The “Me Too” anti-sexual harassment campaign that quickly yielded several resignations by state lawmakers last fall appears to have hit a lull in Sacramento with Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, now seemingly on track for re-election this November despite scandalous allegations. But new twists may loom.

Garcia, 40, appeared doomed to a primary defeat two months ago. She took a voluntary leave of absence after she was accused of groping a then-legislative staffer four years ago; making inappropriate comments to a lobbyist; playing “spin the bottle” with staffers; and of using racist and homophobic language. The perception that she was a weakened candidate led the State Building & Construction Trades Council of California – which supported her in 2014 and 2016 – to oppose her primary bid.

But between a preliminary probe finding no evidence for the most serious allegation against Garcia – that she groped a staffer – and the strong support of Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, Garcia finished first in her June 5 primary. She got 29 percent of the votes to 27 percent for Republican activist Mike Simpfenderfer, a mortgage banker. The other five candidates in the race, all Democrats, split the remaining 44 percent of the vote.

Last week, however, saw two developments that suggested Garcia wasn’t out of the woods yet. The first came when the Assembly agreed to consider an appeal of its finding clearing Garcia of groping former legislative aide Daniel Fierro, who now works as a Los Angeles County political consultant. Fierro sought the appeal last month amid grumbling that the initial investigation of Garcia was released even though it was incomplete.

This concern may have been a factor in the second development: the call from two Democratic lawmakers for a much more transparent and responsive approach to allegations of misconduct involving state lawmakers and staffers.

Anti-gay, anti-Asian remarks could haunt Garcia

State Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, said existing efforts to respond to sexual harassment don’t go nearly far enough to take on a “toxic” culture in the Capitol. They propose establishing a new investigative unit that would focus only on discrimination and harassment complaints; would handle probes for both the Assembly and the Senate; and would rely on an independent committee of experts to recommend punishment for those found guilty of wrongdoing. Legislators, however, still would have the final say on what if any penalties were assessed.

But the Mitchell-Friedman proposal targets not just the behavior that Garcia has so far been cleared of but behavior of the sort the Assembly probe found she had engaged in: using homophobic slurs to describe fellow Los Angeles County Democrat John Perez, the Assembly’s first openly gay speaker, and of threatening violence against Asian-Americans after some Asian-American lawmakers balked at affirmative-action proposals that they thought would help some minority groups but not their own.

“The proposed policy … aims to spur a shift in how people in the Capitol community speak and act toward each other,” the Associated Press reported. “It encourages people to report minor incidents such as insensitive comments all the way through more aggressive acts of misconduct.”

Rendon’s decision to defend Garcia while still appearing strongly sympathetic to the Me Too movement has been complicated by comments that suggest he thinks Garcia’s larger record of legislative priorities and accomplishments should matter in judging her behavior. Similar suggestions made in defense of former President Bill Clinton and now-former Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, triggered a furious backlash.

Rendon entered this territory in April when he denounced the building trades unions for seeking to replace Garcia with other Democrats whom Rendon said would be more willing to challenge aggressive environmental policies touted by Gov. Jerry Brown and all the party’s legislative leaders. A spokesperson for the unions said their opposition to Garcia was prompted not by her strong environmentalism but by sympathy for her alleged victim and a belief another candidate would better reflect the values of the 58th Assembly District.

But Rendon rejected the claims in a blistering statement posted by the Sacramento Bee in which he called the unions’ maneuvering “a thinly veiled attempt by Big Oil and polluters to intimidate me and my members,” “ an affront to my speakership” and an “ill-advised political attack.”

The stakes are particularly high for Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, who has already gotten on the bad side of the “Bernie-crats” who may soon dominate the Capitol. Last year, he shelved Senate Bill 562 – a Senate-backed measure that would commit California to single-payer health care without a blueprint on how to overcome cost and legal obstacles – saying it was much too incomplete to approve.

Now, however, Rendon has decided to assert his bona fides on another foundational issue for progressives – fighting global warming – in a way that eventually could put him at odds with another progressive cause: the #MeToo anti-sexual harassment campaign.

Rendon’s maneuvering relates to Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (pictured), D-Bell Gardens, who was an outspoken leader of the Capitol’s #MeToo movement after allegations emerged against several lawmakers last fall. In early February – after the Legislature passed an unprecedented whistleblower-protection measure to help root out lawmakers responsible for sexual harassment – Garcia was celebrated as a hero in the Associated Press story about the law’s enactment.

But within days, Garcia – a single, 40-year-old former high school teacher – found herself accused of groping a former aide, Daniel Fierro, who is now a Los Angeles County political consultant. Garcia denied the allegations and is now taking unpaid leave while she is the subject of a formal investigation by the Assembly Rules Committee.

Lawmaker allegedly used gay slurs, ripped Asians

Yet her headaches have only intensified in recent weeks due to two new allegations. The first asserted that in 2014 she used homophobic insults to describe then-Assembly Speaker John Perez. The second, made by Perez, was that he had formally admonished her for saying in a closed Assembly Democratic Caucus meeting that she wanted to “punch the next Asian person” she encountered over Asian-American lawmakers’ opposition to efforts to overturn the 1996 state law banning affirmative action in college admissions.

Now, however, Rendon is coming to Garcia’s defense against efforts by other Democrats and Democratic allies to unseat Garcia in her bid for a fourth term in the June primary – with the speaker citing her history as a defender of the state’s cap-and-trade program against more business-friendly lawmakers.

On April 20, the State Building & Construction Trades Council of California opened an independent expenditure committee targeting Garcia after twice having previously endorsed her. The labor group’s beef with Garcia stemmed from her support last year of cap-and-trade and other pollution control programs; construction unions are much closer to oil-and-gas interests than other factions in the California Democratic coalition. Two credible challengers to Garcia have emerged – Commerce Councilman Ivan Altamirano and Bell Gardens Councilman Pedro Aceituno.

Rendon responded as if setting up the committee was an attack on him. According to a Sacramento Bee report, he called the targeting of Garcia “a thinly veiled attempt by Big Oil and polluters to intimidate me and my members” and “an affront to my speakership.” The Assembly speaker also vowed to “vigorously defend the members of our caucus from any ill-advised political attack.”

But a spokeswoman for the independent expenditure committee backing Garcia’s defeat told the Bee that no one should buy any characterization of Garcia as a victim.
“It wasn’t politics that forced her to do the things of which she’s been accused,” said Erin Lehane.

Rendon’s decision to defend Garcia could grow even more problematic if the Rules Committee returns with a report corroborating the harassment allegations against her. At that point, even Garcia’s close allies in the Sacramento #MeToo movement may be inclined to cut her loose. There is no firm timetable for when that report will be released.

A CalWatchdog

The survey, which was cited by Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters, established that the wrongdoing went far beyond the nationally publicized scandals in the small town of Bell, in which a small cadre of administrators and elected officials covertly siphoned millions of dollars away from public use for their own enrichment.

Among the many improprieties: the resignation of the mayor of South El Monte after he admitted taking bribes; officials at the Central Basin Municipal Water District being caught using a $2.75 million slush fund of ratepayer dollars for political machinations; the resignation of two City of Commerce council members for misleading official investigations into their conduct; as well as scandals that led elected officials to quit or go to jail in Cudahy, Lynwood, Maywood, Montebello, South Gate and Vernon.

But something strange has happened since South El Monte Mayor Luis Aguinaga resigned eight months ago after being caught taking bribes from a city contractor for seven years: After a decade-plus of one scandal after another, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office reports a lull in corruption scandals countywide.

According to public records obtained by the Los Angeles Times, just 11 felony public corruption cases were filed last year, down from 39 in 2010.

Explanations vary for lull in prosecutions

In a statement to the Times, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey suggested that all the prosecutions and forced resignations in recent years might have discouraged corruption. Former state lawmakers Ron Calderon and Tom Calderon — brothers who built a political fiefdom over decades — pleaded guilty to public corruption charges last year after what an investigation showed was years of influence peddling that began at their power base in Montebello and the Central Basin water agency. Also cited as possibly affecting criminal filings: the departure of some senior deputy district attorneys with the most experience in public corruption cases.

Academics have also argued for decades that corruption comes in cycles: scandals lead to crackdowns and tough regulation, which leads to assumptions about problems being addressed and scrutiny slackening, thus leading to new scandals.

But officials at the scandal-scarred Central Basin water agency have a specific reason to stay on the straight and narrow: a new state law adds layers of accountability and transparency specifically designed for the water supplier, which delivers supplies to nearly 2 million Los Angeles County residents.

Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, won the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown last September for AB 1794. The measure increases the number of people on the water agency’s board of directors, specifies the ways that the positions can be filled, adopts stricter language on contribution disclosures and says individuals already serving in a elected capacity are ineligible to be Central Basin board members.

Garcia’s measure easily passed the Legislature. Among those joining in the Assembly’s 80-0 vote for AB 1794: Assemblyman Ian Calderon, D-Whittier, son of Charles Calderon and nephew of Ron Calderon.

Ian Calderon, now 31, was first elected to the Assembly in 2012, before prosecutors closed in on his older relatives. He’s not suffering for the sins of his family. After a 2014 primary and general election scares in which he was nearly unseated by Republican Rita Topalian, he was re-elected easily over Topalian in 2016 and serves as Assembly majority floor leader.

Among the bills that were vetoed at that time were two that would have repealed sales taxes on diapers and tampons. Both measures passed unanimously, but the governor wanted to assure that new spending-related measures didn’t lead to deficits. So the authors of those two measures are back again this year – but this time they are addressing the revenue issue.

The Common Cents Tax Reform Act, Assembly Bill 479, would “exempt diapers, tampons, pads and other basic necessities from California’s sales tax,” according to a statement last week from its authors. The February version of the bill would have exempted sales taxes from the sale, storage and use of various physician-prescribed medicines, but was amended to target diapers and feminine products.

To deal with the governor’s concerns, its co-authors (Assembly members Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, and Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego) want to raise taxes to offset the tax cut. The bill would increase the excise tax by $1.20 per gallon on hard liquor that is 100 proof and and by $2.40 a gallon for liquors that are more than 100 proof.

They estimate the tax increase will add about 1.5 cents per gallon to the typical hard-liquor serving and say that it’s a modest increase, but the tax rate would be boosted by more than 36 percent – raising it from $3.30 a gallon to $4.50 a gallon. The state’s excise taxes, however, would remain the same on the sales of beer and wine.

“Common sense is that liquor is a choice and a luxury and human biology is not,” said Garcia, who authored the tampon-tax bill last year. “There is no happy hour for menstruation. Our tax code needs to reflect the fact that it’s not OK to tax women for being born women.” Gonzalez Fletcher, who had authored the diaper-tax measure, depicted the matter as one of “babies over booze.” Because the bill requires a tax increase, it will need two-thirds supermajority support in the Legislature.

But opponents of the legislation caution against using the tax code to favor some goods over others. “Taxing drinks to reduce the taxes on other consumer goods is folly – not least because retailers will mark up diapers and feminine care products to their current price,” said Kevin Kosar, a senior fellow of the R Street Institute in Washington, D.C., and author of the 2016 book, “Moonshine: A Global History.”

“Drink taxes should only cover the social costs they produce – not expenses attributable to normal bodily functions like defecation and menstruation,” he added. “What’s next – taxing drinks to pay for toilet paper and fingernail clippers?”

This is likely to become a partisan issue. Some California Republicans supported previous efforts to reduce taxes on diapers and tampons, figuring any tax reduction is a good thing. Likewise, many Republicans generally took issue with the governor’s statement equating tax cuts as spending. If a cut is the same thing as a spending hike, then it implies the government – rather than individuals – is the steward of all income. But they appreciate Brown’s insistence the budget remain balanced, which means any diversion of revenue has to be made up somewhere else.

