Elk Grove News.net

Will other Republican candidates follow Schubert's lead to avoid #TFG questions - Silence is Complicity

2021-09-26T12:00:00.006-07:00

Sacramento County District Attorney Ann Marie Schubert announcing her
State Attorney General candidacy. |

Do the names Neel Kashkari or Ron Gold ring a bell with you? If not, don't feel bad because most California voters probably don't recognize their names.

Kashkari was vanquished by Jerry Brown in 2012 in the governor's race, and Gold was beaten by Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2014 race for California Attorney General. Kashkari and Gold were both Republican nominees in the days before the top two finisher voting system.

The last two Republican's to win statewide office were Arnold Schwarzenegger and Steve Poizner in 2006 for governor and insurance commissioner, respectively. It has become so dire for statewide Republican candidates in the last two U.S. Senate races, voters had to choose between two Democratic candidates.

So it is no surprise in her political calculus, in 2018, Sacramento District Attorney Ann Marie Schubert left the Republican party and became a decline to state. Earlier this year, Schubert announced her candidacy for California Attorney General against incumbent Democrat Rob Bonta, who was appointed earlier this year by Gov. Gavin Newson.

Even though she is no longer in the GOP, Schubert holds law and order positions closely aligned with traditional Republican voters. Schubert will also have support from moderate Democratic elected officials like California Assemblymember Jim Cooper, which could help sway some voters.

Given the Democratic machine will probably coalesce around Bonta in the primary, Schubert has a realistic chance to make it to the general election in California's top-two finisher system. Although unaligned with any party, Schubert will have all the makings associated with a Republican against Bonta, who is oriented towards consumer rights and social justice reform issues in his candidacy.

Regardless of her decline to state status, will Schubert be able to avoid being Eldered as a Trump accolade by the Democratic machine? Undoubtedly she'll try dodging questions about any Trump affiliations, but if she does a half-hearted condemnation of #TFG (The Former Guy), perhaps it will be a wink and a nod to MAGA voters and generating numerous TV attack ads.

Closer to home, will Republican Elk Grove City Councilmember Pat Hume deploy a similar strategy as he seeks to replace long-serving District 5 Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli? While local races are non-partisan, most politicians proudly wear their political affiliations - Hume is no exception - and more importantly, many voters choose based on party.

Even if Hume were to drop his Republican affiliation if he has not done so already, can he dodge questions about Republican policies once antithetical to their governing principles, as well as his thoughts on #TFG and his January 6 coup attempt? And, will voters care?

Conversely, Hume is running in an area of Sacramento County with a large share of MAGA voters so he could thumb his nose to political calculus and fully embrace #TFG and all it stands for. Regardless of his campaign strategy, if elected, Hume's kindred spirit on the Sacramento Board of Supervisors undoubtedly would be anti-vax conspiracy theory enabling Supervisor Sue Frost.

Like Schubert, Hume could try avoiding guilt by association and be a dropout Republican. But does that act change the heart of politicians like Schubert or Hume without forcefully renouncing the January 6 coup attempt and simultaneously defending the Constitution?

Silence is complicity.

Decline in substitute teachers challenges school districts

2021-09-26T08:00:00.023-07:00

By Donna Glassman-Sommer & Marvin Lopez, Special to CalMatters |

California’s teacher shortage means most quality substitute teachers are being hired on full time. At the same time, there has been a steep decline in applications for substitute teaching credentials since last January.

In short, we’re creating a substitute teacher shortage as we try to ensure great teachers are leading our classrooms. The good news: You can help.

Substitute teachers play a vital role in the success of students and teachers. Students spend, on average, approximately more than 10 days with substitute teachers during a given school year. Not having adequate support during these days has shown a negative impact on students’ achievement. Substitute teachers maintain healthy and successful learning environments for students and provide teachers the time and energy they need to build their professional skills to best support students.

For some schools, access to quality substitute teachers has been an ongoing challenge. In Inyo County, the office of education proactively worked to build a pool of quality substitute teachers.

For Inyo, this investment had two benefits: 1. Providing coverage to empower current teachers to take part in professional development and 2. Ensuring students have high-quality education when their teachers are continuing their own learning.

Through support of a Cal Ed Teacher grant, new substitute teachers who signed on to be available to Inyo County schools from the 2018-19 through 2020-21 school years received comprehensive training and resources for success in the classroom, as well as support for examinations for teachers, or CSET. This dedication to developing substitutes’ skills provided access to continuity in teaching and learning for students.

Full-time teachers could take advantage of professional learning, networking and collaboration opportunities. Most importantly, teachers felt secure and confident knowing students continued receiving a high-quality education without skipping a beat.

California is investing in teachers this year but there needs to be more focus on substitutes as part of the solution.

To expand the pool of potential substitute teachers, state policymakers need to collaborate and reexamine CalSTRS existing policies that prevent retired teachers, under state and federal law, from doing substitute teaching within their first six months of retirement. Retired teachers have experience leading students through their educational journeys and are familiar with the communities they served.

Having opportunities for retired teachers to temporarily work to continue helping local schools while solving a statewide shortage of teachers is a short-term solution, but one that is needed this school year.

Having the support of policymakers is only part of the solution. The support and involvement of all our communities is also important to make a difference; this is how you can help:

Research requirements to be a substitute teacher and see if this is a good fit for you or someone you might know. This can be your way of giving back to your community and helping our next generation of young scholars.
Call your local district and neighborhood schools and find out how you can provide additional support on campuses. If not as a substitute, it’s likely volunteers are needed.
Attend career job fairs to learn more about what it takes to be an educator in today’s world and how you can support districts who might need higher levels of support.

Recruiting and retaining enough substitute teachers to help solve the shortage won’t be an easy task. This is a statewide problem that will be solved locally with the help of many people, people like you. Even if you’ve never worked in education, take a moment to learn more. What could be an occasional day of work for you could be what provides the consistency students in your town need to learn, grow and succeed. Follow us on Twitter @ElkGroveNews

Elk Grove News Minute: Politicians - Tribalism starts, ends with you and your ilk

2021-09-25T06:00:00.006-07:00

Two weeks ago was a rare moment of national unity on the 20th anniversary of the 9 -11 attacks. But as one Elk Grove, Calif. elected official noted, that unity quickly evaporated.

Listen Time 1 Minute

Follow us on Twitter @ElkGroveNews
Copyright by Elk Grove News © 2021. All right reserved.

Advocates Say Governor Newsom's $15 Billion Climate Package Fails to Deliver Action on Fossil Fuels

2021-09-24T15:25:00.001-07:00

Governor Newsom highlights over $15 billion climate package in Sequoia National Park. Photo courtesy of the Governor's Office. |

Sacramento, CA -- Against a backdrop of trees at the site of the KNP Complex Fire in Sequoia National Park as wildfires rage across California, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the California Comeback Plan’s $15 billion climate package — the largest of its kind in the country.

Although climate justice and environmental advocates described the package as “impressive,” Food and Water Watch said the package lacks the “ultimate fire prevention method”: halting new permits for the drilling of oil and gas in California.

The Governor signed legislation outlining investments in the package to “build wildfire and forest resilience, support immediate drought response and long-term water resilience and directly protect communities across the state from multi-faceted climate risks, including extreme heat and sea level rise.”

“California is doubling down on our nation-leading policies to confront the climate crisis head-on while protecting the hardest-hit communities,” said Governor Newsom. “We’re deploying a comprehensive approach to meet the sobering challenges of the extreme weather patterns that imperil our way of life and the Golden State as we know it, including the largest investment in state history to bolster wildfire resilience, funding to tackle the drought emergency while building long-term water resilience, and strategic investments across the spectrum to protect communities from extreme heat, sea level rise and other climate risks that endanger the most vulnerable among us.”

When the Governor signed the state budget and related legislation in July, he and legislative leaders agreed to additional discussions during the summer to further refine steps to advance their shared and funded priorities, including natural resources investments, according to the Governor’s Office.

The legislation signed today details some of the most important investments funded in the over $15 billion climate package, including a $1.5 Billion Wildfire and Forest Resilience Package, a $5.2 Billion Water and Drought Resilience Package, a $3.7 Billion Climate Resilience Package, $1.1 Billion to Support Climate Smart Agriculture and a $3.9 Billion Zero-Emission Vehicle Package.

“The climate package also includes $270 million to support a circular economy that advances sustainability and helps reduce short-lived climate pollutants from the waste sector, and $150 million that will support urban waterfront parks, with a focus on underserved communities,” the Governor’s Office state.

More information on the over $15 billion climate package can be found in the Department of Finance’s addendum to its enacted budget summary. Click here for the budget addendum.

Governor Newsom also signed a number of new climate measures to “protect communities and advance the state’s climate and clean energy efforts.”

Legislation to boost drought and wildfire resilience includes:

• SB 552 by Senator Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) to ensure small and rural water suppliers develop drought and water shortage contingency plans and implement drought resiliency measures to prevent and prepare for future water shortages;

• SB 403 by Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) to allow the State Water Resources Control Board to order consolidation of an at-risk water system or domestic well in a disadvantaged community;

• SB 109 by Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa) to create the Office of Wildfire Technology Research and Development at CAL FIRE to evaluate emerging firefighting technology; and

• AB 697 by Assemblymember Ed Chau (D-Arcadia), which enables the state to plan, manage and implement forest restoration projects on national forest lands through an expanded Good Neighbor Authority Program.

Food & Water Watch’s California Director Alexandra Nagy released a statement in response to the press conference, noting that leaving out such as a “key accelerator” as drilling for fossil fuels is “wildly short sided.”

