News: POLITICO California Playbook: NEWSOM: Stay-at-home order could be extended — API push for BONTA for AG — Battle over NURSES — New COVID strain: Cause for concern?

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

POLITICO California Playbook: NEWSOM: Stay-at-home order could be extended — API push for BONTA for AG — Battle over NURSES — New COVID strain: Cause for concern? — O’LEARY resigns, DEBOO is IN

Dec 22, 2020

By Carla Marinucci, Jeremy B. White, Graph Massara and Mackenzie Hawkins

THE BUZZ — NEWSOM'S NOT GETTING A BREAK — 2020 is not letting up, right down to the final weeks.

Whether it's an extended lockdown (brace yourselves for that) or a new Covid-19 strain, Gov. Gavin Newsom has had to deliver some tough news again this week — tempered by the vaccine deliveries, which have begun around California.

THE BIG (BAD) NEWS — Newsom said the state will likely extend stay-at-home orders as coronavirus cases continue to soar, as POLITICO's Jeremy B. White reported. That's as most of the state has locked down again under a directive shutting regions where intensive care unit capacity dips below 15 percent — which now covers where 98 percent of California's population lives.

What we're facing: Record-breaking ICU admissions that continue to strain the state's health care system — now at 2.5 percent capacity statewide and at zero percent in the Los Angeles and Central Valley regions.

Why it matters: The stay-at-home orders were designed to endure if the situation does not improve. By acknowledging regions are unlikely to exit their lockdowns, Newsom and his top health official, Dr. Mark Ghaly, signaled that most of California remains in a hazardous place. The average positive test rate has spiked to 12 percent as hospital space dwindles.

Gov. Gavin Newsom holds up a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dec. 14, 2020.

Gov. Gavin Newsom holds up a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dec. 14, 2020. | AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

QUESTIONS WE WANTED TO ASK: The governor's regular press conferences, though welcome, have become a frustration to many in the working media. They've evolved into 60-75 minutes of data-heavy talk, followed by five to 10 (if we're lucky) questions from reporters — and no follow-ups. Our POLITICO team has been trying to get our own questions in, with no luck. So after Monday's presser, here they are:

WILL NEWSOM GET THE VACCINE? Newsom is now in his second quarantine period, after being exposed to Covid-19 again. Which raises the (unasked) question: Shouldn't the governor of the union's most populous state consider getting the vaccine, so he can get out and do the business of the world's fifth-largest economy and its 40 million residents, rather than trying to negotiate this complex stuff from his home office?

No doubt, in the wake of the French Laundry, Newsom is likely particularly sensitive to the optics of such things. And yes, there are plenty of shameless politicians jumping the line after criticizing health directives and masks (Sens. Marco Rubio and Joni Ernst?). But there's an argument that Newsom would also be doing a public service by showing his faith in the vaccine. Which raises another question: Will the first partner and Newsom's kids eventually be getting the vaccine as well? (once there's a version approved for young children)

WHEN'S HE GOING TO MAKE THE SENATE ANNOUNCEMENT? This one's a head-scratcher for a lot of folks watching Sacramento. When it comes to the Big Reveal — who will he appoint for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat — the real question we're hearing is: What's he waiting for? Every day that goes by, there's more controversy, more headlines and more pressure about who he should pick. Any way it goes, he will make enemies.

And now, the right-wing Twittersphere has picked up on this delay, fanning the unfounded conspiracy theory that Harris isn't resigning her seat because she's "playing it safe" in case Biden doesn't become president. So the word from a lot of insiders who know Newsom is: Plunge into the icy cold waters and do it. Our question: Can the governor be specific about when to expect it?

BUENOS DÍAS, good Tuesday morning. We just passed the shortest day of the year, the winter equinox. The days get sunnier and longer from here!

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The president and the vice-president deserve credit. … We are so often too quick to be judgmental." — Newsom, in his Monday press conference, delivering kudos to President Donald Trump on the vaccine rollout.

BONUS QOTD: "I'm counting down the hours 'til he's gone. … I plan to pull him out of there by his hair, his little hands and his feet." — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, less enthralled with the president, via POLITICO's Congress team.