California Democrats are jumping on a national “gender equity” campaign designed to reduce the prices of feminine products and other necessities. For instance, the Washington Post reported that New York’s Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo last year signed a law exempting sales tax from tampons and Washington, D.C.’s Democratic mayor signed a law that also removes the tax from diapers. Cuomo blasted the tax as regressive – meaning it hurts the poor the most – and called it a “matter of social and economic justice.”

Assembly Bill 479 isn’t the only recent effort to rearrange the tax code to favor in a targeted manner. “The Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act of 2017,” introduced by Democratic state Sens. Henry Stern, D-Agoura Hills, and Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton, would exempt public-school teachers from paying state income tax on their teacher salaries if they stay in the field for at least five years. The goal is to address a shortage of classroom teachers.

The diaper/tampon exemption would be revenue-neutral because of the corresponding booze-tax increase, but the teacher exemption is estimated to cost more than $617 million a year. Although the state’s highly progressive tax code already is filled with special privileges for some and higher tax rates for others, critics worry that this new spate of tax exemptions could spark a frenzy of similar bills, and the slow expansion of state tax exemptions from one favored group to another.

When Gov. Brown vetoed seven tax bills last year, he noted that their cumulative effect would be to reduce revenues by around $300 million. He cautioned about cutting such revenues “when the state’s budget remains precariously balanced.”

Although there’s disagreement on the likelihood of new deficits, there’s little question that California’s budget remains as precarious as ever. That gives the teacher exemption a huge obstacle – but it’s unclear what the governor might do if AB479 passes now that supporters of the tampon and diaper exemptions identified a tax hike to make up for lost revenue.

Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute. Write to him at sgreenhut@rstreet.org.

Snack tax may soon be back

Good morning! A tax on snacks may soon be back. 

A bill introduced by Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, would roll back the sales and usage tax exemptions for certain, less-nutritious, snack foods.

The measure, part of Garcia’s agenda to highlight inequities in the tax code, requires a heavy lift to become law. In 1992, voters repealed a tax on snacks, leaving most candy and junk food exempt from sales tax. The measure requires two-thirds majority and a vote of the people.

Garcia’s office estimates the measure would bring in around $1 billion in tax revenue annually. 

While the additional revenue could fund any number of priorities, Garcia has long sought to make a point that snacks with little nutritional value are not taxed, while necessities — feminine hygiene products like tampons — are.

“As I took a closer look at our tax code, it became apparent that while California’s policy is to tax luxury items, the reality is that it’s inconsistent,” Garcia said in a statement. “We tax necessities like tampons but exempt chocolate bars.”

CalWatchdog has more. 

In other news: 

• Voter Fraud: “Voter fraud ‘test’ could backfire.” The Orange County Register has the story. 

• Cap and Trade Challenge: “With President Trump in the Oval Office, California officials are bracing for the possibility that the new administration will undermine the state’s landmark policies on climate change. But the more immediate threat isn’t coming from Washington; it lies in a lawsuit that has been slowly winding its way through state courts.” The Los Angeles Times has more. 

• 2018: “Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom says it could get ‘intriguing’ if Peter Thiel, the billionaire tech entrepreneur and key ally of President Donald Trump, makes a move to challenge him in next year’s governor’s race,” reports Politico.

• Budget: “Now more than ever, voters have decided that billions of those dollars should make their way through Sacramento with hardly a single politician’s fingerprints on them,” reports the Los Angeles Times. 

Legislature:

• Assembly in at 1 p.m. Senate in at 2 p.m., will vote on Xavier Becerra for attorney general.

Gov. Brown:

• No public events announced. 

Tips: matt@calwatchdog.com

Follow us: @calwatchdog @mflemingterp

New follower: @StanfordNews1

A bill introduced by Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, would roll back the sales and usage tax exemptions for certain, less-nutritious, snack foods.

The measure, part of Garcia’s agenda to highlight inequities in the tax code, requires a heavy lift to become law. In 1992, voters repealed a tax on snacks, leaving most candy and junk food exempt from sales tax. The measure requires two-thirds majority and a vote of the people.

Garcia’s office estimates the measure would bring in around $1 billion in tax revenue annually. 

While the additional revenue could fund any number of priorities, Garcia has long sought to make a point that snacks with little nutritional value are not taxed, while necessities — feminine hygiene products like tampons — are.

“As I took a closer look at our tax code, it became apparent that while California’s policy is to tax luxury items, the reality is that it’s inconsistent,” Garcia said in a statement. “We tax necessities like tampons but exempt chocolate bars.”

Anti-tax groups are already lining up against the measure, arguing that it was an “administrative nightmare” to tax some items and not others.

“California voters repealed the snack tax 25 years ago by a resounding two to one margin,” said David Wolfe, legislative director for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. “They stated very clearly then that they didn’t want a regressive and punitive billion dollar tax that predominantly targeted low-income individuals. Nothing has changed.” 

Legislators in Sacramento try to include citizens in lawmaking

Good morning. TGIT. Although legislators won’t really be back until next year, new bills are coming. In fact, two state lawmakers are looking to include constituents in the policy-making process in similar, and yet very different, ways.

While Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, is holding a contest for constituents to pitch their best ideas for a “There Ought to be a Law” contest, Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, aims to do the exact opposite. 

Moorlach, partnering with four other Republican senators, is pushing a “There Ought NOT Be A Law” program. Unlike Garcia’s program, the Republican contest is not to write a new law, but to instead simplify and streamline existing state law. 

CalWatchdog has more. 

In other news:

• “Tempting fate — and mobilized outrage from consumers and their Silicon Valley allies — municipalities around California have zeroed in on a new source of revenue: Online film and television streaming services, and the people who use them,” writes CalWatchdog. 

• “Led by members of the California delegation, dozens of House Democrats are again pleading with President Obama to pardon hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children to whom he granted temporary deportation deferrals.” The Los Angeles Times has more. 

• “A day after the city emerged from its 53-month bankruptcy, city officials marked the ‘watershed moment’ with a detailed statement on what they’ve done since filing for bankruptcy and their plans for the future.” The San Bernardino County Sun has more. 

• “With recreational cannabis legal in California, state leaders are taking another stab at letting law enforcement test the saliva of people suspected of driving under the influence of marijuana,” reports The San Jose Mercury News/The Orange County Register. 

Legislature:

• Gone till January. 

Gov. Brown:

• No public events scheduled.

Tips: matt@calwatchdog.com

Follow us: @calwatchdog @mflemingterp

New follower: @CALmatters

While Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, is holding a contest for constituents to pitch their best ideas for a “There Ought to be a Law” contest, Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, aims to do the exact opposite. 

Moorlach, partnering with four other Republican senators, is pushing a “There Ought NOT Be A Law” program. Unlike Garcia’s program, the Republican contest is not to write a new law, but to instead simplify and streamline existing state law. 

“It could be as simple as deleting a problematic word or phrase in a particular code section or as complex as eliminating entire statutes and regulatory structures,” according to the description.

For Garcia, this is the third iteration of the program. Last session, a group of fifth graders at Bell Gardens Elementary School came up with the idea for Assembly Bill 146, which requires the State Board of Education to consider adding to the curriculum the a mass deportation in the 1930s of citizens of Mexican descent.

The year prior, a two Bell Gardens residents pitched AB1596, which required that completed mail-in applications be returned straight to county registrars, instead of parties or middlemen. Both of Garcia’s bills became law.

Submit ideas to Moorlach here.

Submit ideas to Garcia here.

Well, maybe not always, as is the case with Assemblywoman Patty Lopez, a pariah in the Democratic Party since she knocked off Raul Bocanegra, a popular incumbent, two years ago. 

Up for re-election in 2016, the party didn’t endorse Lopez (rare for an incumbent absent a scandal), outside interests want nothing to do with her and her Assembly kin are almost nowhere to be found.

But she expects to be back in her office next year, stronger than ever. To her, nothing could be more challenging than her first term.

“I survived,” the thick-accented San Fernando Democrat said with a laugh in a recent interview with CalWatchdog, reflecting on her first term in office. “Believe it or not, the first year was hard.” 