“Governor Newsom’s $15 billion climate package is impressive in its scope and emphasis on electrification and fire prevention, but it lacks the ultimate fire prevention method: stopping new permits for the drilling of fossil fuels,” stated Nagy. “There can be no discussion of resiliency in the face of wildfires without stopping the rampant expansion of fossil fuel drilling and infrastructure immediately.”

“Under Newsom’s administration over 9,000 oil and gas permits have been granted to fossil fuel companies, directly fueling the flames of these scorching wildfires. Governor Newsom is absolutely correct in his assertion that our climate crisis has accelerated to the point where wildfire season is all year round. But leaving out such a key climate change accelerator as fossil fuels from the most ambitious climate package in the country is wildly shortsighted,” concluded Nagy.

Other member groups of the VISION (Voices in Solidarity Against Oil in Neighborhoods) also criticized Newsom for failing to end oil and gas drilling in the state.

“While today’s announcement from Governor Newsom is historic, we can only hope that his administration follows through on their commitment to climate action by ending the harm of oil and gas extraction where it impacts people first,” said Kobi Naseck, Coalition Coordinator, VISIÓN (Voices in Solidarity Against Oil in Neighborhoods). “It’s time for California to end the racist legacy of neighborhood oil and gas extraction and move toward a just transition by enacting minimum 2,500ft setbacks now and an end to new permits within that zone until a health and safety rule takes effect.”

In a tweet responding to the Governor’s climate package, Greenpeace USA said, “Throwing $$$ at the problem while continuing to drive climate chaos is like trying to mop up an overflowing bathtub without first turning off the faucet. @CAgov, it's time to invest in CA's future and stop drilling that is #FuelingTheFlames!”

Also today, Elected Officials Protecting America — California held a virtual press conference asking Governor Newsom to declare a climate emergency, thereby following the science in the recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that spurred UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to say, “This is a Code Red for humanity.” The climate crisis is a major topic on this week’s U.N. General Assembly meeting agenda in New York.

According to the US Drought Monitor, 90 percent of the state is mired in the “extreme drought” category, heightening conditions for fires to spread easily. The fires this year have already put the state on track to outpace that of 2020, the worst on record.

“California continues to be one of the largest producers of oil and gas in America,” said Firebaugh City Councilmember Felipe Perez, EOPA California Leadership Council. “As long as the state produces the fuel of the climate crisis, we cannot seriously claim to be decarbonizing the economy — for the Californian economy is intertwined in the global economy. We must stop fueling the flames of climate change caused by the oil and gas industry. As long as the governor issues drilling permits, lets fracking continue, and allows refineries to operate we are part of the problem. We need to show the way and be a part of the solution.”

Today’s press conference took place today as the Department of Conservation’s CalGEM continues to approve new and reworked oil and gas permits in Kern County and elsewhere in California, although the approval of fracking permits has declined dramatically in recent months, with the agency denying another 42 fracking permits in August.

The overall number of oil and gas permits approved under Newsom now totals 9,014 since he took office in January 2019, according to NewsomWellWatch.com, a website run by Consumer Watchdog and FracTracker Alliance that maps all California oil wells. CalGEM approved 1,019 oil and gas permits in the first six months of 2021.

Total permit approvals to drill or rework new oil wells fell by 64% in the first six months of 2021 over the same period last year, “giving Governor Newsom an excellent opening to more decisively transition off of fossil fuels,” according to the two groups. The number of permit applications filed by oil and gas companies also fell by 52%.

“Overall, rates of both permit approvals and counts of permit applications to drill new wells have dropped in 2021,” said Kyle Ferrar, Western Program Coordinator at FracTracker Alliance. “While the market traditionally drives permit application counts, Governor Newsom now has the opportunity to reduce the expansion of oil extraction. Starting with a responsible setback for Frontline Communities of at least 2,500 feet from drilling operations, Newsom can limit new drilling and begin California’s transition away from the stranglehold of big oil.”

“The market is the single most important factor suppressing permit applications, but Governor Newsom is also sending the oil industry the right signals by rejecting fracking permit applications and announcing an end to fracking by 2024,” said Consumer Advocate Liza Tucker. “Governor Newsom now has a golden opportunity to seize the moment and come forward with a decisive transition plan off of fossil fuels that includes switching oil workers away from production toward desperately needed well remediation.”

For more information and maps on oil and gas drilling in Los Angeles County, please read Kyle Ferrar’s piece, “It’s Time to Stop Urban Oil Drilling,” https://www.fractracker.org/?p=65832

As Elk Grove announces zoo relocation option, Steinberg says not so fast - 'We love our Sacramento zoo'

2021-09-24T10:45:00.004-07:00

Although it cannot be called a shot across the bow, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is not giving up keeping the Sacramento Zoo in Sacramento.

Steinberg's statement, which was posted on Twitter, made it clear that he would not let the zoo move to its younger southern neighbor without at least a discussion before the Sacramento City Council. Steinberg said, "I will place this on the agenda very quickly so we can have a full council and community about what it would take" to keep the zoo in Sacramento.

Paid political advertisement

Before yesterday's announcement that Elk Grove and the Sacramento Zoological Society would explore moving the institution, there were discussions to relocate the facility to several possible sites, including North Natomas and the Sleep Train Arena site. Even though a zoo move had been studied, it never appeared as a hearing item before the Sacramento City Council.

Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen told EGN that as a courtesy, she called Steinberg and Sacramento City Councilmember Angelique Ashby yesterday before the formal announcement was made. While Ashby supports the move noting it is good for the region, Steinberg did not respond to her communications as he was in meetings, according to Singh-Allen.

"She understands [the] regional approach and big picture," Singh-Allen said.

While Steinberg said while he wants to work on retaining the zoo, he also acknowledged many challenges facing Sacramento while it tries to expand its creative economy. He noted, "the zoo question ought to be considered in this broader context."

We love our @SacramentoZoo… pic.twitter.com/Sm9bYDNcbe
— @mayor_Steinberg (@Mayor_Steinberg) September 23, 2021

'Alert' suspect taken into custody by Elk Grove Police dies at area hospital

2021-09-23T21:20:00.021-07:00

Mental Health Clinician was dispatched to the incident

An unidentified male who was taken into custody this afternoon by Elk Grove Police died at an area hospital

According to Elk Grove Police, officers were dispatched to the area near Laguna Park Drive and Seasons Drive in the Laguna neighborhood by medical emergency personnel for the Cosumnes Fire Department. Responding officers located fire department personnel standing near an adult male who was reportedly acting erratically and standing aside of a vehicle in the street.

As part of the response team, the department's Mobile Crisis Support Team, which included a mental health clinician, was dispatched to the scene.

As officers tried to detain the man, he physically resisted the officer’s efforts and a struggle ensued where he kicked the officers and continued on the ground. Officers gained control and handcuffed the man.

While he was seated, he reportedly hit his head on the concrete and while officers were speaking to him, he again resisted detainment and kicked an officer, who placed the male in a WRAP, safe restraint device. The officers who were involved in this incident were not injured.

After detaining the male, who was reportedly alert and speaking, he was taken to an area hospital for medical clearance prior to incarceration. While at the hospital, the male remained alert, conscious and speaking but at approximately 2:45 p.m., he suffered an unknown medical emergency. Despite efforts from medical staff, the male died.

The name of the deceased has not been released and identification will be made by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.

An inquiry surrounding the death will be conducted by the department’s Investigation Bureau, which is standard practice for an in-custody death. In their press release, the department also noted "to maintain full transparency and in accordance with policy, there will also be two independent reviews into the incident, one by the Elk Grove Police Department’s Professional Standards Bureau as well as one by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office."

In-custody death reported by Elk Grove Police

2021-09-23T19:05:00.006-07:00

This afternoon the Elk Grove Police Department has reported the death of an in-custody person.

Information about the incident is scant, but on their social media feeds police have said it occurred in the city's Laguna neighborhood near Seasons Drive and Laguna Park Drive. Traffic in the area is restricted as police conduct an investigation.

The incident was first reported about 4 p.m. today. Their statement said:

"The investigation into an in-custody death is being conducted by the Elk Grove Police Department’s Investigation Bureau,which is standard practice for any in-custody death. At this time the roadway will remain closed and additional info will be released once it becomes available."

Police investigation underway in the area of Laguna Park Drive and Seasons Drive. We will update with additional information as it becomes available. There is no threat to the community. pic.twitter.com/ifpGvLy3Pd
— EGPD (@ElkGrovePD) September 23, 2021

Sacramento Zoo considering a move to Elk Grove's underdeveloped SEPA employment center

2021-09-23T13:30:00.014-07:00

The proposed relocation of the Sacramento Zoo would put the new facility near
the soon to open Sky River Casino. |

In an announcement made today, the Sacramento Zoo is considering moving its operation to Elk Grove.

According to information released by the City of Elk Grove, over the next six months, Elk Grove and the Zoological Society will explore relocating and expanding the facility to Elk Grove. The zoo is currently located on a 14.7-acre parcel in Sacramento's Land Park neighborhood.

If an agreement is reached, the new zoo will be located in south Elk Grove in the Kammerer Urban Design Study Area, part of the city’s Southeast Policy Area (SEPA). The site is an approximately 60-acre northern portion of a 98-acre parcel located at the northwest intersection of Kammerer Road and Lotz Parkway.

To facilitate the possible relocation, Elk Grove recently secured an option to purchase the property from developer Kamilos Companies, which it would exercise if discussions with the Zoological Society result in an agreement. That purchase option was discussed at last night's City Council meeting and approved by a 5 - 0 vote.

The 1,200-acre SEPA planning area in Elk Grove is the largest undeveloped area in the city's current boundaries. The area is designated as an employment center, but there has been little interest from developers, particularly in the post-COVD-19 era, where more employees have become home-based.

During last night's city council meeting, Elk Grove Economic Development Director Darrell Doan, without disclosing who was interested in the 60-acre parcel, said local developer Kamilos Company beat the city and purchased the property. As a result, the city will need to purchase the property from Kamilos after they close escrow in about 30 days.

"Mr. Kamilos beat us to the punch," Doan admitted during his presentation.

If the city exercises the option and purchases the parcel, it would cost about $6.6 million, according to Doan, who said the prolific developer has been gracious in his dealing with the city on the parcel. Kamilos has also been a frequent contributor to current and past Elk Grove mayors and council members.

"He, I think, very graciously, entertained our desire to buy a piece of property from him," Doan said. "He's going a "flip" to us; he's not going to make a ton of money."

The current zoo has been located in Land Park for 94 years, and there are no options to expand operations. Relocation to a larger parcel in Elk Grove would allow the construction of updated and expanded facilities.

“Our first priority is always doing what is best for the animals,” Zoological Society Board President Elizabeth Stallard said. “That commitment is driving this opportunity to provide the zoo’s animals with exceptional care in a larger, more modern facility that can better meet their needs and, in turn, inspire and connect more people with the natural world."

EGUSD Trustees hemmed in by school bus drivers, union on wage negotiations during public comment

2021-09-22T10:45:00.009-07:00

During their September 21 meeting, EGUSD Trustees heard extensive public comment
on school bus driver wages. |

A collection of Elk Grove Unified school bus drivers and union representatives made the most of their three-minute allotments during public comment to paint an unsavory picture of districts' labor practices.

The comments made during the Tuesday, September 21 meeting of the Elk Grove Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting provided them an opportunity to air their grievances with ongoing wage negotiations. By law, the seven-member board of trustees cannot comment on non-agenda items or ongoing negotiations.

The labor dispute between the 100-plus drivers in Amalgamated Transit Union Local 256 and the district centers on the bus fleet and wages. While many of the school bus drivers speaking stressed their love of transporting district students, Tuesday night's comments focused on wages which were characterized as the lowest in the region.

One of the speakers making an impassioned plea for living wages was Silvia Lopez-Garcia, who asked the trustees if they could live on full-time wages of $2,000 per month. Lopez-Garcia also noted that even though she often spends up to 10 hours a day at work, the district's low wages compelled her to seek government food and medical assistance to keep her family afloat.

I get food stamps, do you hear me? I work 10 hours a day, I care for these children, I put them first, and I get food stamps," she said. "Think about that; you come to work and work so hard that you have to apply for food stamps and people look down at you."

See the entire commentary below.

Also speaking on behalf of the workers was ATU Local 256 attorney Anthony Booth who said the school bus drivers' wages were not equitable compared to other district employees covered by collective bargaining agreements. Booth noted district teachers have the second-highest wages in the region, but school bus drivers were at the bottom, and the four-percent across the board increase offered to all collective bargaining units is unfair for the district's school bus drivers.

Stressing that he was not opposed to teacher's pay, Booth noted "teachers with the four-percent salary increase, and there are one, two, three, four, five districts that all pay less [than EGUSD]." See the entire commentary below.

Another school bus driver speaking formally during a bargaining unit hearing item noted that the generous pay of school administrators is akin to executives at multi-billion dollar private corporations.

"This is a public school district, funded by tax dollars," Glen Olivera, ATU Local 256 representative, said during his presentation.

Olivera noted that EGUSD Superintendent Dr. Christopher Hoffman's total compensation package is "more than what the President of the United States makes in a year."

School bus drivers have been working on a one-year extinction that expired on June 30 to a previous contract. Although the ATU Local 256 representatives report they continue to negotiate in good faith, they could invoke a strike if talks break down and would have support from other AFL-CIO bargaining units not to cross picket lines.

Virtual town hall meeting on Elk Grove affordable housing to be held tomorrow

2021-09-22T09:45:00.002-07:00

The Sacramento Housing Alliance (SHA) will conduct a virtual townhall meeting on Thursday night.

The meeting is meant to give Elk Grove residents input on the city's implementation of affordable housing units. The meeting will feature three panelist including Kathy Creswell, President of SHA, Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen, and Sarah Bontrager, Elk Grove's housing program manager.

The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. and can be viewed view SHA's Facebook or Zoom. Registration for Zoom is available here.

Rep. Bera to hold Service Academy information day

2021-09-21T17:00:00.001-07:00

Rep. Ami Bera has announced his office will conduct an information workshop for students interested in learning about enrollment in the Service Academy's.

"Every year, I'm privileged to nominate bright and hardworking students to attend our nation's military and service academies," Bera said in the announcement for the session. "Our service academies are some of the top universities in the country and help build strong leaders in our military and beyond."

The October 2 virtual event is open to all high school students interested in applying to a service academy as well as their parents, teachers, and guidance counselors. More information about the Service Academy Nomination process and its requirements is available here.
As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Bera can nominate up to ten students every year to each of the five service academies.
Registration for the October 2 workshop can be completed here.
Follow us on Twitter @ElkGroveNews
Copyright by Elk Grove News © 2021. All right reserved.

Campaign updates - Nguyen files papers for 2022 reelection; Brewer, Chaires-Espinoza & Singh-Allen visit job training

2021-09-20T15:30:00.018-07:00

With June primaries about nine months away and the general election just over a year from now, Elk Grove-based candidates are gearing up for their campaigns.
Last week Elk Grove District 4 Councilmember Stephanie Nguyen filed papers with the Elk Grove City Clerk's office indicating she will run for reelection to a second full four-year term. Earlier this year, Nguyen had dissolved her previous campaign committees.
Although Nguyen filed reelection paperwork, she is interested in running for the California 9th Assembly District seat occupied by fellow Democrat Jim Cooper. Nguyen's decision to run for that position office hinges on Cooper's decision to run for Sacramento County Sheriff.
Cooper, who unsuccessfully ran against current Sheriff Scott Jones in 2010 and had a 30-year career with the sheriff's department, has expressed interest in running in 2022 but has not announced his decision. If Cooper runs for sheriff and vacates the Assembly contest, Nguyen and other candidates are expected to jump into the race.
In another race for what will be an open seat for the first time in 28 years, Cosumnes Community Services District Director Jaclyn Moreno is holding a fundraising event this week in her bid for the District 5 seat on the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. Current Supervisor Don Nottoli has decided not to seek an eighth-term.

Paid political advertisement.

So far, the opening has attracted three candidates, but one has already dropped out. Along with Moreno, Elk Grove City Councilmember Pat Hume declared his candidacy and has been actively fundraising, but the third candidate who entered earlier this year, former Elk Grove Mayor Gary Davis, has dropped out.
Should no other candidates enter the race, the two-way contest for the 5th District seat could be viewed as a proxy war between Republican and Democratic control of the five-member Sacramento Board of Supervisors. Hume, a Republican, would likely align with Supervisor Sue Frost, and Democratic Moreno would probably be more aligned with supervisors Patrick Kennedy and Phil Serna.
The differences between the Frost and Kennedy-Serna wings were on display last week when Frost voted against a non-binding supervisor's resolution condemning COVID19 misinformation. The newest supervisor, Republican Rich Desmond, offered qualified support and joined Kennedy, Nottoli and Serna in support of the resolution.
Moreno's fundraising event is hosted by several elected officials, including Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg. Several unions, including Local 256 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, are also hosts.
Last week Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen, Cosumnes Community Services District Director Rod Brewer, who is running for the District 2 seat on the Elk Grove City Council that is being vacated by Hume, and Elk Grove Unified School District Trustee Nancy Chaires-Espinoza met with Sheet Metal Workers job training program representatives.
Brewer, who will have to vacate his seat on the CCSD Board of Directors, is one of four candidates running to date for the District 2 vacancy on the Elk Grove City Council. Singh-Allen, who has no announced opponents, is running for a second two-year term next year.

Elk Grove Week at a Glance - Week of September 20

2021-09-20T11:00:00.002-07:00

Let’s Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month!
9/20 Virtual Economic Equity Round Table (3 p.m.)
9/20 Trails Committee Meeting (6 p.m.)
9/21 Diversity & inclusion Commission Meeting (6 p.m.)
9/21 Youth Commission Meeting (6 p.m.)
9/22 City Council Meeting (6 p.m.)
9/23 NeighborGood Market (4 p.m.)
9/23 Elk Grove Housing for All Town Hall Meeting (5:30 p.m.)
9/24 Party in the Plaza (5 p.m.)
9/24 Peace & Love Musical Revue (7 p.m.)
9/25 Uncorked and Uncapped Elk Grove (6 p.m.)
9/28 Housing and Homelessness Town Hall Meeting (6 p.m.)
9/30 NeighborGood Market (4 p.m.)
9/30 Cultural Connections: Hispanic Heritage Month (6:30 p.m.)
10/2 Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin Festival (10 a.m.)
10/2 First Saturday Art Reception (4 p.m.)
10/3 Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin Festival (10 a.m.)

Full speed ahead on overhauling California recalls

2021-09-20T10:00:00.005-07:00

By Lauren Rosenhall @LaurenRosenhall | CalMatters.org

In summary

The day after Gov. Newsom easily defeats the recall, Democrats start a push to make recalls more difficult.

With the wreckage of the failed recall attempt against Gov. Gavin Newsom still smoldering, California Democrats have reached a new consensus: They really don’t want to do that again.

On the morning after voting ended and recall candidates conceded, the chairpersons of the election committees in the state Assembly and Senate said they’re kicking off a public debate to overhaul California’s recall process.

“Californians are very frustrated that we just spent $276 million on this recall election that, from the looks of it, certified what voters said three years ago and what voters could have said next year,” Assemblymember Marc Berman of Los Altos said at the virtual press conference today.

In unofficial and partial statewide returns, 5.8 million Californians voted to keep Gov. Newsom in office, compared to 3.3 million who voted to remove him. Newsom, himself, says the recall has been “weaponized.”