TWEET OF THE DAY: Jon Fleischman @FlashReport: "If you go through the work of getting a doctorate degree, and want to be referred to with "Dr." — I'm happy to honor your hard work and achievement by doing so — as a sign of courtesy and respect. Whether it's Dr. Martin Luther King or Dr. Shaquille [O'Neal] or Dr. Jill Biden."

WHERE'S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: California Playbook will take a holiday hiatus from Thurs. Dec. 23-Friday Jan. 1. We'll be back on our normal schedule on Monday Jan. 4.

EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT TRANSITION PLAYBOOK, SUBSCRIBE TODAY: A new year is quickly approaching. Inauguration Day is right around the corner. President-elect Joe Biden's staffing decisions are sending clear-cut signals about his priorities. What do these signals foretell? Transition Playbook is the definitive guide to the new administration and one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history. Written for political insiders, this scoop-filled newsletter breaks big news daily and analyzes the appointments, people and emerging power centers of the new administration. Track the transition and the first 100 days of the incoming Biden administration. Subscribe today.

GOODBYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE — "Elon Musk owes much of his success to California taxpayers: he's paid us back with scorn," by Joe Mathews for KCRW: "California's support did not make Musk a good citizen of our state. Musk compromised worker safety at Tesla's Fremont plant, flouted securities laws, and sabotaged unionization of his employees. Musk has become California's Frankenstein; our monster turned against us."

ANTI-MASK ATTACK — "2 men shot up a California strip club with an AK-47 after refusing to wear masks, authorities say. Now they face life in prison," by WaPo's Timothy Bella: "Instead of masks, they brought with them an AK-47 to shoot at the outside of the establishment, according to authorities, firing 15 rounds from the car and hospitalizing three people with gunshot wounds. Nearly two months later, the Anaheim residents were arrested in what police described to The Washington Post as the most extreme anti-mask incident in the city to date."

STILL THE WILD WEST? — " 'We can't just walk away.' California's wild places are under siege and dying," by the Sac Bee's Ryan Sabalow: "To try to save some of what's left of these habitats, it will require a clear-eyed look at how we think about, fund and manage our lands and wildlife. It also will need to come with an acknowledgment from those living in major cities that these places aren't truly 'wild,' and they haven't been for more than a century."

HERE'S MORE — " In Devil's Garden, California's majestic wild horses trapped in no-win fight for survival," by the Sac Bee's Ryan Sabalow.

THAT KIND OF YEAR — "Man dressed as Santa crashes aircraft into power lines in Sacramento suburb," by the SF Chronicle's Matthias Gafni.

FIRE IMPACT — "Changes caused by worsening wildfires in California forests will last centuries," by the LA Times' Joseph Serna: "Exacerbated by a warming climate and decades of aggressive fire suppression efforts — which left large areas of wilderness overgrown — these fires will continue to alter the landscape and, in some cases, will leave it more susceptible to wildfire than ever before, they say. In other cases, the flames were likely to restore patches of wildland to their original state."

CORONAVIRUS UPDATES

WHO'S NEXT? — "Counties lobbied over vaccine priority list," by CalMatters' Barbara Feder Ostrov and Ana B. Ibarra: "Once the state issues its recommendations, California's 58 counties will have some flexibility on who's next to receive vaccinations. That discretion has sparked lobbying by unions, businesses and other interest groups trying to push their workers ahead in the line."

BATTLE AHEAD — California hospital staff shortage triggers battle over nurse ratios, by POLITICO's Victoria Colliver: The shortages are pitting the state against one of its most powerful unions on its most sacrosanct issue: California's nurse-to-patient ratio law. Newsom's administration last week quietly allowed hospitals to relax nurse-to-patient staffing ratios to ease the pressure on acute-care medical centers.

STAY AT HOME — "California once quelled COVID with stay-at-home order. Why this one isn't working as well ," by the LA Times' Maura Dolan, Rong-Gong Lin and Stephanie Lai: "This may be because restrictions are looser than those in the spring, and because many Californians are so fatigued by public health orders — or militantly resistant to them — that they are mixing with people from outside their households. But experts say the most pertinent explanation has to do with the amount of the coronavirus in the community."

RATION THIS — " California hospitals discuss rationing care as virus surges," by the AP's Christopher Weber.

