Prop. 22 supporters turn on AB 5 backer + QAnon comes for Scott Wiener + Becerra disputes woman’s murder charge
Good morning and welcome to the new week!
FIRST, THE VERY LATE NEWS
California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sonia Angell announced late Sunday she is leaving her job, becoming the second top-ranking health official in Gov. Newsom’s administration to depart during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Angell has been one of the most visible California officials during the pandemic, the public health crisis that has killed more than 10,000 Californians since March.
The Bee’s Sophia Bollag has more on Angell’s departure in this story.
WHEN POLITICS GETS PERSONAL
With three months until the Nov. 3 election, campaigns are bound to get a bit heated during this sprint to the finish line.
That’s particularly true for the expensive Proposition 22 battle between gig companies like Uber and Lyft and labor advocates.
But late last week, UC Hastings Law Professor Veena Dubal found herself square in the middle of the feud, and in the worst of places: online.
Catch up - After Gov. Newsom signed Assembly Bill 5, the landmark labor law that requires most employers to treat their workers as employees, Uber, Lyft and a coalition of high-profile gig economy giants like DoorDash and Postmates pledged $110 million to keep their drivers classified as independent, with some added benefits.
Dubal researches the taxi industry in San Francisco, and how technology affects drivers’ work. She’s long supported how AB 5 requires the companies to treat their drivers as employees.
Dubal is used to online criticism, she told The Sacramento Bee in a Friday phone interview. But things got heated in March this year when a user who disagreed with her advocacy against Uber and Lyft’s efforts posted her home address on Twitter.
“That was upsetting,” Dubal said.
Since then, under the advice of a digital security consultant, she blocks users who tweet anything “harassing in nature.” She also blocked the Yes on Proposition 22 campaign’s account.
Ignorance was bliss, Dubal said, until Thursday evening, when a friend texted her that the campaign had posted a call for any drivers blocked by the professor to tweet screenshots of their rejection.
Earlier that day, Dubal was writing updates on the platform as a San Francisco County Superior Court heard arguments in a lawsuit against Uber and Lyft filed by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. The suit alleges the companies have skirted the new labor law and intentionally misclassify their drivers.
Dubal said she thinks that’s why the campaign publicly called her out the same day.
“I don’t think it was coincidental that (the Proposition 22 campaign) decided to go full on and attack me,” Dubal said. “It doesn’t seem like the best PR strategy but it was effective in upsetting me.”
Since then, Dubal said she’s faced what she characterized as sexist and racist remarks in response to the campaign’s original tweet. We saw the screenshots. Her description is accurate.
Gale Kaufman, who’s the lead consultant on the effort to defeat the ballot initiative, called Yes on Proposition 22’s initial tweet and some of the ensuing responses “absolutely out of the realm of what I think is appropriate or even rational behavior.”
“To go after Professor Dubal this way, so personally and so harassingly, is just unlike anything I’ve ever seen. And it’s clearly directed at her as a woman,” Kaufman said. “If this is where the campaign thinks they’re going, it’s absolutely appalling. It doesn’t mean politics isn’t a blood sport, it certainly is. But this is a different thing.”
In response, Yes on Proposition 22 spokesman Geoff Vetter said the post “simply asked why an advocate for drivers is silencing the very drivers who disagree” (with her positions). Vetter added that the campaign denounces any alleged online mistreatment of Dubal.
“We may disagree on policy, but we should be able to do so without being disagreeable,” Vetter wrote in an email. “We condemn anyone who is harassing Professor Dubal and ask that it stop immediately.”
WIENER GETS DEATH THREATS OVER BILL
Last week, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, ran afoul of a toxic, far-right conspiracy theory community known as “QAnon.”
If you’ve spent much time on social media over the last two years, you’ve probably heard of “QAnon,” an offshoot of the #PizzaGate conspiracy theory whose adherents have been involved in armed standoffs and arrested for kidnapping plots. Some “QAnon” followers are even running for Congress, including at least three in California, according to Axios.
The community went after Wiener for authoring SB 145, a bill that exempts certain statutory rape offenses from requiring registration as a sex offender. Wiener says that the current law forces LGBTQ young people to register as sex offenders in cases where straight youths don’t have to, “a relic of times when gay sex was illegal”
According to Mother Jones, which first reported the harassment, “low-level conservative blogs” got wind of the bill and from there it spread into the “QAnon” community.
Wiener took to Twitter on Thursday to call out and share some of the harassment and death threats that he has received as a result of the legislation. You can see that Twitter thread here.
As Wiener pointed out, the messages ranged from homophobic to anti-Semitic, with several of them promising to bring harm to the lawmaker.
“I have thick skin, but this has been scary, particularly with the assassination of a federal judge’s son last week. There is so much misinformation about SB 145 & it’s hard to track where it starts. Those who think homophobia & antisemitism are over are not paying attention,” Wiener wrote.
There’s recent precedent for online rhetoric translating into real-life violence against lawmakers. Last year, Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, was shoved by an anti-vaxxer who was angry over Pan’s championing of a bill cracking down on medical exemptions for vaccines.
BECERRA WEIGHS IN ON CRIMINAL CASE
A Hanford woman whose child was stillborn should not be charged with murder, argues California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
According to the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, Chelsea Becker’s methamphetamine use led to the death of the fetus, leading the prosecutor to charge Becker with murder. And it’s not the first time that office has prosecuted a woman for that same reason, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In a legal brief filed on Becker’s behalf petitioning the court to dismiss the charge against her, Becerra’s office argued that the Kings County District Attorney’s Office is misapplying a state law aimed at protecting pregnant people.
“Section 187 of the California Penal Code was intended to protect pregnant women from harm, not charge them with murder. Our laws in California do not convict women who suffer the loss of their pregnancy, and in our filing today we are making clear that this law has been misused to the detriment of women, children, and families. We will work to end the prosecution and imprisonment of Ms. Becker so we can focus on applying this law to those who put the lives of pregnant women in danger,” Becerra said in a statement.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I wish it hadn’t come to this. But I need you, Twitter. My 3-year-old needs a hair cut. He has filibustered for a solid year. I’ve walked out of too many barber shops apologizing while carrying a kicker/screamer. His bangs now fully cover his eyes. How, oh how, do I do this?”
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, via Twitter. (The struggle is real)
This response from Christine Pelosi might be the best:
“Give it up — get him a dollup of Gavin Newsom’s hair gel and call it a day.”
Best of the Bee:
California has spent $43 million suing the Trump administration. It’s paying off, officials say, via Andrew Sheeler and Kate Irby
A server outage and a delay in renewing a certificate to receive lab data blocked thousands of COVID-19 test results from reaching the state since late last month, keeping officials in the dark about the disease’s spread, California’s health agency chief said Friday, via Sophia Bollag.
After being sent home en masse amid the coronavirus pandemic, many homeowners are considering uprooting and settling down someplace new. And thousands of them are considering a move to Sacramento, according to data published by brokerage firm Redfin in July, via Maria Heeter.
This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 4:55 AM.