“The voters want to see a more democratic process put in place that keeps elected officials accountable, but prevents political gamesmanship,” added Sen. Steve Glazer of Orinda.

Berman and Glazer said they plan to hold joint hearings as soon as next month. They also want the discussion to be bipartisan.

The Little Hoover Commission, a nonpartisan, independent state oversight agency, also announced today that it would be looking into possible changes to the state recall.

But it’s not clear if any Republicans, who put so many electoral chips on the recall, will get on board.

“Democrats continuously try to manipulate the rules to support their political interests, so it’s not surprising to see them trying to do it again at the expense of voters they were elected to serve,” California GOP Chairperson Jessica Millan Patterson said in a statement. “They wouldn’t have to worry about a recall if they were doing their jobs and addressing wildfire prevention, homelessness, crime, taxes and fixing the broken unemployment department. You want to prevent a recall, do your job.”

Republican Kelly Seyarto from Murrieta, vice chairperson of the Assembly election committee, was non-committal. “I am looking forward to participating in these hearings to ensure that we have a recall process that continues to hold elected officials accountable and protects the rights of voters to participate in our democracy,” he said in an emailed statement.

GOP political consultant Dave Gilliard is skeptical that any members of his party will ultimately back a change to the recall rules. “There is zero chance any Republican will go along,” said Gilliard, who worked on the successful 2003 campaign to recall Democrat Gray Davis, as well as this one.

Sen. Josh Newman, a Democrat from Brea who in 2018 became the most recent state official to be removed from office by recall, also doubts whether any recall reform will be bipartisan. “I would be tickled pink if any member of the Republican caucus on either side of the Legislature stepped up to support meaningful changes to the recall at this point,” said Newman, who was elected again in 2020.

Today, Newman said he will introduce two constitutional amendments to change the process: One to make it more difficult for recalls to qualify for the ballot, and a second that would replace a recalled governor with the lieutenant governor.

The recall’s unusual rules

Once a rarely used — and to many voters, thoroughly obscure — provision of the state constitution, California’s recall is now the subject of unprecedented scrutiny. That’s because though the state’s last Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was elected via recall in 2003, this year’s attempt put some of the system’s quirks into sharp relief.

“California laws should not allow an elected official to be recalled and then replaced by someone else who receives far fewer votes.”
Assemblymember Marc Berman of Los Altos

Unlike in 2003, when Davis was polling in the mid-20s, Newsom faced a recall despite remaining broadly popular with California voters. That’s convinced many Democratic legislators that the law makes it too easy to put a recall on the ballot.

And unlike in 2003, when Schwarzenegger won with 48% of the vote and had more support than the 45% who wanted to keep Davis, there was no such frontrunner this year. Given the quirky two-questioned structure of the recall, 2021’s fragmented field could have produced a candidate like Larry Elder who became the next governor after winning fewer votes than were cast in defense of Newsom.

“California laws should not allow an elected official to be recalled and then replaced by someone else who receives far fewer votes, and I really look forward to hearing from a bipartisan group of experts about how California’s recall process should be reformed,” said Berman.

On the Democratic side, momentum for change has been building for months. Earlier this summer, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said the state’s recall rules deserve a “second look.” More recently, former Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown called the process “awkward and cumbersome and certainly a distraction” while Davis, the state’s only recalled governor, has his own ideas for reform.

“It’s a process that was put in place about a century ago and it certainly bears looking at,” Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said in a television interview Tuesday night.

There are two reasons that Democrats will likely have an easier time changing the rules after this recall than they did in 2003, said UC San Diego political scientist Thad Kousser.

“One, the Democrats won by the rules of the game and now they can change those rules without looking like sore losers,” he said. “And two, they have the votes.”

As for Californians themselves, a recent UC Berkeley survey of registered voters found that an overwhelming majority, 75%, look upon the electorate’s recall powers favorably. But a consistent majority also favor making tweaks to the process.

The call for legislative hearings is only the first step in a long process. Any serious alterations would require constitutional amendments. That means getting two-thirds of both legislative chambers on board to put the question to voters. That won’t happen until 2022 at the earliest.

While Democrats have enough votes in both the Assembly and Senate to put constitutional amendments on the ballot, it would likely take some independent voters, as well as Democrats, to win approval statewide — thus at least the window dressing of a bipartisan recall reform effort.

Glazer and Berman said they were “open minded” about the range of changes up for debate. Here’s a short list of possibilities, ranked from more minor tweaks to outright nixes:

Increase the requirements for recalls

A recall election against a governor qualifies for the ballot if its supporters can gather signatures equivalent to 12% of the turnout in the prior gubernatorial election. This time around, that number was just shy of 1.4 million; recall proponents collected more than 1.7 million.

“How can anybody with a straight face argue that it’s too easy or it’s being abused when it’s happened twice in 108 years?”
GOP political consultant Dave Gilliard

Of the 19 states that allow voters to put a recall on the ballot, only Montana makes it easier, with a 10% threshold. Other states put the requirement between 15% and 40%.

The current cutoff may have made sense in 1913 when the recall was introduced as a popular check against the political influence of railroad interests, Newman said. But in the age of social media, he said he’d like to see the requirement set at “something more rigorous” to “adjust for political inflation.”

Gilliard, however, dismissed the suggestion that it’s too easy to put a recall on the ballot.

“In 108 years, two gubernatorial recall elections have qualified for the ballot,” he said. “How can anybody with a straight face argue that it’s too easy or it’s being abused when it’s happened twice in 108 years?”

UC Berkeley Law school Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, who has argued that the state’s recall may be unconstitutional, countered that Californians live in a more polarized political environment in which Republican activists are more likely to use the recall to win in low-turnout off-year elections when they can’t succeed in regularly contests.

“We should realize that we may be in an era where there’s going to be more and more efforts to use recalls if changes aren’t made,” he said. “I hope that this is not going to be a situation where people breathe a sigh of relief and just forget about it until the next time this happens.”

Add a ‘cause’ requirement

In the governor’s office, as in any job, California is an at-will employment state. Any governor can be recalled at any time for any reason. No justification required.

While no-cause recalls are the norm, that isn’t true in every state. Rhode Island, for example, requires that the governor have broken a law or gotten into trouble with the state’s ethics commission before booting them from office.

Without weighing in on the idea directly, Berman said the debate over whether “criminal misconduct or malfeasance should be a kind of threshold issue is something that we’re going to discuss.”

Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis waves to the crowd as she walks toward the podium at an anti-recall campaign event for Gov. Gavin Newsom at the IBEW-NECA training center in San Leandro on Sept. 8, 2021. Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters

Make the lieutenant governor the replacement

Unlike the ballot pairing of candidates for president and vice president, the lieutenant governor is elected separately and serves independently.

Newman, for one, favors elevating the lieutenant governor if a governor is removed and going without the second question on replacement candidates.

“We have a number two constitutional officer in California,” he said. “If you think the governor’s malfeasant, by all means, let’s have a plebiscite and remove him or her from the office. But let’s not use that as the pretext for getting a hidden ball trick do-over.“

Unlike some more expansive reform proposals, this one would only apply to recall efforts against the governor.

Go beyond ‘yes’ or ‘no’

As many confused California voters only recently learned, Newsom was not listed among the candidates vying for office on the recall ballot. That wasn’t an oversight; election law doesn’t allow an incumbent to run as his or her own replacement.

Sen. Ben Allen wants to change that. He introduced a constitutional amendment last year in response to Newman’s recall that would nix the first question altogether. If a recall qualifies, the state would go straight to a snap election. The idea: Avoid the counter-intuitive possibility that a recall winner could earn fewer votes than those cast to keep the incumbent in office.

A potential downside: There would be no requirement that the winner receive a majority. In a large field of candidates, like the 46 on this year’s recall ballot, the next governor could win with a sliver of the vote.

So why not hold a run-off election between the top two vote-getters, as in regular elections?

“Two rounds of recall elections on top of our regular election cycle?” asked Allen. “It would certainly be fairer than the current model, but I’m not sure that it would be particularly satisfying. In this case we would have had Elder versus (Democrat Kevin) Paffrath — would that really have solved everyone’s problems?”

Just get rid of the recall

Maybe one gubernatorial election every four years is enough?

This proposal isn’t likely to go anywhere, no matter what some political commentators might say. The recall remains popular as a general concept, even if there’s criticism of the specifics.

“Neither of us,” Glazer said with Berman, “are suggesting that the recall process be eliminated.”

CalMatters reporter Laurel Rosenhall contributed to this story.

Elk Grove mayor, council members refute comments by recall organizer

2021-09-19T19:15:00.015-07:00

Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen (left, and
council members Darren Suen and Stephanie Nguyen. |

In response to comments made by an organizer of a recall effort, the mayor of Elk Grove and two council members have refuted claims attributed to them they have said are incorrect.
Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen, who is the subject of a recall effort, issued a statement saying statements by Ms. Sai Vang of Elk Grove Hmong Americans (EGHA) are not correct. In a video statement and story, Vang said council members Stephanie Nguyen and Darren Suen agreed with their assertion that comments made by Singh-Allen during last year's heated Elk Grove mayoral election were racist.
Singh-Allen, who won last year's mayoral race, has issued her statement with Ms. Mia Foster, a co-founder and former member of EGHA but subsequently left the organization said, "We have been working together for several months establishing a relationship and moving forward together. We’ve progressed beyond old misunderstandings and impressions of each other and wish we would’ve came together sooner for positive and productive dialogue. This work continues and we invite everyone to join us and heal our community. We both welcome everyone with open hearts."

