What a difference a day makes.
On Tuesday, California was still wrangling with the Trump administration, as evidenced by nine final-hour lawsuits filed by Attorney General Xavier Becerra bringing his four-year total to a staggering 122 lawsuits.
Today, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in as president and vice president of the United States, ushering in what many California Democrats hope will be a new era of less contention and more collaboration. Hours later, Harris is expected to swear in Alex Padilla as California’s first Latino senator. (For more on what Padilla hopes to accomplish, check out his interview with CalMatters’ Laurel Rosenhall.) And the Golden State could gain yet another powerful ally in Washington if the Senate confirms Becerra as Health and Human Services secretary.
It may have been the biggest bait-and-switch event ever perpetrated in California, affecting the vast majority of the state’s 6 million-plus senior citizens, people aged 65 and up. So far, there has not even been an apology from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration, which was responsible.
If this had
Newsom keeps politically connected picks in medical watchdog role past deadline
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Asif Mahmood at a campaign appearance in 2018 in Los Angeles. Gov. Gavin Newsom nominated Mahmood to the regulatory Medical Board of California in 2019 and has allowed him to stay on for months past a deadline for the state Senate to confirm him.Nick Ut / Associated Press 2017Show MoreShow Less
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Richard Thorp, a former California Medical Association president nominated by Gov. Gavin Newsom to the regulatory Medical Board of California. Newsom has allowed Thorp to stay on for months past a deadline for the state Senate to confirm him.Medical Board of CaliforniaShow MoreShow Less
Ann O’Leary’s resignation letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom
DeBoo started his career in the Legislature in 1998 and said he wants to return to government service to try to help California at one of the most difficult times in state history.
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“When you’re watching something this difficult and people struggling and you think you can help, this is the exact time to step in,” DeBoo said in an interview with The Times. “I don’t want to regret not coming in and trying to assist the governor, his staff and the people of California.”
Democrats, labor union leaders and other interest groups were quick to commend the governor’s pick.
FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff leaves as new top advisor joins his team [Los Angeles Times]
Halfway into his first term as governor and immersed in a historic struggle to slow the spread of COVID-19 in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom confirmed on Monday the departure of his chief of staff and the selection of a veteran Sacramento strategist to lead his administration.
Ann O’Leary, who was one of the first appointments made by Newsom after his 2018 election, sent the governor her resignation letter on Monday. Jim DeBoo, a former top advisor to members of the California Legislature who has more recently worked as a political consultant and lobbyist, will step in at the beginning of the year.