YIKES — Analysis via the New York Times shows several California locales rank among the country's worst coronavirus hot spots, including the Inland Empire and Fresno.

ACROSS THE POND — "New coronavirus strain in the UK: Is there cause for concern in the Bay Area?" by the SF Chronicle's Aidin Vaziri and Peter Fimrite.

DATA GAPS? — "UCSF doctor challenges reports of high COVID-19 rates in Black community," by KQED's Julie Chang: "Looking into infection rates among Black Americans in Oakland, Rhoads discovered that virus positivity may be lower than is being reported by public health departments and the media because a large portion of the Black population is being missed."

KID TROUBLE — "A COVID-related illness is sickening a growing number of children in California," by the LA Times Colleen Shalby: "Seven months later, at least 45 children in the county have been diagnosed with MIS-C, and one has died. … MIS-C has also disproportionately infected Black and Latino children."

TRANSITION TIME

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — REFORMERS FOR AG BONTA: Criminal justice reform activists are boosting Assemblymember Rob Bonta 's bid to be appointed attorney general, saying the East Bay Democrat would be best positioned to build on California's yearslong swing away from harsher sentencing laws. Among those publicly backing Bonta are people who have been instrumental in pushing those changes, including the Alliance for Safety and Justice's Lenore Anderson, Re:Store Justice California Executive Director Adnan Khan, Rosenberg Foundation President Tim Silard, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights Executive Director Zach Norris, civil rights advocate Lateefah Simon and activist Eddie Zheng.

— "Big Tech's stealth push to influence the Biden administration," by Reuters' Nandita Bose: "The Biden transition team has already stacked its agency review teams with more tech executives than tech critics. … Now, executives and employees at tech companies such as Alphabet Inc-owned Google, Amazon.com Inc, Facebook Inc, Microsoft Corp are pushing to place candidates in senior roles at government agencies, according to four sources with knowledge of the matter."

CAMPAIGN MODE

— "Recall effort against California governor an attempt to 'destabilize the political system,' analysts say," by NBC's Alicia Victoria Lozano: "Political analysts warn that President Donald Trump's repeated attempts to contest the presidential election make it hard not to view the recall effort as another example of Republicans' skirting democratic processes."

— "Arnold Schwarzenegger slams GOP's 'unjustifiable' assaults on minority voting rights," by RawStory's Matthew Chapman.

— "Which California county voted the most? The least? Let's compare," by CalMatters' Michael Lozano.

GAVINLAND

O'LEARY GONE, DE BOO ON by POLITICO's Carla Marinucci — Newsom announced expected changes to the top of his cabinet on Monday after months of rough political waters brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Details: Newsom chief of staff Ann O'Leary has submitted her resignation letter, bringing to an end her role as the governor's top aide — a move first reported by POLITICO Dec. 8. Political strategist and lobbyist Jim DeBoo will start Jan. 1 as executive secretary, overseeing communications, legislative matters, external affairs and intergovernmental affairs, among other responsibilities.

He will work alongside Cabinet Secretary Ana Matosantos, and O'Leary will stay on until mid-January to assist the transition, the office said. Matosantos will "continue to oversee agencies and departments and lead in the state's policy development and implementation."

IN NEWSOM'S HANDS... "Gov. Newsom challenged to address Senate's lack of diversity," by AP's Kathleen Ronayne: "Should California get its first Latino U.S. senator or should the 100-member chamber maintain one Black woman's voice?... That the choice is left to one governor has some observers frustrated with the persistent lack of racial diversity in the Senate and what they view as both parties' failure to do much about it."

...OR VOTERS'? — " Picking two senators is too much. Here's how Newsom could handle the situation," by the LA Times' George Skelton: "Critics pressuring U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein to retire so she can be replaced by someone who's younger, liberal and more combative ought to think twice… Newsom is already going to select one senator — the replacement for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris… There's another way a resigned senator can be replaced: The governor can call a special election."

PAROLE PUSHBACK, h/t Capitol Morning Report: Newsom has asked for a review from all 17 parole commissioners regarding the parole board's second decision to release Harold Bicknell, convicted of a grisly 1977 murder of his grandmother, aunt and two children. Newsom rejected the board's first decision in 2019, but after the required 18 months, the board came back with a second parole recommendation. Here's the background on the news stories related to the crime, via The Californian.

CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR

— "Will California finally fulfill its promise to fix the Salton Sea?," via High Country News' Mark Olalde: "The politicians admit they're years behind schedule, but they're adamant that the course has been corrected, the money is being put to good use and the future is bright. … Still, the state must overcome funding issues, disagreements with the feds, permitting bottlenecks and decades of inertia."

WHAT WENT WRONG — " California dropped its guard before it was hit with $2 billion in unemployment fraud," by the LA Times' Patrick McGreevy: "Many of the phony claims were preventable, they say, if California had taken precautions implemented in other states, including using sophisticated software to identify suspect applications, keeping Social Security numbers out of official mail and cross-checking benefit claims against personal data on state prison inmates. Cross-checking is routine in 35 other states."

— "The Sacramento trailblazer voted out of office in the tumultuous year that is 2020," by the Sac Bee's Marcos Bretón: "[Steve] Hansen's defeat was fraught with irony and recriminations in that voters in his district chose someone else despite his tangible wins for the arts community, small business community and for the development of previously blighted city properties."

— " Wrongful death lawsuit filed by family of first person to die from COVID-19 in immigration custody," by the San Diego Union-Tribune's Kate Morrissey: "The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of California by Escobar Mejia's three siblings, alleges negligence, deliberate indifference to serious health and safety needs and wrongful death."

— " Overdose deaths far outpace COVID-19 deaths in San Francisco," via the AP: "A record 621 people died of drug overdoses in San Francisco so far this year, a staggering number that far outpaces the 173 deaths from COVID-19 the city has seen thus far."

COLD CASE SOLVED — The headline-grabbing 1988 East Bay kidnapping of Michaela Garecht, 9, off the street in broad daylight has finally been solved, Henry K. Lee @henrykleeKTVU reports: "I've learned David Misch, 59, already held by @FremontPD & charged in the 1986 slayings of 2 women, has now been charged by @AlamedaCountyDA w/special-circs murder for allegedly killing Michaela Garecht, 9, who kidnapped outside Hayward market in '88."

— "LAUSD superintendent stresses role state, local officials must play to bring coronavirus cases down," by the Los Angeles Daily News' Linh Tat.

SILICON VALLEYLAND

— "Apple is temporarily closing all California stores, a dozen more around U.S. amid COVID-19 surges," by USA TODAY's Paul Davidson.

— " A Silicon Valley startup founder moved to Austin to flee San Francisco's high housing costs and said 'FOMO' will prompt more in the 'hive-minded' Bay to move to newer tech hubs," by Yahoo's Katie Canales.

HOLLYWOODLAND

— "Hollywood Boulevard struggles amid pandemic: '75 percent is boarded up,'" by the Hollywood Reporter's Kirsten Chuba: "On a street typically lined with superheroes and Disney characters, Batman, with precious few tourists to greet, sits on a quiet corner doing crunches. This is Hollywood Boulevard today, nine months into the pandemic-induced shutdown that has stripped the tourist destination of its usual 10 million annual visitors who clamor to take photos with costumed street performers and pose with their favorite celebrity's star."

MEDIA MATTERS

— "LAist has a new editor: Brian De Los Santos," by LAist's Elina Shatkin.

MIXTAPE

— "The restaurant equity revolution will not be Instagrammed," by the SF Chronicle's food critic, Soliel Ho

— " San Diego lands $65M in state grants for Otay Mesa border projects," by the San Diego Union-Tribune's David Garrick.

— "String of coyote attacks on humans in East Bay's Lamorinda area rattles some nerves, surprises wildlife officials," by the Mercury News' Shomik Mukherjee.

— "UCLA Foundation steps in with $5 million for students struggling amid the pandemic," by the LA Times' Teresa Watanabe.

— "San Francisco's 200 parks have never meant more to the city," by SFGATE's Andrew Chamings.

— "Sacramento rocket pioneer Aerojet to be acquired by Lockheed Martin in $4.4B deal," by the Sac Bee's Dale Kasler.

BIRTHDAYS

PREEMPTIVE: State Sen. Mike McGuire announced he and his wife are expecting a baby boy.

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