CA120: Numbers showing sparse turnout for the primary
PAUL MITCHELL, Capitol Weekly: "Going into this gubernatorial primary election, one could have rightly expected to see a pretty good turnout. There are more than 30 open legislative seats for the first time in nearly a decade and competitive congressional races after the shakeup of redistricting.
Statewide contests, including one for governor that netted over 60% turnout in last year’s recall election, head the ticket, and voters get to vote for U.S. Senate — not just once, but twice!
Add to this the impact of California’s progressive election reforms, which have pushed registration to a record 22 million voters, implemented a permanent system of mailing ballots to all voters and even removed the requirement that they pay postage when returning them."
California election: What to know if you still haven’t voted in June primary
The Chronicle, ANNIE VAINSHTEIN: “California’s 2022 primary election is Tuesday - and while it includes some major statewide contests plus high-profile Bay Area measures and issues, including the recall of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, only 14% of voters had returned their ballots as of Monday, according to a tracker by Political Data Intelligence.
• 2022 Voter Guide: Make informed decisions on Bay Area and statewide races
If you’re among the majority who have yet to cast their vote - or if you haven’t even registered - it’s not too late. Here’s what you need to know before time runs out.”
Rick Caruso’s Millions Upend Los Angeles Mayoral Race
CHRISTINE MAI-DUC, Wall Street Journal: "Earlier this year, the mayoral race here looked like it might be a cakewalk for Democratic U.S. Rep. Karen Bass.
Then came Rick Caruso and $40 million.
Since entering the race in February, the billionaire real-estate developer has spent his almost entirely self-funded war chest blanketing television, radio, YouTube and mailboxes with advertisements arguing that a shake-up is needed to address persistent homelessness and rising crime."
Sonoma State University president announces resignation amid sexual harassment scandal
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI: “Sonoma State President Judy Sakaki announced her resignation Monday amid sexual harassment and retaliation allegations involving her and her husband.
Her resignation comes less than two months after published reports revealed that California State University paid $600,000 to a former provost, Lisa Vollendorf, after she reported allegations of sexual harassment involving Sakaki’s husband, Patrick McCallum, according to the Press Democrat.
Vollendorf had reported to the chancellor’s office that several women had accused McCallum of unwanted touching and sexual comments, according to the LA Times.”
San Diego mayor to homeless people: leave encampments or face consequences
GARY WARTH, Union-Tribune: "San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria on Monday pleaded with homeless people living in downtown roadside encampments to take offers for shelter, warning that there would be consequences for those who refuse help.
As the city steps up enforcement of laws against encroaching on sidewalks, Gloria said those consequences could include arrests for people who continue to camp in downtown’s East Village. Three people have been arrested in the neighborhood since the city began escalating enforcement of the law last week.
“We don’t like to do this,” he said at a Monday press briefing with law enforcement and city officials."
California’s chief justice tests positive for COVID — symptoms ‘mild’ for Cantil-Sakauye
DARRELL SMITH, SacBee: "California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye has tested positive for COVID-19 and has mild symptoms, her office announced Monday evening.
Cantil-Sakauye will work in isolation in accordance with state and local guidelines, California State Supreme Court Clerk Jorge Navarrete said in a statement.
She will not, however, participate in remote oral argument on Tuesday. Cantil-Sakauye is fully vaccinated and has received two vaccine booster shots, according to her office.
California legislative races feature intraparty struggles
DON THOMPSON, AP: "Democrats in deep blue California have a virtual lock on overwhelming majorities in the state Legislature for the foreseeable future.
But there still is election drama as voters choose among candidates for 100 legislative seats in Tuesday’s primary election. All 80 seats are up for grabs in the state Assembly, as are half of the seats in the 40-member state Senate.
It’s all the more complicated this year because legislative district boundaries were redrawn to reflect population shifts after the 2020 census, forcing some incumbents to move or introduce themselves to unfamiliar voters."
Barbara Boxer retired from politics. Then her home got redistricted into a GOP seat
The Chronicle, TAL KOPAN: “One morning in late December last year, a Rancho Mirage retiree woke up like many of her neighbors dismayed to find that the state’s redistricting commission had placed her in a new congressional district — a Republican one. She decided to get involved, and started to volunteer her time with a campaign.
It was Barbara Boxer, the former senator and victor in 11 California political contests before her retirement in 2017.
Boxer, a former Bay Area resident, has largely retired to the Palm Springs area, where she helped in 2012 to flip a formerly GOP congressional seat to elect Rep. Raul Ruiz of Palm Desert to represent the Coachella Valley. But California’s citizen redistricting commission last year split the valley in two, placing the part she lives in with the western part of Riverside County, a district represented by Republican Rep. Ken Calvert of Corona.”
