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.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT-Billionaires Stephen Schwarzman and Sam Zell must love Gov. Gavin Newsom, political consultant Ace Smith, and the California Apartment Association right now.
After all, Newsom, Smith, and the CAA were key players in killing two rent control ballot measures in California that Schwarzman, Zell, and other real estate heavyweights spent a staggering $163.5 million in campaign cash to stop.
Ace Smith, in particular, profited from doing Big Real Estate’s dirty work. Smith’s consulting firm raked in $105,000 for stopping Prop 10 in 2018 and $140,000 for defeating Prop 21 in 2020. Smith (pictured above) usually represents Democratic candidates, but with both measures he chose to work for real estate executives who are major contributors to Donald Trump and have awful reputations among housing justice activists.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) Renting an apartment in Fresno is getting harder to do. The last 25 years, California has been woefully inadequate in building housing stock both single-family homes and multifamily apartments both market-rate and affordable, said Greg Terzakis with the California Apartment Association.
Terzakis said there s a shortage of housing and building costs are up. Unless we start building more of everything, everywhere, this crisis is not going to go away even post- COVID 19 he said.
According to Apartment List Search Data, compared to this time last year, there has been a 30% increase in the share of renters searching for leases of six months or less.