Plagued by inexperience, a lack of connection with many of her colleagues and the loss of her mother, Lopez said the first term was hard just to stay focused. Distractions aside, she managed to author 38 pieces of legislation, 14 of which became law, including one to help conserve Monarch Butterflies and another allowing the use of clotheslines for many residents who want, or need, to save on utility costs.

Her biggest split with the party has been her opposition to high-speed rail, which is set to run straight through her district.

The clothesline bill was emblematic of her primary focus: Constituent services. Lopez reportedly doesn’t spend much time socializing in Sacramento. Instead, she’s at between six to eight community events a week in he district. She keeps only two staffers and an intern in Sacramento, while the large majority of her staff, a dozen or so, stay in her district office where she resolved 312 constituent cases since being in office. 

While all that won’t make her the subject of Robert Caro’s next book, it may be enough for re-election. According to Lopez, it was Bocanegra’s activities outside his district that made voters in his district seek new representation. Instead of campaigning for his own re-election, Bocanegra was on the trail with other candidates trying to help them (media reports suggest Bocanegra was aiming for speaker). 

“I feel like after two years if voters don’t know who you are, they don’t recognize your name, obviously you didn’t spend enough time in the district,” Lopez said of Bocanegra, who was also a one-term Assembly member. “If after two years, if people don’t feel you do anything, they’ll vote for the next person in line.”

Not a politician

Lopez is far from the typical politician. Born in Michoacán, Mexico, Lopez moved to the United States when she was 12. Her mother reportedly didn’t trust the government, so Lopez was not enrolled in school. It wasn’t until her twenties that she got a GED and took English classes. 

Lopez became a citizen in 2000. And while she had a few odd jobs, like working on an assembly line building home security alarms, her experience as an education activist ultimately led her to public office. 

Fearing budget cuts would threaten adult education, and believing Bocanegra, her assemblyman, wasn’t doing anything about it, she challenged him with little money and little support and ended up winning by fewer than 500 votes.

And that’s the short story of how Patty Lopez, who was once adoringly referred to as “The Mexican mom in office,” came to Sacramento.

Bad at fundraising

When a candidate from any party first considers running for office, his or her ability to raise money is the litmus test of viability. The most common criticism of Lopez is that she’s an abysmal fundraiser, something Bocanegra is not.

“Sometimes, they don’t see me as a really strong candidate, because I don’t raise a lot of money,” Lopez said. “I deliver service (to constituents) and I align with the party on major things.”

Democratic Party endorsements are made at the local level, where Bocanegra received 94 percent of the delegate votes in the district. It’s unclear if the party’s concerns were due to Lopez’s viability issue or loyalty to Bocanegra. But according to a party spokesman, the endorsement of a Democratic challenger of a Democratic incumbent is just politics as usual. 

“This race is getting attention because of the top two dynamic but contested Democratic races are nothing new,” said Michael Soller, a spokesman for the California Democratic Party. Soller did provide other examples of the party not backing an incumbent.

“The Democratic Party did her wrong,” said a high-level, Democratic staffer in the Legislature, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “She is everything they are supposed to stand for and they kicked her to the curb — very sad.”

Leadership

Campaign finance records show that a dozen or so legislators have contributed to Lopez, and she said that Assemblymembers Cristina Garcia of Bell Gardens, Susan Talamantes Eggman of Stockton and Adrin Nazarian of Sherman Oaks have offered help on the campaign trail. 

But while both Speaker Anthony Rendon and Majority Floor Leader Ian Calderon endorsed her and contributed to her campaign, neither has attended events with her in the district. 

“This race is a Dem on Dem race where both candidates are good votes for working families and immigrant communities and both have served in the Assembly,” said Rendon spokesman Bill Wong. “That said, the fact that (Rendon) maxed out to her and publicly endorsed her speaks for itself.”  