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Nguyen and Suen, who endorsed Singh-Allen over former mayor Steve Ly refuted the claims made about them, saying the mayor is not racist. Suen said, "I do not believe Mayor Singh-Allen is racist. I don’t agree with Ms. Vang’s statement about me. Several months ago, we had one conversation that acknowledged their feelings and a unanimous desire to move forward."
In her statement, Nguyen noted she facilitated a meeting between the mayor and EGHA and asserted Singh-Allen is not as stated by the EGHA.
Nguyen said, "Several months ago, I reached out to Elk Grove Hmong Americans (EGHA) as an opportunity to have a conversation. The increase in Hate Crimes against the Asian American Pacific Islander communities impacts us all, and only together can we combat these crimes. I then coordinated a meeting with Mayor Bobbie Singh Allen and EGHA in hopes that the two sides could find understanding of each other and find a path to move forward, together. It's unfortunate that this continues. Mayor Bobbie Singh Allen is not a racist and I have never said she is a racist. I do hope that the two sides can find a way to move forward for the good of our community."
The effort against Singh-Allen started last March, and after the language was qualifying in May, organizers by statute are given until October 21 to gather about 11,000 registered voter signatures. If the signatures are not secured by the deadline, the recall effort with not be placed on a special election ballot.

Recall proponents protest against Elk Grove Mayor Singh-Allen, EGUSD Trustee Chaires-Espinoza

2021-09-18T10:45:00.006-07:00

A spirited group of separate recall proponents joined forces yesterday afternoon on Laguna Boulevard and Bruceville Road to voice their discontent with two elected officials in Elk Grove.

The EGUSD Parent Coalition, and Elk Grove Hmong American, have respectively targeted Elk Grove Unified School District Trustee and Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen for recall efforts. The EGUSD initialed its effort against Chaires-Espinoza in June, and Elk Grove Hmong Americans started in March.

The EGUSD Parent Coalition complaints against Chaires-Espinoza center on political contributions she has received from the Elk Grove Education Association, the bargaining unit for Elk Grove Unified School teachers. The contributions, which are allowed by state law, have made her less focused on students' needs.

"She has committed herself to representing more of the special interests, including the Elk Grove Educations Association, over the parent interest," Erin Sommers, President of EGUSD Parent Coalition, said.

Sommers added that when parents were advocating a return to in-class instruction, Chaires-Espinoza "not only mocked parents, and parents voice and inclusion, but at times during board meetings, she intervened to silence that voice."

Chaires was appointed to the EGUSD Board of Trustees in 2015, and was elected to a full term in 2016, and ran unopposed in 2020.

In an official recall response statement filed by Chaires-Espinoza said, "I regret that people with ulterior motives are providing you with false information about me while distracting from the important work we have to do right now, and potentially forcing the district to pull approximately $1.5 million away from educating students to fund a special election."

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The recall of Singh-Allen is being led by Elk Grove Hmong Americans, which was co-founded by Sai Vang and Marie Vue. The group has focused on comments made by Singh-Allen made during last year's heated Elk Grove Mayoral race against former mayor Steve Ly, who is of Hmong descent, which they maintain were derogatory to the Hmong culture and kin system.

"She stated kinship system was a controlling and intimidating system used to attack and silence these women," Vang said. "[Elk Grove]Councilwoman [Stephanie] Nguyen acknowledges the statement Bobbie Singh-Allen made about the Hmong culture is racist. [Elk Grove]Councilmember [Darren] Suen also acknowledged the statement was racist."

In her official recall statement, Singh-Allen noted, "It’s a shame when people can’t accept election outcomes and our decisive victory garnering the most votes for Mayor in Elk Grove History and uniting our community in the process" and "I am a strong woman that will not be distracted by hateful and false allegations."

In the video below, Sommers, Vang, and Vue further discuss their efforts and where they are in the process of gathering signatures.

Elk Grove News Minute - Elk Grove Unified School District being played for a chump

2021-09-18T05:30:00.000-07:00

During the post pandemic American economic recovery, jobs in several classifications are being left unfilled.

One such job is school bus drivers.

Paid political advertisement.

Listen Time 1 Minute

Big oil continues to buy off your elected representatives

2021-09-18T04:30:00.004-07:00

By Dan Bacher |

In its August 2021 Update to its Tracking the Dirty Dollars Project, Sierra Club California reveals that the California Republican Party has accepted over $300,000 from the fossil fuel industry and its allies this year. This more than triples the party’s contributions since Sierra Club’s last report update in May.

“Once again, Republican legislators have sided with polluters and taken hundreds of thousands of dirty dollars from the oil and gas industries,” said Brandon Dawson, director of the Sierra Club California. “This newest round of dirty money shows the oil and gas industries are committed to undermining the Democratic stronghold in the legislature and imperiling the health and safety of millions of Californians.”

The report states: “Last edition, we condemned the California Republican Party for receiving an astounding total of $85,175 from the oil industry and its allies. In the past three months, the Republicans have more than tripled these donations, boasting a dirty dollar treasure trove of $310,175. This shows the immense money and effort the oil and gas industry is putting into undermining the Democratic stronghold in the legislature and strengthening the Republicans hand to advanced polluters’ interest.”

While some state legislators made it out of another quarter avoiding fossil fuel campaign contributions, several others, including quite a few Assembly Democrats, amassed stashes of fossil fuel donations according to the group.

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Assemblymember Rudy Salas, Jr., leads all assembly members, Democratic and Republican, with $18,800, while Freddie Rodriguez was close behind with $17,200. Mike Gipson’s dirty donations totaled $13,400.

“Given these legislators’ scorecard grades and poor environmental track record in the Assembly, these donation totals are disappointing, but not surprising,” the group reported, “Moreover, Salas has long touted his close link to the oil industry, even featuring photos of himself with oil rigs in his campaign literature.”

As one of the few journalists who reports regularly on deep regulatory capture by Big Oil and Big Oil in California, I can attest to the report’s assessment of Salas.

Rudy Salas was the one of the “honorary co-chairs” of the “Women’s Empowerment Summit” in Bakersfield on Saturday, May 7, 2016 that gave Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and the former Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create “marine protected areas” in Southern California, the “2016 Distinguished Woman and Petroleum Advocate of the Year” Award. Unfortunately, I was the only journalist that reported on this conference: www.dailykos.com/…

Two other powerful Democrats also reported significant “dirty donation” totals from Big Oil and Big Gas, according to Sierra Club California.

Assembly Transportation Committee Chair Laura Friedman has received $10,900 in campaign contributions from oil and gas interests this year.

Assembly Appropriations Committee Chair Lorena Gonzalez accepted $14,700 in “dirty dollar” donations this quarter. Gonzalez sits in one of the most powerful seats in the legislature.

“These donations are deeply troubling for two powerful Assembly Members,” according to the Club.

Sierra Club California launched the Tracking the Dirty Dollars Project in November 2020 to “shed light on oil and gas contributions to legislators and other state-level elected officials.”

“The project sorts through existing public databases to identify who receives contributions from oil and gas companies and their allies through direct campaign contributions, independent expenditure campaigns, and gifts. The project then presents the information in a clear format that makes it much easier for the general public and environmental activists to see what their elected leaders have received,” the Club noted.

A cover report discussing the August installment and the data sheets comprising the three installments are available on Sierra Club California’s website. More information about the project is included in a November 2020 blog e-mailed to Sierra Club members and supporters around the state.

Campaign donations are just one of the seven methods that Big Oil uses in California to exercise inordinate influence over California regulators. WSPA and Big Oil wield their power in 7 major ways: through (1) lobbying; (2) campaign spending; (3) serving on and putting shills on regulatory panels; (4) creating Astroturf groups; (5) working in collaboration with media; (6) creating alliances with labor unions; and (7) contributing to nonprofit organizations. https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/cw/los-angeles/21259-big-oil-spent-10-million-lobbying-california-officials-in-2020

The Western States Petroleum Association, the largest and most powerful corporate lobbying organization in California, spent a total of $4,267,181 lobbying state officials in 2020 and $8.8 million in 2019, according to financial data filed with the California Secretary of State’s Office. WSPA also pumped $1,341,073 into lobbying in the first quarter of 2021 and $1,113,884 into lobbying in the second quarter of 2021.

Savory, Smothered Cuisine - Pork Chops in Mushroom Sauce

2021-09-17T07:37:00.004-07:00

(Culinary.net) When you are hungry and searching for something filling, juicy and rich, turning to your pantry for on-hand ingredients can make dinner a breeze. Dodge snack cravings and avoid the temptation to swing by the drive-thru; instead, you can have a homemade meal ready in a matter of minutes by putting your skillet to work.

Call your loved ones to the dining room to share time together while trying these Smothered Pork Chops in Mushroom Sauce. It’s a dish the entire family can dig into without questioning the substance of the meal as it’s a filling option that requires just a few ingredients you likely already have at home.

It all starts with the pork chops, which are thick and seared to perfection. The mushroom sauce is a beautiful blend of earthy and creamy textures. Bring it to a simmer then smother your pork chops and garnish with fresh parsley for a pop of color.

The best part is this recipe doesn’t take much time to accomplish. The pork chops are seared for 3-5 minutes per side then simmered in the mushroom sauce for another 2-3 minutes until thoroughly cooked.

Don’t waste time with complicated recipes, dirtying an array of kitchen utensils and multiple trips to the store for ingredients you may not use again. This recipe requires one bowl and a single skillet. Cleanup is a breeze, which means there is more time to spend around the table with those who mean the most.

Find more savory recipes at Culinary.net.

If you made this recipe at home, use #MyCulinaryConnection on your favorite social network to share your work.

Watch video to see how to make this recipe!

