California legislature, Gender parity

Susannah Delano: Recruiting a Legislature that looks like California (finally)

For the first time, a majority of our legislators are women, people of color or LGBTQ+

Gail Pellerin is the first woman from Santa Cruz to serve in the Assembly. (Bay Area News Group File Photo)

The Mercury News, by Susannah Delano, December 16, 2022

Successful groups know that recruiting great talent is essential.

College teams invest in scouting to find the kid who could be tomorrow’s star center. Major corporations recruit year-round to hit growth targets. Organizations recruit to ensure their teams reflectthe communities they serve.

In politics, though, recruitment is often left to chance, or to the good old boys network.

The 2022 U.S. Senate races reveal how decisive candidate recruitment is. Underwhelming contenders recruited by former President Trump failed in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada, and the GOP lost its chance to control the Senate.

While California has the fourth largest economy on the planet, its Legislature ranked 23rd nationally in women’s representation before the 2022 election.

That’s why Close the Gap called on progressive organizations years ago to join us in prioritizing a shake-up. Investing in diverse women early was the only way we could convert the opportunity we saw on the horizon — 90+ seats opening 2022-2028 due to term limits.

With allies across the state, we identified women who would make excellent legislators, and invited those who rose to the top to run. By the time our Legislature’s “Great Resignation” increased the number of open seats five-fold this year, higher numbers of more diverse women than we’ve ever seen were ready in targeted districts.

We had to disrupt the paradigm of candidates handpicked by insiders to elect a more representative legislature.

I’m happy to report that it worked: This week, the most diverse Legislature in California history will be sworn into office.

In a dramatic 92% increase since 2017, 50 women (the majority women of color) now serve, an historic high-water mark of 42%. For the first time, a majority of our legislators are women, people of color or LGBTQ+ – just like California is proud to be.

Here are five Bay Area examples of the new talent transforming the legislature.

Lori Wilson (AD 11) served as Suisun City mayor before winning a special election to succeed Assemblymember Jim Frazier. She is the new chair of the Legislative Black Caucus and the first Black Assemblymember to represent Solano County.

Gail Pellerin (AD 28) was chief elections officer in Santa Cruz County for nearly three decades. As county clerk, she says she “managed the office of love and voting.” She is the first woman from Santa Cruz to serve in the Assembly.

Aisha Wahab (SD 10) is the daughter of Afghan refugees who served as chair of the Alameda County Human Relations Commission and as Hayward City Councilmember. She is the first Afghan-American legislator, and will join the Renter’s Caucus.

Liz Ortega (AD 20) was the first Latina to lead the Alameda County Labor Council. She is the daughter of immigrants who were previously undocumented.

Dawn Addis (AD 30) has served as a classroom teacher, co-founder of her local Women’s March, and Morro Bay Councilmember. She flipped a formerly Republican-held seat blue in a new district stretching up to Capitola.

When women run, they win just as often as men. What’s been missing is enough female candidates competing, and the infrastructure to prepare and sustain them against hand-picked good old boys. If all it took was a cultural moment or many open seats, women would have hit parity decades ago.

A strong, diverse, effective team doesn’t just happen – you need to recruit for it.

With 50 more seats opening in the next six years, there’s a robust effort already underway to ensure our state house can raise the nation’s bar for equitable governance this decade.

Heads up to the good old boys: there’s no pushing us off the path to parity now.

Susannah Delano is executive director of Close the Gap California, an organization focused on recruiting and preparing progressive women to run for the Legislature.

Benicia elections, Kari Birdseye, Terry Scott

Birdseye and Scott take oath of office as members of Benicia’s City Council

New Benicia Councilmembers sworn in

A new era begins as newly elected Councilmember Kari Birdseye and Vice Mayor Terry Scott were sworn in at the council meeting on Dec. 6. Photo: Jennifer Hanley

Benicia Herald, December 16, 2022

BENICIA – At the December 6 City Council meeting, newly elected Councilmembers Terry Scott and Kari Birdseye were sworn in to serve the next four years.

Former Councilmembers Lionel Largaespada and Christina Strawbridge were honored for their service to the City and gave speeches thanking the community, fellow councilmembers and City staff for all of their hard work and collaboration.

The Council is now made up of Mayor Steve Young, Vice Mayor Scott, Tom Campbell, Trevor Macenski and Birdseye.

Benicia City Council on December 6, 2022, (l to r) Campbell, Birdseye, Young, Scott, Macenski. Photo: Jennifer Hanley
Big Oil, Valero, Windfall profits

Governor Newsom Convenes Special Session to Hold Oil Industry Accountable for Price Gouging

Valero’s $2.82 billion in profits were 500% higher than the year before.

Newsroom, Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, Nov 30, 2022

SACRAMENTO – As oil companies continue to evade questions about unexplained gas price increases, Governor Gavin Newsom today convened a special session of the California Legislature on December 5 to pass a price gouging penalty on oil companies that will keep money in Californians’ pockets.

The Governor’s action comes on the heels of a state hearing  yesterday – which five major oil refiners refused to attend – to investigate this fall’s unprecedented spike in gasoline prices. This spike in gasoline prices resulted in record refiner profits of $63 billion in just 90 days, disproportionately affecting low- and middle-income families.

“Big oil is ripping Californians off, and the deafening silence from the industry yesterday is the latest proof that a price gouging penalty is needed to hold them accountable for profiteering at the expense of California families,” said Governor Newsom. “I’m calling a special session of the Legislature to do just that, and to increase transparency on pricing and protect Californians from outrageous price spikes in the future.”

Governor Newsom signs proclamation convening a special session to pass price gouging penalty on oil companies

This fall’s spike occurred while crude oil prices dropped, state taxes and fees remained unchanged and gas prices did not increase outside the western U.S., so the high prices went straight to the industry’s bottom line.

The text of the Governor’s proclamation convening a special session can be found here.

During the special session, the Legislature will also consider efforts to empower state agencies to more closely review gas costs, profits and pricing as well provide the state with greater regulatory oversight of the refining, distribution and retailing segments of the gasoline market in California.

Taking action to lower prices at the pump, Governor Newsom in September ordered the switch to winter-blend gasoline and demanded accountability from oil companies and refiners that do business in California. Since California’s record-high gas prices of $6.42, the Governor’s actions have reduced those prices to $4.95 most recently – a decrease of $1.47 since the peak.

In the third quarter of 2022, from July to September, oil companies reported record high profits:

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Police violence, Vallejo CA, Vallejo Police

Vallejo says it ‘inadvertently’ destroyed records in five police shooting investigations

The records were destroyed in early 2021 before their destruction was allowed under city policy.
Vallejo police officers shot and killed Mario Romero in his car on Sept. 2, 2012. The city says it ‘inadvertently’ destroyed records from Romero’s case. Photo: Vallejo Police Department.
Vallejo Sun, by Scott Morris, December 1, 2022

VALLEJO – The city of Vallejo “inadvertently” destroyed audio and video records in five police shooting investigations from the department’s most violent two-year span before the material would have been publicly released as required by law, according to the Vallejo City Attorney’s Office.

The records were destroyed in early 2021 before their destruction was allowed under city policy. Assistant City Attorney Katelyn Knight revealed that they had been destroyed in a series of emails in response to several public records requests for audio and video materials by the Vallejo Sun.

Evidence destruction logs released by the city indicate that the evidence was destroyed on Jan. 11, Jan. 13 and Jan. 20, 2021, and each item indicates that the city attorney’s office approved their disposal. The Sun requested all police shooting records in the possession of Vallejo police in early 2019.

The records could have provided insight to one of the department’s most violent and scrutinized periods, when Vallejo police killed six people in 2012. Some of the records destroyed were from one of the most controversial shootings in the department’s history: the killing of Mario Romero by Officers Sean Kenney and Dustin Joseph on Sept. 2, 2012.

Romero was sitting with his brother-in-law in a parked car when officers approached them and allegedly told them to put their hands up. Kenney and Joseph fired at the car, reloaded and fired again, only stopping after Romero slumped back into the driver’s seat. Family members who witnessed the shooting say they saw Kenney continue to fire while standing on the car’s hood. Romero was shot 30 times and died at a hospital. In 2015, Vallejo paid a $2 million settlement to Romero’s family.

The records destroyed in the Romero investigation include recordings of interviews with Kenney and Joseph, interviews with witnesses, documents from those interviews and video of officers canvassing the neighborhood for witnesses, among other evidence, according to destruction logs released by the city.

According to the city’s retention schedule, it is required to retain such records for five years following closure of the case, well short of the 25 years recommended by the state Department of Justice. In the Romero shooting, the administrative investigation was not reviewed by then-police Chief Andrew Bidou until September 2016. The city destroyed the records on Jan. 11, 2021, less than five years after Bidou’s review, while several requests for the material were pending.

Knight said that the other shootings affected were the fatal shooting of 44-year-old Marshall Tobin by Officers Joseph McCarthy and Robert Kerr on July 4, 2012; the fatal shooting of 42-year-old William Heinze by Officers Dustin Joseph, Ritzie Tolentino and Josh Coleman on March 20, 2013; the fatal shooting of 57-year-old Mohammad Naas by Officer Steve Darden on June 8, 2013; and the injury shooting of Tony Ridgeway by Officer Josh Coleman on Aug, 24, 2013.

Coleman recently testified in Solano County Superior Court that after the Heinze shooting, then-Sgt. Kent Tribble bent the tip of his badge to mark the shooting in a bar across the street from police headquarters while Joseph was present. Coleman testified that no one would be allowed to watch the badge bending ritual unless they had also participated.

Coleman has since left the department to join the Napa County Sheriff’s Office and Joseph is a police officer in Fairfield, where he has been the target of protests following the revelations that officers participated in the badge-bending tradition.

The city has also refused to release an outside investigator’s report on the badge bending ritual, leading the American Civil Liberties Union to sue the department to compel its release last week.

The destroyed records had previously been secret under state law, but became public records after the state legislature passed SB 1421 in 2018, which made investigations into police shootings public records. The city received numerous public records requests for any such records once the law took effect on Jan. 1, 2019, but it has struggled to comply and has been releasing records at a snail’s pace for nearly four years.

Knight said that the city would not destroy any further records until its public records requests are completed and that the city had taken steps to ensure that no further records are destroyed.

But Knight declined to say what steps were taken. “While we are unable to share privileged communications from our office to City Departments, the City has in place an administrative process for records management,” she wrote.

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