days before primary voting on Tuesday, Republicans in Los Angeles County have been reciting reasons for optimism that 2018 will mark the start of a comeback for their party in one of the nation’s most Democratic-centric regions. One reason is indisputable: The GOP in L.A. County has nowhere to go but up. Kevin Modesti in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 6/3/18

Welcome To The Jungle: Experts Divided Over California’s Top-Two Primary System -- Republicans are at risk of being shut out of California’s races for governor and U.S. Senate on Tuesday. Democrats could face the same fate in several congressional races seen as crucial to retaking the House of Representatives. It’s called the “Jungle Primary” for a reason. Ben Adler Capital Public Radio -- 6/3/18

How 3 Races in California Could Cost Democrats Control of the House of Representatives -- In each of these districts — two in and around Orange County, and the other running south to the San Diego suburbs — Democrats are in danger of missing the general election because they have too many viable candidates, while Republicans may be able to consolidate their votes in favor of just two. This “top two lockout” problem has become a national obsession for Democrats fretful that their planned 2018 “wave election” could crest and subside prematurely in one of their best states. Ed Kilgore New York Magazine -- 6/3/18

California’s ballots won’t all be counted next week, and that's completely normal -- There is one safe prediction about this election week in California: The time it takes to count ballots will be criticized and lampooned as government at its worst, an unacceptable anachronism in a world that now expects instant results. John Myers in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/3/18

Proposal wouldn’t let California public officials earn more than the governor -- Taxpayers outraged over a contract that paid the city manager of a 300,000-population city more than the governor of a 39-million person state weren’t comforted by the explanation that many city managers make even more. Ryan Hagen in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 6/3/18

Walters: Brown may leave with two big projects on the bubble -- During Jerry Brown’s first stint as governor four decades ago, he was openly disdainful of big public works projects, often citing British economist E.F. Schumacher’s 1973 book, “Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered.” Dan Walters Calmatters -- 6/3/18

Single-payer’s big test: can Medicare-for-all win in competitive House districts? -- California is the next big test of whether a new wave of candidates can win backing government health care. Dylan Scott Vox -- 6/3/18

Tony Bennett gets fitting tribute in city where he left his heart -- On Saturday, during a block party in his honor near the Fairmont, Bennett himself unveiled the sign for Tony Bennett Way on the 900 block of Mason Street. The location is already the home of a Tony Bennett statue that was installed in 2016 to mark the singer’s 90th birthday. Ryan Kost in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/3/18

Black, white Oakland churches to merge into one -- One pastor is black, an Oakland native with a congregation of African American families in East Oakland. The other pastor is white, an Oakland transplant with a congregation of predominantly white young singles new to the East Bay city. Jill Tucker in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/3/18

Security way up at outdoor San Diego concerts in wake of 2017 Las Vegas music festival massacre -- Send in the drones. Along with 3-D mapping and a beefed-up police presence that can include officers armed with assault rifles, the growing use of drones is just one of the enhanced security measures some outdoor concert venues in San Diego have enacted in the wake of last fall’s Route 91 Harvest festival massacre in Las Vegas. George Varga in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/3/18

Blue state, red valley: In this part of California, a new generation is more woke than ever -- Sandra Celedon's hometown barely resembles the California we know. There are no Golden Gates or Hollywood walks. No sweeping Malibu vistas. No Pacific fog creeping over a city by the bay. Here, labor leader Dolores Huerta has more star power than Angelina Jolie. Moni Basu CNN -- 6/3/18

Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions

Hunters Point shipyard soil scandal widens as analysis spots suspect parcels -- On four portions of the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard — an EPA Superfund waste site — almost all of the radioactivity measurements that were used to confirm the soil’s safety are “suspect,” according to a newly released analysis by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and two state agencies. Jason Fagone and Cynthia Dizikes in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/3/18

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at rally to call for higher wages for Disneyland Resort workers -- At a rally attended by hundreds of Disneyland Resort workers, Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke out Saturday against wealthy corporations that fail to pay their workers a “living wage.” Hugo Martin in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/3/18

Burger Battle: Cattle Ranchers Challenge Surging Popularity Of 'Impossible'-Style Vegetarian Patties -- For decades, vegetarians have used a variety of nut-and-bean patties as a substitute for one of America’s most popular menu items: the hamburger. But now, a handful of California-based companies are using science to shake things up. Randol White Capital Public Radio -- 6/3/18

Wildfire

The Lesson of How One California Home Survived Last Year's Historic Wildfires -- But unlike many of their neighbors, the couple had a home to go back to after evacuations were over. They had designed it with fire in mind: rather than a typical wooden frame, the home has bones of steel. Katy Steinmetz TIME -- 6/3/18

Cannabis

'This Was a Wild Dream': Cannabis Cup Comes to Sonoma County -- Hundreds gathered Saturday at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa to do something that's pretty rare in this country: legally buy and consume marijuana products at the same place. Sonja Hutson KQED -- 6/3/18

Immigration, Border, Deportation

Work begins on border barrier replacement project in San Diego -- It is the third barrier replacement project to begin this year. Similar projects in Calexico and in Santa Teresa, N.M., are already underway. Funded during the first year of the Trump administration, the San Diego project that got underway Friday will replace fencing that was put up in the 1990s. Kate Morrissey in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/3/18

Health

As opioid crisis grows, medical schools bolster addiction training -- During the three years that Dr. Hannah Snyder worked at San Francisco General Hospital — part of her residency training to become a primary care doctor — she noticed a troubling pattern. Catherine Ho in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/3/18

POTUS 45

In secret memo, Trump’s lawyers argued he has complete power over Justice investigations and could not have committed obstruction -- Lawyers for President Trump argued in a secret memo submitted to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III in January that Trump could not have obstructed the FBI’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election in part because, as president, he holds complete control over federal investigations. Rosalind S. Helderman in the Washington Post$ -- 6/3/18

Beltway

Balz: California’s open primaries are a cautionary tale about political reform -- At a time of broken politics and polarization, the impulse to seek out reforms to the political process is understandable. California, which will hold important primary elections on Tuesday, offers a cautionary tale about how good intentions alone are not enough. Dan Balz in the Washington Post$ -- 6/3/18

-- Saturday Updates

2 climbers dead after falling from Yosemite’s El Capitan -- Two climbers died Saturday in a fall from Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan, officials said. The two people, whose identities have not been released, fell around 8:15 a.m. while climbing the Freeblast route on the iconic granite formation, park rangers said. Kimberly Veklerov in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Carlos Lozano in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/2/18

Democrats in these House races are 'extreme long shots.' Here's why they're still trying -- This is no suburban, coast-hugging battleground. This is Yucca Valley, the part of California where it’s easier to get a signal for the local Christian radio station than for NPR, and the tallest structures for miles are wind turbines that tower over the desert. Christine Mai-Duc, Jazmine Ulloa in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/2/18

Big Tobacco vs. San Francisco in vaping vote -- A major tobacco company is pouring millions of dollars into a ballot initiative that would repeal the country’s strongest effort yet to ban the sale of flavored tobaccos, which are attracting a whole new generation of users including children and teens. Victoria Colliver Politico -- 6/2/18

Housing a defining issue in San Francisco mayor’s race -- The late Mayor Ed Lee cast himself a housing champion, a tower crane-loving bureaucrat who not only put unprecedented resources into subsidized, affordable housing but also pushed more controversial market-rate towers and mid-rises that have reshaped neighborhoods from Hayes Valley to Rincon Hill to Dogpatch. J.K. Dineen in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/2/18

He challenged Feinstein, but Kevin de León is fighting a cast of unknowns -- If polls are to be believed, Sen. Dianne Feinstein is a virtual lock to finish on top in Tuesday’s 32-candidate primary. But those same surveys might as well be looking at different contests when it comes to predicting who will grab the all-important second spot in the election and advance to the fall campaign. John Wildermuth in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/2/18

L.A. County supervisors rarely lose a reelection bid. That probably won't change on Tuesday -- Nearly 40 years ago, as a conservative wave swept the country and installed Ronald Reagan in the White House, two Republican politicians unseated Democratic members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Nina Agrawal in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/2/18

Two challengers in sheriff's race hope to buck tradition. One is backed by more money than the incumbent -- Once you’re sheriff, you’re sheriff for life, or so the thinking goes about an elected position that often receives scant voter scrutiny. Maya Lau in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/2/18

'We have failed': Top USC officials try to reassure students amid gynecologist scandal -- Top administrators at USC are reaching out to students in the wake of misconduct allegations against the university’s longtime gynecologist, acknowledging failings and vowing reforms as they try to address growing outrage over the revelations. Joy Resmovits in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/2/18

Will Tesla investors oust three directors and strip chairman job from Elon Musk? They'll vote Tuesday -- With Tesla in trouble, some investors think it’s time to shake up the board of directors. Shareholders will vote Tuesday whether to dump three directors and replace Elon Musk as board chairman. Few, if any, expect the votes to pass. Russ Mitchell in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/2/18

Lopez: 50 years later, the RFK busboy still waits on someone to follow in Kennedy's footsteps -- Juan Romero has spent half a century trying to move on. He gets up before sunrise, goes to work and paves another road or driveway in the San Jose area, strong as ever at 67. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/2/18