Oakland law requiring landlords to pay evicted tenants’ relocation expenses survives Supreme Court review
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: “The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge Monday to an Oakland ordinance requiring property owners who evict tenants at the end of a lease to pay their relocation expenses.
The 2018 law is similar to ordinances in San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles. When renters are being evicted through no fault of their own — for example, when the owner decides to move in or convert the property to a condominium — they must be compensated for costs of finding and moving into a new home. The payments are based on the size of the unit and other factors such as the renters’ family size, age and income.
The ordinance was challenged by property-rights advocates on behalf of Lyndsey and Sharon Ballinger, an Air Force couple who leased their home to another family during an assignment on the East Coast, then retook the property when they were reassigned to Oakland in 2018. After paying the family $6,582 in relocation costs, the Ballingers sued the city, saying they were being penalized for exercising the right to regain their property.”
An investigation found she was touched inappropriately by a coworker. He still works in the California Capitol
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: Faith Pulido arrived at the California Capitol on a sunny morning this March for the first time since leaving her job in the Legislature. She was eager to support her husband at a news conference where he was to speak in support of a health care bill. She had shuffled into formation with other bill supporters, waiting for the press briefing to begin, when she froze.
Just a few feet away, filming the event for the Senate Democratic Caucus, was a former colleague she had accused of sexual misconduct. Six months earlier, an investigation by the Legislature’s Workplace Conduct Unit had found, “based on a preponderance of the evidence,” that the then-66-year-old colleague had made inappropriate comments to Pulido, then 21, and touched her thigh while the two were alone in a car.
But there he was, Pulido said, still working the camera at an event much like the one they were driving to when, she said she later told investigators, he grabbed her inner thigh. “”
With unprecedented spending, Caruso is everywhere. Can the billionaire become overexposed?
LA Times, JAMES RAINEY: “As an information technology engineer and digital native, Tim Hamner Jr. spends a lot of time online, consuming videos, podcasts and news.
But when the 28-year-old clicked on a cooking video the other day, he first got a pitch from an increasingly ubiquitous interloper — Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso.
“All I wanna do is see how to make homemade funnel cakes,” Hamner protested on Twitter, “and I gotta see a Rick Caruso ad every 5 minutes! I’m tired!!!!””
Five planets are aligning this month. Here’s how to catch the rare sight in the Bay Area
The Chronicle, GWENDOLYN WU: “Early to rise these days? Head outside before dawn this month and you’ll catch a glimpse of a rare parade of planets in the sky.
A planetary alignment or conjunction, when a group of planets are in the same part of the sky, takes place in the early morning hours throughout June. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will appear in sequential order from the sun.
While all five “naked-eye” planets - so called because they can be seen without a telescope - are usually visible in different parts of the night sky, it’s rare their orbits take them to the same general area of the sky at the same time.”
Home prices are still skyrocketing in most migration hotspots – but not in this California city
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: “Among the countless changes that swept across the U.S. during the pandemic were increased migration out of many big population centers - including the Bay Area - and a record surge in home prices nationwide.
But how do home price increases in migration magnets compare to the large metropolitan areas that are losing residents, like the Bay Area? Are more affordable areas becoming less so, as new buyers rush into the housing market? Are home-price increases more tempered in areas seeing lots of departures?
An analysis of data from the 25 largest U.S. metro areas collected by real estate listings website Redfin shows that these trends are often true, including in the Bay Area.”
Biden nominates new U.S. attorney for Los Angeles region
KEVIN RECTOR, LA Times: "President Biden nominated E. Martin Estrada on Monday to serve as the next U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.
If confirmed by the Senate, Estrada, a former federal prosecutor who now is a partner in a corporate law firm, would helm the most populous U.S. attorney’s district in the country, covering some 20 million people across seven counties.
Estrada, a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson, previously served in the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A. as deputy chief of its violent and organized crime division."
An O.C. lawyer won a personal-injury case. Then came the celebration video, and an apology
LA Times, CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD: “Robert L. McKenna III, a medical malpractice attorney, was telling an Orange County jury how utterly meritless, insulting and outrageous was the case against his client, a gastroenterologist. The plaintiffs’ demand for $10 million for the death of their father, a 49-year-old forklift operator, amounted to nothing less than “extortion,” he said.
“I take pride in what I do, and I’ve got to tell you, in the 30 years I have been doing this, I have never seen a more insulting, factually devoid presentation in my entire career,” the Huntington Beach attorney insisted at the trial in April.
McKenna told jurors to disregard the death certificate, which blamed the death on sepsis and peritonitis due to a colon perforated by a feeding tube, which his client had inserted. He pointed to failures by other hospital staff, and argued that the patient died from other causes. This, he argued, was a cash grab.”