Smothered Pork Chops in Mushroom Sauce

Servings: 4

1 teaspoon mild chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 pork chops
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter

Mushroom Sauce:

2 1/2 cups brown mushrooms, sliced
5 garlic cloves, smashed
1 tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
fresh parsley, for garnish

In small bowl, whisk chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper until combined.
Pat pork chops dry. Season generously with spice mix. Set aside.
In skillet, add olive oil and butter. Add pork chops; sear 3-5 minutes per side. Transfer to plate.
To make mushroom sauce: In same skillet, add mushrooms. Stir fry until golden brown. Add garlic, parsley and Italian seasoning. Stir fry 2 minutes. Add broth and heavy cream. Stir to combine. Simmer 5 minutes until slightly thickened.
Return pork chops to sauce. Simmer 2-3 minutes until pork chops are cooked through. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve.

SOURCE:
Culinary.net

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Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Approves Motions to Phase Out Oil and Gas Drilling

2021-09-16T15:30:00.001-07:00

By Dan Bacher |

LOS ANGELES – On Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved two companion motions that will put Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the nation, on a path to ban existing oil drilling and transition fossil fuel workers to careers in clean energy and other climate-friendly industries.

There are approximately 1,600 active and idle oil wells within unincorporated communities of LA County. Over half of those wells are within the 1,000 acre Inglewood Oil Field, the largest urban oil field in the nation, located in Los Angeles County’s Second Supervisorial District. Sentinel Peak Resources, a Denver based Quantum Energy Partners portfolio company, owns and operates the oil field.

The motions were authored by Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell with co-authorship from Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Janice Hahn, according to a press statement from Mitchell’s Office.

Mitchell’s motion, titled Protecting Communities Near Oil and Gas Drilling Operations in Los Angeles County and coauthored by Sheila Kuhl, updates the Department of Regional Planning’s (DRP) Draft Oil Well Ordinance for unincorporated LA County to prohibit all new oil and gas extraction wells in all zones and designates all existing oil and gas extraction activities as nonconforming uses in all zones.

This motion also requests a report back from DRP in 120 days on the financial cost to phasing out oil operations with actionable steps the County can take. Read the full motion here.

Despite California’s “green” and “progressive” image, thousands of County residents live in close proximity to an oil well and nearly 73 percent of those residents are people of color, according to the motion.

The motion states: “A substantial body of national and California-based scientific research documents evidence the harmful health impacts resulting from living in close proximity to oil drilling operations, including asthma, cardiovascular disease, low birth weight, and reproductive health impacts. A study of oil drill sites in South Los Angeles published by the scientific journal, Environmental Research in June 2021, documents a significant decrease in lung and pulmonary function associated with living near both active and inactive oil wells. A 2018 Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Report found that even at a distance of 1,500 feet, oil wells still pose a safety risk to nearby communities.”

After the passage of the motions, Mitchell stated, ““We have an opportunity and responsibility as the home of the largest urban oil field in the nation to lead by example in creating an equitable path for phasing out oil drilling. Collectively, the motions that passed today center the needs of the communities and workers most impacted by oil drilling and build on LA County’s momentum in fighting climate change and sunsetting oil and gas operations.

“I applaud the Board for continuing to move the County forward on this critical issue and the countless advocates that have helped get us to this point. Our work is far from done but this is a promising step for environmental justice,” Mitchell concluded.

“Urban oil drilling isn’t safe,” noted Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. “People who live near active oil wells suffer high rates of asthma, with an even greater impact on people’s lungs than living next to a freeway. For the health and well-being of our families and children, we need to end this practice as soon as possible. This motion gets us one step closer to that goal.”

The California Independent Petroleum Association, a trade association representing approximately 500 independent crude oil and natural gas producers, royalty owners, and service and supply companies operating in California, opposed the measure.

“In a letter to the board, CEO Rock Zierman said a phaseout of oil and gas production would threaten hundreds of jobs, raise gas prices and make California more dependent on oil from foreign countries,” according to Drew Costley in an Associated Press article: apnews.com/...

Mitchell said chasing out oil drilling will require an intentional plan for transitioning workers on these sites into jobs and industries that are safe and provide family sustaining wages. This is the focus of Mitchell’s motion: Developing a Comprehensive Strategy for a Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, co-authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn.

This motion helps operationalize the recommendations from the County’s Just Transition to Clean Energy Task Force which includes centering the needs and perspectives of workers and frontline communities in workforce transition strategies that include all sectors of the fossil fuel industry. To read the full motion click here.

“We don’t have to choose between the environment and good jobs—we can, and we should have both,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “But we need to be intentional about creating those jobs and investing in new opportunities for workers.”

In a related development, Culver City voted in June to phase out oil production and require the cleanup of well sites in the city’s portion of the Inglewood Oil Field within five years. The City of Los Angeles is also working on developing its own policy to phase out oil drilling.

Environmental justice, climate, faith, labor, and public health groups have long called for an end to neighborhood oil drilling in Los Angeles, citing serious health risks for nearby communities and the need to stop fossil fuel extraction to avert the worst of the climate crisis. Ahead of the vote, groups submitted letters signed by 150 organizations and more than 4,000 petitions and comments to the Board urging them to protect Los Angeles communities by supporting the phase-out of dangerous oil drilling, according to Mitchell’s Office.

Representatives of labor, environmental justice, community, public health and environmental groups applauded the passage of the two motions.

"Responsibly phasing out oil drilling and cleaning up old wells is critical to ensuring we protect public health as part of a just transition in LA County," said April Verrett, President of SEIU 2015. "We applaud the Board of Supervisors for taking this historic vote, and hope that it can represent a model for the rest of the state to protect both workers and public health."

“The oil industry has threatened the health and safety of Los Angeles’ communities of color for decades,” said Martha Dina Arguello, Co-Chair of STAND-LA. “We are grateful to the LA Board of Supervisors for this important first step toward protecting frontline communities from toxic air in their neighborhoods, and bringing about a future free from fossil fuels that we all deserve.”

“In Wilmington, we are no strangers to oil drilling and the negative health impacts that come with living near so many facets of this industry. This oil drilling phase out is a huge step towards health and racial justice for thousands of Angelenos,” said Wendy Miranda, Wilmington Community Member and Intern for Communities for a Better Environment. “We have been waiting for action, and our lungs are ready for this change. I can’t wait for the day that all of us will be able to breathe clean air, regardless of our zip code."

“For over 10 years, Community Health Councils (CHC) has been working with the community to bring attention to and eliminate adverse health, safety and environmental risks and impacts from oil drilling and reimagine these spaces into lands that can build the health and well-being of the community,” said Sonya Vasquez, Chief Operating Officer of Community Health Councils. “Today the Board of Supervisors brings us much closer to this reality and ensures that our most vulnerable residents are prioritized and cared for.”

“Angelenos have been forced to live with dangerous oil drilling in our backyards for far too long, putting our families’ health at risk and adding to the climate chaos we’re already experiencing. This historic vote is the direct result of communities coming together to demand better,” said Sierra Club Campaign Representative Nicole Levin. “Ending oil drilling in our communities is possible, and for the sake of our health and our climate, we must do so immediately. We look forward to working with the County to follow through on this vote by phasing out existing drilling as soon as possible, and we urge the rest of Los Angeles to follow suit.”

“Today’s vote not only symbolizes the path forward for LA County, it represents the path forward for the entire state and country,” said Josiah Edwards of Sunrise LA. “It says to young, Black and brown people like me, ‘You deserve to have a future and we are going to take the action necessary to ensure that happens’. It represents the beginning of the end for fossil fuel corporations who have long benefited from environmental racism by deliberately perpetrating harm against our communities, seeking profit at our expense.”

“This historic vote builds on years of work by frontline communities who refused to be discarded as sacrifices by the oil and gas industry,” said Food & Water Watch Senior Organizer Jasmin Vargas. “Today, we applaud the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and also pay tribute to these climate champions. For too long Los Angeles communities have struggled with the toxic pollution that accompanies neighborhood drilling, only made worse by the pandemic and recent climate disasters. Today’s vote signals a new path forward for the Board of Supervisors and all other legislators faced with the growing calls for a just transition for jobs, health and the environment.”

“L.A. County’s vote makes it a national leader in responding to the code red climate emergency,” said Liz Jones, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “Now the rest of Los Angeles and California need to phase out oil production as fast as possible, or the hottest summer in California’s history will be the coolest of the rest of our lives.”

“We have heard the cries of residents across Los Angeles about the terrible health and neighborhood impacts they have suffered for years from oil drilling operations next door and nearby. Now, these same communities are leading the fight for their health, safety and our climate. We applaud the Board of Supervisors for taking this bold action on this urgent issue. We look forward to implementing a Just Transition for workers and communities to ensure they have their rightful place in the new clean energy, green and sustainable economy of the future,” said Shane Murphy Goldsmith, President & CEO of Liberty Hill Foundation.

“This historic vote improves the lives of thousands of L.A. county residents, who have been burdened for generations by oil and gas operations,” said Damon Nagami, senior attorney at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “This Board has shown tremendous leadership for others to follow as we transition to clean energy and away from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels.”

In 2019, the Board adopted the Our County Sustainability Plan that included a comprehensive strategy for a more equitable LA County and two key directives for protecting communities from oil wells: (1) addressing the proximity between oil and gas operations and sensitive land uses and (2) developing a sunset strategy for oil and gas operations.

“The motions passed today build on the County’s progress over the recent years to better regulate oil drilling and prioritize the public health and safety of its residents living near oil wells,” according to a press statement from Sierra Club California.

“As someone who lives in close proximity to oil drilling, seeing motions introduced to begin the process to phase out oil drilling in LA County is exciting for frontline residents,” concluded Ashley Hernandez, Advocate with Communities for a Better Environment. “Our County has the opportunity to right the wrongs of racist land-use decisions such as redlining and expedited oil drilling permit approvals and has the power to step up for vulnerable families living, playing, and praying right next to oil drilling.”

