Schubert banks a mil + Bonta defends anti-discrimination law
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SCHUBERT MARKS $1 MILLION IN RACE FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL
Via Lara Korte...
Two months after launching her campaign to be the state’s top legal officer, Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said last week she has raised $1 million in donations to her campaign.
Schubert, previously a Republican and now an NPP, is running against Attorney General Rob Bonta, one of the state’s more progressive Democrats.
Schubert’s non-partisan, victim-centered messages about crime seem to have resonated with certain Californians, including Angelo Tsakopoulos, the longtime Sacramento real estate developer who also happens to be the father of Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis. Tsakopoulus maxed out with a $8,100 contribution to Schubert last month, according to state filings.
Her campaign has donations from people across the party spectrum, she says. It’s important to her to be transparent about why she switched from GOP to no party preference two years ago.
“I tell people the truth, which is, the district attorney is a nonpartisan job,” she said. “And, you know, people like to politicize the position, and I felt very strongly that I was going to be authentic to myself.”
Schubert’s campaign figures come at the same time Bonta’s office is reporting an increase in violent crime. In 2020, homicides in California went up 31%, according to the Department of Justice. At the same time, handgun purchases surged a record 65.5%.
Schubert says it’s a reflection of the increased crime Californians have been experiencing for months, which she calls “out of control.”
“Yeah, shocker,” she said wryly of the homicide statistics. “We all know this from people that actually work in the trenches.”
AG BONTA SIGNALS SUPPORT FOR NY IN LAWSUIT
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of 20 other attorneys general filed a “friend of the court” brief in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York in defense of that state’s public accommodation law.
At issue is a case where a wedding photographer posted a notice on her website declaring that she would refuse service on the basis of seuxal orientation — a violation of New York’s anti-discrimination laws.
The amicus brief that Bonta joined calls on the district court judge to dismiss the case and deny the plaintiff’s efforts to block the public accommodation law.
“Refusing service to someone because of who they love or who they are isn’t just discriminatory, it’s wrong,” Bonta said in a statement. “As this country faces an explosion of state legislation targeting LGBTQ+ Americans, it’s more important than ever that we protect and uphold public accommodation laws. Discrimination against any of us paves the way for discrimination against us all. In California, we’ll continue to push back against those who seek to reverse our progress and stand up for all of our people. We urge the court to toss out this meritless attack on New York’s law.”
Bonta recently made headlines in the LGBTQ space when he announced that he was adding five more states to California’s “Do Not Travel” list, prohibiting state employees from traveling to Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia on the state’s dime due to anti-LGBTQ laws passed in those states.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“All public employees — including all employees of the Legislature — should be mandated to get a COVID vaccine, absent a medical reason.Public employees not getting vaccinated puts others at risk & undermines government’s ability to serve the public. It’s not acceptable.”
– Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, via Twitter.
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