House member Loretta Sanchez of Orange County will soon announce her bid for the seat of retiring Senator Barbara Boxer, sources say. If true, Sanchez will be the highest profile candidate to challenge frontrunner Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination. Lauren French and John Breshnahan have the story at Politico.
“Multiple congressional sources said Sanchez is laying plans to enter the race after Easter, although it’s still possible that the Orange County Democrat won’t enter the hotly contested fight…
“Sanchez is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus — and could likely rely on strong support from Hispanics nationwide for fundraising and voter turnout. Any primary challenge would still be an uphill battle for the veteran lawmaker, who has served in Congress since 1997.”
Governor Brown’s water conservation edict, issued yesterday in a dry high Sierra meadow that should have been deep in snow, mandates a 25% reduction in water use for cities and towns. Josh Richman looks at how municipalities plan to meet – or not – the reduction. From the San Jose Mercury News:
"’Some areas have stepped up enormously, but others have not,’ [Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board] said in an interview Thursday. ‘It's sort of a case of collective denial. Getting people over the hope that rain will save us is a psychological barrier. Change is hard.’
“…At its meeting on May 5, the state water board will vote on specific regulations, now being drafted by its staff, that will set varying conservation targets for each city and water district.
“Every community won't be required to cut water use by the same 25 percent. The board, she said, will closely analyze per-capita water use records from each area and set a sliding scale based on who has already conserved significantly and who hasn't.”
Agriculture, the largest user of water in the state, was not similarly restricted. Why? A combo of political influence, and a recognition that the farming industry is already struggling in the face of the worst drought in California’s recorded history. David Siders and Jeremy White have the story for the Sacramento Bee.
“In developing the mandate, Brown viewed the agricultural and urban water systems as two different systems, administration officials said, largely because of the effect of diminished state and federal water allocations to farmers.
“The exemption is significant. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, about 9 million acres of farmland in California are irrigated, representing about 80 percent of the water used by people. Farmers counter that they have already endured severe water cutbacks forcing them to fallow fields, uproot trees and let go of workers.
“’We’ve had folks reduced 50, 80 and 100 percent of their water allocation,’ said Danny Merkley, director of water resources for the California Farm Bureau Federation. ‘We don’t like to see this happening to anybody else, but others are starting to feel what we’ve been experiencing.’”
And, use of private email for public work may be a scandal for Hillary Clinton, but for Jerry Brown it’s not even a speed bump. The Bee reported that the Governor released 113 pages of email transcripts in response to a request from the paper. In short, the transcripts are so boring that the most exciting revelation is that one of Brown’s aides calls him “Gov” in email.
LAT columnist George Skelton has a touching profile of GOP state Senator Janet Nguyen, a first generation American who arrived in California as a refugee at the age of five.
"’We were on welfare with food stamps and bought clothes from the Salvation Army. When I was 10, I'd go along with other people to help clean houses and make a little money. My parents had different odd jobs. We had multiple families living together.’
“Nguyen made it into UC Irvine as a pre-med major but caught the political bug from a political science teacher.
"’My father said, “You escaped a government, now you're going to be part of one?”' she recalls.”
And, it’s Friday, the day we make note of the person who had the worst week in California politics- this week, no contest.
After two drama-filled terms in ‘70s/’80s, Jerry Brown 2.0 has enjoyed a remarkably smooth second run as California’s governor. Gone are the days when the legislature banned him from their chambers, when protesters frequently staked out the capitol, when his appointments (Rose Bird, cough cough) inflamed an angry public.
These days the Gov maintains a friendly rapport with legislative leaders (having overwhelming Dem majorities in both houses probably doesn’t hurt) and solid support (and correspondingly high approval ratings) from the public at large. He vanquished Neel Kashkari, his last political rival, without breaking a sweat – or spending more than a fraction of his campaign fund.
But the foe that Brown can’t vanquish, is nature. Brown has had the misfortune to face severe droughts in both of his governorships, and each drought inexorably leads to discussions of California’s longterm water policy; a debate that neither Brown, nor anyone, can win. There are too many sides, too many interested parties, too many vested interests, too much history, and, frankly, just not enough water.
No one likes to be told what to do, even when they know it’s necessary. This week, Jerry Brown just had to play the heavy, and no amount of snow-free-Sierra ‘optics’ were going to help.