In a tweet, Alexandra Nagy, California Director of Food & Water Watch, noted that the vote was a “HUGE WIN, but just the first step. We will fight on to ensure the @LACountyBOS vote is implemented, the @LACityCouncil passes a phase out motion after 7 years of stalling and Gov. @GavinNewsom stops all new drilling permits, phases out drilling.”

1,019 oil and gas permits approved in first 6 months of 2021

The vote took place as the Department of Conservation’s CalGEM continues to approve new and reworked oil and gas permits in Kern County and elsewhere in California, although the approval of fracking permits has declined dramatically in recent months, with the agency denying another 42 fracking permits in August.

For more information and maps on oil and gas drilling in Los Angeles County, please read Kyle Ferrar’s piece, “It’s Time to Stop Urban Oil Drilling,” https://www.fractracker.org/?p=65832

ATU Local 256 seeks new equipment, competitive wages for Elk Grove Unified bus drivers

2021-09-16T11:30:00.006-07:00

Expressing their desire to improve transit conditions for students and improve wages for their members, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 256 is in negotiation with the Elk Grove Unified School District.

The local, which represents over 100 drivers in the district, had a three-year contract that was extended in 2020 for one year. That one-year extension ended June 30, and the union and the district have been involved in ongoing negotiations.

Speaking for membership, Sacramento-based ATU Local 256 president Ralph Niz said the foremost consideration is the safe transportation of district students. Additionally, the union seeks to increase wages for drivers, which are among the lowest in the region.

Niz said much of the district's bus fleet is outdated, with some units dating to 1996 and lack air conditioning. He noted a fire occurred last week on one of the district's older buses.

This EGUSD school bus caught on fire
on Friday, September 10.

"It was a bus for special education students, and thank god it was empty at the time," Niz said.

Also commenting on the ongoing negotiations, ATU attorney Anthony Booth stressed that the union has continued talks.

"We still have steps to go, we are still negotiating in good faith," Booth said.

One group of active parents, the EGUSD Parent Coalition, has expressed many of the same concerns about student transportation issues. Along with Booth and Niz, members from the coalition spoke at last week's EGUSD meeting.

In an email, EGUSD Parent Coalition president Erin Sommers without citing union wage and working condition demands, said the district needs to upgrade its fleet and address driver shortages. The group asks "the district to address these issues as soon as possible by attracting more drivers and improving communication with families."

Sommers also addressed the fleet's age saying, "We have continuously heard from our membership that transportation to/from school has been inadequate. For many, they cannot rely on the busses to get their kids to school on time and consistently. In addition, very few busses have air conditioning and many are older busses that need to be replaced. Parents are concerned about the safety of their children and reliability of transportation provided by EGUSD."

According to information provided by ATU and conveyed at last week's meeting by Booth and Niz, EGUSD drivers are among the lowest-paid school bus drivers in the region, which exasperates the driver shortages. The union seeks a 20-percent pay hike that would bring EGUSD school bus driver wages in line with other districts. (see chart above)

One of the district's school bus drivers speaking at last week's meeting was Dawn Ellen Cooley. A 22-year district veteran, Cooley appealed to the trustees to increase wages to retain school bus drivers and noted the highly regulated and licensed workers as new hires make less than some fast-food workers.

"With respect to fast food workers, we are not flipping hamburger patties here, ladies and gentlemen," Cooley said. "We are transporting this community's future every day."

See Cooley's entire commentary below.

The district did not respond to a request to comment on the negotiations and parental concerns.

Although they discussed the possibility of a strike with support from other unions during the September 7 trustee meeting, Booth and Niz stressed that talks continue. They also expressed a desire to help the district solve their multitude of transportation problems, not just school bus driver shortages.

"The union is willing to work with the district," Niz said. "That will solve a good deal of their problems."

Sacramento County Supervisors called godless sociapaths for stance against COVID19 misinformation

2021-09-16T00:00:00.007-07:00

During a hearing on a non-binding resolution, two Sacramento County Supervisors were
criticized. |

In an indication of the vitriol over COVID19 public health measures, several members of the public addressed the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors over a resolution addressing misinformation. The comments were made during the Tuesday, September 14 supervisors' meeting.

The resolution, which was on the consent calendar (item 35), is titled "Identify and accepting facts, separate from misinformation, associated with a responsible and effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic." The discussion of the item sponsored by Supervisor Phil Serna, which Supervisor Patrick Kennedy noted, lasted about four hours and drew over two dozen public speakers and 55 written comments.

Typical of those opposed to the resolution were Richard Ropiak. During his comments, Ropiak directed his ire at Kennedy and Serna and characterized them as godless sociopaths.

Additionally, Ropiak made a claim which cannot be substantiated, that more members of the armed services of the United States died from the COVID vaccine than the virus.

"Here's a fact for you, Serna, you want facts, look it up," Ropiak said. "More active members of our military have now perished and died from the vaccine than they have COVID."

Ropiak's entire commentary can be viewed below.

Although most public comments opposed the resolution based on First Amendment rights, at least one person spoke in support of the measure. Bishop Chris said he he understood the frustration encountered during the pandemic but said being disrespectful to the elected officials is not constructive.

"I'm not going to come down here and vent my frustration at either one of you and call you out," he said. "That is very disrespectful and not right...keep doing the good work you are doing."

While most of the written comments opposed the resolution, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, California State Senator Dr. Richard Pan, and Dr. Carol Burch, M.D., president of Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society, supported the resolution.

One submitted comment from Dr. Karen Poirier-Brode, MD, applauded the supervisors for their efforts to address the pandemic. "I applaud the efforts of the Sacramento Board of Supervisors to combat lies and misinformation," she said in her email.

During the board's deliberation, Serna criticized Supervisor Sue Frost, implying she was casting doubt on the efficacy of the vaccines.

"To discredit the substance of this resolution is to call into the expert opinions of those who we have been trusting for months," Serna said.

He then added, "you will recall just a few weeks ago, there was an instance by the chair [Frost] during a discussion about COIVD that the then, and still today FDA approved Pfizer vaccine was, quote, unquote, experimental. You said it four times."

Supervisor Don Nottoli asked county counsel the effects of adopting the resolution and noted he would not support anything that would silence constituents. Addressing Nottolie was Assistant County Counsel Krista Whitman, who affirmed the resolution would not deny people their First Amendment rights.

"There is nothing in this resolution that in any way restricts the public's ability to speak on this topic or any other topic," Whitman stated. "All this resolution does is express support for the county's health officer and staff and does nothing to interfere with anyone's First Amendment rights."

Frost said she appreciated and shares Serna's concern about public health and noted each supervisor approaches issues differently. Shen them implied her opposition to the resolution was a reflection of her constituency and noted she did not agree with all the speakers reasons for opposing.

"If my district doesn't like the way I am representing, they are going send me home," she said.

After the lengthy testimony, there were minor changes to the resolution and was adopted by a 4 -1 vote. Frost was the sole opponent.

California recall: The 2022 campaign starts now

2021-09-15T10:45:00.005-07:00

Gov. Gavin Newsom gives a speech following his projected victory in the recall election at the California Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento on Sept. 14, 2021. Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters. |

by Ben Christopher, CalMatters,org |
September 14, 2021

In summary

If Gov. Newsom defeats the recall, as appears likely, it will give him a head start in the 2022 gubernatorial election.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is poised to keep his job after months spent lambasting the recall as a Republican power grab; feverishly fundraising, wooing likely supporters and wrangling fractious progressive activists; sweating the odd, unexpectedly close poll; fusing policymaking and politicking; and calling upon big-name D.C. Democrats to come stump out west.

And after all that, it wasn’t especially close. After initial returns showed the recall failing by a nearly 70% to 30% margin, the Associated Press and TV networks called the race for Newsom.

Now begins a new contest: To spin the results most favorably for the 2022 election — which starts right now.

For Gov. Gavin Newsom and his political team, the last six months of campaigning offer an electoral blueprint to seek four more years.

The governor’s apparent victory ought to demonstrate to Democrats, both in California and elsewhere, the power of “showing what the alternative is,” said Newsom campaign spokesperson Nathan Click.

“So much of what we’ve tried to do — from branding it the ‘Republican recall’ to talking a lot about Larry Elder and all the other candidates’ opposition to vaccine mandates and mask mandates — we’re trying to show what’s behind door number 2,” he said. “We were telling the story of what would happen and the other guys were — and I think that’s really powerful.”

The campaign was nothing if not consistent on that point. On Monday, President Joe Biden jetted to California to make the closing argument against the recall at a campaign rally in Long Beach. Though he praised the governor’s leadership during the pandemic, the president spent the bulk of his speech hammering Elder, Newsom’s top Republican rival, who Biden described as “the clone of Donald Trump.”

Biden’s visit — along with pit stops by Vice President Kamala Harris and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — offer another obvious lesson, said Bill Wong, political director of the state Assembly Democrats. “Every campaign from here on out, at least for the immediate future, is going to be nationalized with regard to running against the Republican agenda,” he said.

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No Democratic challenger?

Juan Rodriguez, manager of the anti-recall campaign, said the unusually high Democratic turnout in a special election, which allowed Newsom to stay in the governor’s office, amounts to “a rejection of the conventional wisdom.”

Running on public health restrictions, elevating contentious national issues and talking about former President Trump — the campaign “can really be a case study that should be looked at closely for how to get people energized,” he said.

The fear of Elder, and Newsom’s relentless characterization of the election as a “Republican recall,” likely did help keep the vote “no” coalition together. Whatever reservations voters might have had with the governor, “the potential damage by a Trump-loving Republican in the governor’s office” rallied most Democrats behind Newsom, said Amar Shergill, chairperson of the California Democratic Party’s progressive caucus.

