McCarthy finally secures Speakership + Newsom’s inaugural march + SEIU removes local president
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert! Earlier editions of this newsletter carried some outdated versions of stories that continued to develop over the weekend. We apologize for the error.
MCCARTHY GETS HIS GAVEL, OULASTING OVER FAR-RIGHT HOLDOUTS
As midnight rolled past at the Capitol, Rep. Kevin McCarthy prevailed early Saturday on the 15th try in his tortured quest to become Speaker of the House of Representatives.
After four days and a series of ballots unseen since the 19th century, enough holdouts among a bloc of far-right conservatives finally relented and handed the Bakersfield Republican the required majority by voting “present.” They came along only after he agreed to a series of key concessions that could ultimately hinder McCarthy’s ability to control the GOP caucus.
Winning new supporters required concessions that many lawmakers warned would make it difficult to run the House smoothly.
“We knew that there’d be some of this waiting for us, we still don’t know how much,” Rep.-elect John Duarte, a Modesto Republican, said Thursday. “We’re all doing everything we can do,” he said, “but we want to get to real work.”
SEIU LOCAL REMOVES PRESIDENT AFTER REPORT OF THREATS
California state government’s largest employee union ousted its top elected official Saturday, after an independent investigation determined that he threatened staff members and stole documents during his tumultuous presidency.
The SEIU Local 1000 Board of Directors voted to remove Richard Louis Brown from office and to forbid him from acting as a union steward until 2025. The new vote represents only the latest formal discipline against him. The board suspended Brown in February for a range of issues, including lack of transparency and poor fiscal decisions. Board of Directors Chairman Bill Hall will continue to lead the organization until it elects next president. Local 1000 represents about 100,000 public employees with about half of them paying dues as members.
NEWSOM SWINGS AT DESANTIS IN INAUGURAL MARCH, CAGOP RESPONDS
On the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Gavin Newsom marched toward California’s statehouse to deliver an inaugural speech that celebrated California’s freedoms and the state’s resistance to forces that “want to take the nation backward.”
Newsom slammed red-state leaders like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and painted California as a progressive bastion.
“They make it harder to vote and easier to buy illegal guns. They silence speech, fire teachers, kidnap migrants, subjugate women, attack the Special Olympics, and even demonize Mickey Mouse,” he said about conservative leaders like DeSantis. “All camouflaged under a hijacking of the word ‘freedom.’”
California Republican leaders jumped at the chance to speak out against the governor and raise doubts about the progress that would be made in his second term.
“If Gavin Newsom’s first four years as governor are any indication of what’s to come, Californians are in for a rough ride,” California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson said in a statement.
“Whether lecturing red states, plotting a laughable White House run, or making the rounds on cable news, the only lesson he’s actually teaching the nation is how to move your state in the wrong direction.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
““It is a good thing for the Central Valley to have a Central Valley Speaker of the House,” said Rep. John Duarte, R-Modesto, via Sac Bee
Best of The Bee:
More Black families are moving to Placer County suburbs. They are still a minority, comprising 2% of the population, but the 2020 Census showed a quickly rising number of African American households in several cities. The number of Black residents rose by 48% in Rocklin. Roseville saw a 64% jump. Lincoln (39%) and Granite Bay (34%) also experienced growth. via Sawsan Morrar
Sacramento City Unified School District will not impose an indoor mask requirement when students return next week from winter break, officials confirmed Friday morning, following a recent decline in local coronavirus case numbers, via Michael McGough.
As a 2016 California law requiring agricultural employers to pay overtime continues to roll out in 2023, farmworkers and employers alike say the policy is costing them money. Farmworkers say since the new law passed, they’re largely not being paid overtime, and their hours — and take-home pay — have been reduced as a result, making it harder to cover basic living expenses such as food and rent, via Melissa Montalvo.
This story was originally published January 8, 2023 at 11:00 PM.