Endorsements building for Bay Area Democrat to be California s next attorney general
Sacramento Bee 12/23/2020 Lara Korte, The Sacramento Bee
Dec. 23 California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has yet to be confirmed as President-Elect Joe Biden s Health and Human Services secretary, but several lawmakers and advocacy groups are already backing a potential successor.
Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, has received a swath of endorsements in recent days from lawmakers, criminal justice advocates and Asian Pacific Islander groups as speculation grows around who Gov. Gavin Newsom might pick to take Becerra s place as California s chief legal officer.
Bonta, 48, has served in the Assembly since 2012 and represents Oakland, Alameda, and San Leandro. He was California s first Filipino state legislator, and would be the first Filipino attorney general.
CAPITAL & MAIN PERSPECTIVE Long before the pandemic hit, California’s homeless issues were startlingly obvious.
Even as state politicians and city leaders ignored the problems or placed them well down their lists of priorities, the unhoused population, particularly in larger cities, was growing apace. By 2019, California’s homeless numbers were estimated at more than 151,000 having risen by 16.4% from just one year earlier.
The fallout from COVID-19, with its job losses and crushing financial pressures, is expected to push those numbers dramatically higher when the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development releases its Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, likely later this month. Already, though, 2020 will be recalled in part as a year in which homelessness became the object of significant attention in California, with initiatives operating on several tracks simultaneously.
The Sacramento region said goodbye to three longtime gay elected officials this month, as the trio all lost their reelection bids in November. With the departure of a gay Stockton school board member, who also failed to secure a second term last month, California s northern Central Valley will have no out male local political leaders for the first time since 1987.
In 2005 gay West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon came out during his State of the City address. The Filipino politician had won reelection until this year, bringing to an end his tenure as the country s longest continuously serving out politician.
Also falling short in the November election was gay Roseville school board member Gary Miller, who had served on the oversight body since 2008. His defeat ends a remarkable political run, as Miller had served on various school boards for 30 years and was the first out LGBTQ elected official in both Sacramento and Placer counties.
MEADOWVIEW – When then-Sacramento City Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell sat down with friend Larry Carr to make a list of people who could potentially be her successor for District 8, he thought he could help her, after all, he had already turned down the request for the position.
Larry Carr says he believes District 8 will be in good hands with the new leadership of Mai Vang on the Sacramento City Council. Carr served in the seat for six years.
Citing health concerns, Ms. Pannell, a longtime City Councilwoman, had privately announced that she would step down as the District 8 representative on June 23, 2014.
Carr was contemplating to run for a Sacramento County Board of Supervisors’ seat but he bypassed that to do other things with his life. Under the circumstances, Ms. Pannell was ill, though relentless.
Lists, lists, lists. Everyone’s got one heading into this holiday season, but none have been more scrutinized than the lists purportedly on the desk of Governor Gavin Newsom as he contemplates naming the replacement in the U.S. Senate for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, as well as the replacement for Attorney General Xavier Becerra, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Politico’s California Playbook predicts that Newsom will deliver a “Hanukkah/Christmas gift this week” to one of several political groups pushing hard for diversity. Advocates for Representatives Karen Bass and Barbara Lee argue that the position held by the Senate’s only Black woman should be filled by another African American woman. Then there’s longtime frontrunner Secretary of State Alex Padilla, whose pick would open up another seat. But Latinos also support Robert Garcia, the out gay mayor of Long Beach, whose appointment would be historic.