But the time for playing nice is now over, he said.

“I don’t think the governor or his advisor circle are so naive as to think that a big win and the defeat of the recall election is going to result in smooth sailing through the next election,” said Shergill. He said he and other progressive activists plan to begin lobbying the governor “to hold fast to his promise” to push forward a state-run universal health insurance program.

“You ignore the progressive movement at your own peril,” Shergill added.

But Rose Kapolczynski, a Democratic political strategist, said Newsom faces no serious risks as he prepares to run for re-election next year — certainly not from within his own party.

Imagine this, she said: “Progressive congressmember X decides to run against Gavin Newsom because he still hasn’t enacted single-payer health care. The first thing that everyone’s going to see is that progressive congress members X urged all of his supporters to vote no on the recall and save Gavin Newsom.”

GOP renaissance or last gasp?

Kapolczynski said she doesn’t see much of a threat coming from Republicans, either.

In 2020, the state GOP won four congressional seats, in part by running a more ethnically diverse and ideologically expansive crop of candidates. “Larry Elder comes along and destroys all that work by reminding people how extreme some Republicans are,” she said.

The emergence of Elder as a leading candidate was an “absolute boon” for Newsom, said Garry South, also a Democratic political consultant. It transformed what could have been a faceless referendum on the governor’s record into a strictly partisan standoff between a generally popular Democratic governor and a specific Republican.

In other words, it turned it into exactly the kind of election Newsom will likely face next November. It also helped that Elder is a firebrand who “is so out of sync with Californians he might as well be living in outer space,” South added.

Harmeet Dhillon, a California member of the Republican National Committee, said she doubts a different candidate would have been any less polarizing, only because Democrats would have been equally vociferous in their criticisms.

If Kevin Faulconer, the former mayor of San Diego who positioned himself as a relative moderate in the race, “set the electorate on fire and had Larry Elder not gotten into the race, you would have still seen Kevin Faulconer painted as some kind of Hitler,” she said.

Rodriguez with the No campaign stopped short of that comparison, but agreed that Elder wasn’t unique. “Whether it was Larry Elder, John Cox or Kevin Faulconer, they all represent a view of the world empowered by the national Republican Party,” he said. “It’s all an example of Trumpism.”

It remains unclear which Republican, if anyone, could mount a credible challenge against Newsom.

Elder has vowed to run again; today, he called himself a “political force.” But he would face long odds head-to-head against Newsom in reliably Democratic California.

Republican conservative radio show host Larry Elder speaks at a rally for the California gubernatorial recall election on Sept. 13, 2021, in Monterey Park. Photo by Ringo H.W. Chiu, AP Photo

Elder’s success, however, has humbled much of the GOP bench, including Faulconer, 2018 gubernatorial candidate John Cox and Assemblymember Kevin Kiley of Rocklin.

In the early vote tally, Elder had 42% of the vote among replacement candidates, compared to 18% total for Faulconer, Cox and Kiley.

Still, Matt Rexroad, a political consultant who tends to work for moderate Republicans, said it’s not all doom and gloom for the state’s second largest party. A Republican isn’t likely to occupy the governor’s office anytime soon, but that was never very likely in California. Newsom “is going to sleep walk into 2022, it’s going to be a yawner,” Rexroad conceded.

But a snoozer of a gubernatorial race at the top of the ticket coupled with a network of pro-recall activists still fuming across the state could result in the kind of GOP-heavy turnout that midterm victories in congressional and legislative races are made of, he said.

The state party “has used this opportunity to rally the troops,” he said. “And this energy could be used to pick up some seats in the Legislature or in Congress.”

“What’s the best thing that happened to the Democratic Party in 2018?” asked Rexroad, referring to the “blue wave” midterms in which Democrats flipped 41 congressional seats, including 8 in California. “Probably how much they hated Donald Trump.”

The recall’s lingering impact

As early as Monday, some recall candidates were tamping down expectations, reminding supporters that no matter the outcome, the fact that the recall campaign got as far as it did should count as its own success.

Kiley said the grassroots organizations that sprouted up across the state to boost the recall effort will remain an electoral force to reckon with in the coming months. “The idea that this is somehow a mandate, that Californians are endorsing (Newsom’s) failed leadership, is pretty far-fetched,” he said. He declined to say whether he plans to run for governor again next year.

“This energy could be used to pick up some seats in the Legislature or in Congress.”
Matt Rexroad, a political consultant for republicans

Elder has taken a less holistic view of the recall results. Even before the polls closed, the candidate began to suggest, a la former President Trump in 2020, that the recall defeat, even in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two-to-one, could only be the result of fraud.

Elder’s decision to take a page from the former president’s handbook is only the latest indication that conspiracy theorizing about election results has found a permanent home in the Republican Party — even in California.

And while the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 showed the danger of questioning the democratic process, for California Republicans hoping to emerge from the recall invigorated, the politics might be lousy, too.

Political parties in democracies are supposed to be self-correcting: Those that are punished at the polls are incentivized to come up with a better message or a more appealing set of ideas, said David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, which advocates for more expansive and secure election policies.

Attributing failure to fraud will get in the way of that necessary self-reflection. “A party that misdiagnoses the reason behind its electoral defeat is very unlikely to fix itself,” he said.

CalMatters reporter Mikhail Zinshteyn contributed to this story. Elk Grove News is a media partner of CalMatters.

As of this morning 8.7 million ballots already cast with strong Democratic turnout in recall election

2021-09-14T11:25:00.024-07:00

By Paul Mitchell |Political Data Inc. | @Political_Data

This strange mid-September, odd-year Special Election Day is upon us.

As of right now, the PDI Recall Ballots Returned Tracker has 8.7 million votes cast, with 4.5 million from Democrats, 2.2 million from Republicans, and just under 2 million from Independents and other minor parties.

You can continue to check as the counts change today at https://www.politicaldata.com/2021-special-election-tracker/.

Also, if you’re wondering how many people have returned their ballot in your county, school board or city council district, you can see our counts tool here: https://www.politicaldata.com/online-counts-reports/ and just select any jurisdiction in California to get the breakdown of who has voted, their partisanship and other demographics.

There may be two questions on the ballot, but there’s only one question for observers of these early returns: will Republican turnout rebound?

We have been watching closely to see if Republicans and pro-Recall voters who were billed as super-enthusiastic will turnout. Or, if they will continue to be outpaced by Democrats.

Yesterday was the biggest single-day report, with 909,742 ballots received. And Republicans were 31% of this haul, with Democrats at 45%. This is a higher Republican performance than the 26% share they have been of ballots overall, but it’s not earth-shattering. In fact, it’s just four points higher than their average share of the ballots cast over the past week, and during this last week the Republican share of the electorate only went up a point, from 25% to 26%.

Where recall proponents really have a potential to shift the numbers is with the in-person voting. As before, we can look specifically at two counties to get a sense of how much this in-person is breaking Republican:

Los Angeles:

Mailed Ballots: 60% Dem/17% Rep

In Person: 41% Dem / 37% Rep

Orange County:

Mailed Ballots: 38% Dem/38% Rep

In Person: 16% Dem / 65% Rep

This Republican lean of the in-person is pretty amazing, and shows the lingering effect of the by-mail voter fraud claims in 2020, and even this election cycle, that has caused a large distrust among a segment of this electorate.

But the share of votes that are from this in-person activity isn’t overwhelming. These votes were just 22% of LA County’s ballots returned yesterday, and just 19% of Orange.

Looking a bit deeper at Orange County Registrar’s daily count for their in-person, we see they had 26,000 in person votes yesterday, but in total they have only reached about a third of the in-person voting that they had in the 2020 General Election.

Republicans are, as of right now, 2.2 million votes behind Democrats. To make up this huge gap, pro-recall voters will need a massive surge, not just percentages of percentages.

Finally, everyone is asking about total turnout. To be completely honest, when I was first asked about turnout in this election, my response was “39% seems too low, 54% seems too high, so maybe 48%?” About two weeks ago, the early returns, high Democratic numbers and expectation of a big Republican surge, made me lean more to the 55-60% range, but now that seems less likely.

Hearing even this AM from registrars and campaign staff suggests that we aren’t seeing a rush at the polls this morning, and maybe the endgame of this election took some of the excitement out of the race from those earlier most-enthusiastic pro-recall voters.

Keep an eye on our twitter account at Political Data (@Political_Data) / Twitter as we will continue to get data throughout the day with many counties providing us regular updates which will be put into the tracker.

Get today’s PDF here: https://www.dropbox.com/t/08yYE0DrbUkFbi0z or check out the tracker on the website at https://www.politicaldata.com/2021-special-election-tracker/.

Social media shenanigan earns L.A. County Superior Court Judge an admonishment

2021-09-14T10:30:00.006-07:00

A long-serving Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge was admonished today for his activities on social media that suggested bias.

In a ruling issued today by the San Francisco-based Commission on Judicial Performance, it was found that Judge Michael J. O'Gara inappropriately "liked" and commented on social media postings from the Los Angeles County District Attorney. The ruling did not say what platform the likes and commentary were displayed.

In their statement of public admonishment, the CJP said "once Judge O’Gara posted or liked content on social media, he effectively distributed material to an unlimited number of persons, over whose actions he had no control. The commission determined that Judge O’Gara’s social media activity suggested bias against particular classes of people, and was undignified and indecorous, among other violations of the Code of Judicial Ethics."

The admonishment also said O'Gara "included commentary, or 'likes,' relating to the District Attorney for Los Angeles County, controversial political issues, and various groups’ exercise of constitutional rights."

O'Gara was first elected to the Superior Court in 2007 and before that worked in the L.A. County District Attorney's office for 17 years.

Judge Michael J. O'Gara.