There’s a difference between endorsing with a max contribution, which doesn’t buy much in the expensive world of campaigns, and going on the trail with a candidate to help raise support and money. And while leadership may have given tepid support, there’s just not a big push to help Lopez stay in office — particularly in an election cycle where the president of the United States endorsed four Democratic legislative candidates.

“I cant remember the Caucus ever leaving an incumbent unprotected like this unless there was a scandal of some sorts,” said Steve Maviglio, a prominent Democratic strategist. “Then again, Bocanegra was a former member.” 

Money talks

Political parties can contribute unlimited amounts to candidates and outside groups can spend unlimited amounts in independent expenditures — so the lack of both is significant. 

Rendon can usually direct party funds to incumbents, except party rules prohibit funds from going to candidates who aren’t endorsed by the party. And if money talks, then the outside groups have said loud and clear they want Bocanegra.

According to a MapLight analysis of campaign finance records, outside groups of mostly business interests have spent $350,000 against Lopez and $1.4 million in support of Bocanegra, while only a pro-women’s group spent on her behalf — just $10,000. And this is where fundraising matters most: Lopez has raised only $133,000 this cycle to Bocanegra’s $1.07 million — money that goes to advertising and professional staff.

Lopez, for her part, doesn’t think fundraising is the measure by which she should be judged though. She’s been a good Democrat and a help to her constituents and she thinks that should be enough.

And voters will soon decide if that’s true. 

In total, Brown killed seven niche tax cuts totaling around $300 million in revenue, arguing the tax cuts should be done as part of the annual budget discussions, not individually without taking into account the broader implications.  

“As I said last year, tax breaks are the same as new spending — they both cost the general fund money,” Brown wrote in his veto message. “As such, they must be considered during budget deliberations so that all spending proposals are weighed against each other at the same time.”

“This is even more important when the state’s budget remains precariously balanced,” Brown added. Brown has repeatedly cautioned against new spending programs, believing that an economic downturn in near, which many say the state is not well-prepared for.

Response

The governor’s fiscal caution was not well-received among many of the sponsors of the vetoed bills.

Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, who sponsored the controversial bill to eliminate sales tax on feminine hygiene products, like tampons and sanitary napkins, quickly rebuffed Brown’s decision, calling it a “clear message to all women in California.”

“He told us periods are a luxury for women,” the Bell Gardens Democrat said in a statement. “Let me be clear; biologically periods are not luxuries and they are definitely not something women should be ashamed of. We have a long way to go in our journey for equity in California.”

Garcia is poised to become chair of the increasingly Democratic Legislative Women’s Caucus in 2017 and will likely resurrect this issue, but with much more political power at her disposal.

Another powerful female legislator, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, was equally disappointed over the veto of one of her bills, which would have killed sales tax on diapers.

The San Diego Democrat has enjoyed a recent string of legislative successes, including a bill expanding overtime pay for farmworkers signed into law on Monday, and was more accepting than Garcia.

Because the streak can only last so long… #ab717 our diaper tax relief vetoed. Still #shithappens https://t.co/mQGIdwXNm4

— Lorena Gonzalez (@LorenaSGonzalez) September 13, 2016

Other bills

The total list of bills vetoed on Tuesday are:

• AB717 by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) – Sales and use taxes: exemption: diapers. A veto message can be found here.
• AB724 by Assemblymember Bill Dodd (D-Napa) – Sales and use taxes: exemption: museum displays: Jimmy Doolittle Air and Space Museum Education Foundation. A veto message can be found here.
• AB1561 by Assemblymember Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) – Sales and use taxes: exemption: sanitary napkins: tampons: menstrual sponges and menstrual cups. A veto message can be found here.
• AB2127 by Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach) – Taxation: motor vehicle fuel: use fuel: alcohol fuels. A veto message can be found here.
• AB2728 by Assemblymember Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) – Insurance: community development investments. A veto message can be found here.
• SB898 by Senator Janet Nguyen (R-Garden Grove) – Sales and use taxes: exemption: animal blood. A veto message can be found here.
• SB907 by Senator Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton) – Personal income taxes: gross income exclusion: mortgage debt forgiveness. A veto message can be found here.