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Schiff in mix as Newsom deliberates on next California AG
By KATHLEEN RONAYNEFebruary 4, 2021 GMT
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) The public and private jockeying to be California’s next attorney general is intensifying as Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he’s “very close” to making a decision on who he will name to the coveted job.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who represents Newsom’s hometown of San Francisco, has thrown support behind Congressman Adam Schiff, according to a person close to Newsom who says Pelosi and her allies have been calling the governor’s inner political circle to urge he choose the 11-term Los Angeles-area Democrat. The person is not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Other candidates lobbying for or under consideration for the job include state Assemblyman Rob Bonta; Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg; state Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu; Equality California director Rick Zbur; and Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton.
The job is expected to open soon because President Joe Biden has nominated Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be the federal Secretary of Health and Human Services. Newsom said he will make his announcement public once Becerra is confirmed by the Senate, which is likely to happen with Democrats in control of the Senate.
“We hope that happens sooner I certainly do than later,” Newsom said during a news conference in Oakland on the state’s vaccine distribution plan.
Bucking other LGBTQ leaders who have beseeched California Governor Gavin Newsom to name gay Equality California Executive Director Rick Chavez Zbur as the state s next attorney general, members of a Bay Area group for out Asians and Pacific Islanders have thrown their support behind Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), a straight ally.
In a letter signed by Gay Asian Pacific Alliance Chair Michael Nguyen, GAPA s political action committee notified Newsom that it emphatically endorses and supports Bonta being named the next attorney general for the Golden State. Nguyen noted Bonta s being the Legislature s first member of Filipino descent and his background of being a Yale Law School graduate and former deputy city attorney in San Francisco.
At a press conference yesterday, Governor Newsom stated he is “very close” to finalizing a pick.
Becerra has been serving in the position since January of 2017. Former Governor Jerry Brown appointed him to finish out the term of Kamala Harris who was elected to the US Senate.
The Associated Press reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been lobbying for Newsom to appoint Congressman Adam Schiff. He led the House’s first impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump. The AP notes that several other candidates are either lobbying or under consideration. They include California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, Oakland Assemblyman Rob Bonta and Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton.