Dems close ranks behind SEIU CA + Schiff comes to Sac + Newsom sued over anti-protest law

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

DEMS CLOSE RANKS AROUND NEW SEIU HEAD

In the wake of news that SEIU California’s executive director, Alma Hernández, resigned after she and her husband were charged with tax fraud, embezzlement, perjury and failure to pay unemployment insurance taxes, a handful of California Democrats rallied around the union’s interim executive director, Tia Orr.

San Jose Democrats Sen. Dave Cortese and Assemblyman Ash Kalra sent out matching tweets Wednesday, saying, “The labor movement’s strength comes from members united to fight for fairness & justice. With Tia Orr as its new Interim Executive Director, @seiucalifornia will not miss a beat. #StrongerTogether”

Also tweeting in support of Orr was Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, who shared a similar tweet reading, “Workers organizing for fairness & justice – that’s where the labor movement’s strength comes from. Confident that w/ @TiaOrr1111 serving as new Interim Exec Dir, @seiucalifornia will not miss a beat.”

Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, tweeted, “.@seiucalifornia will not miss a beat with @TiaOrr1111 as its new Interim Executive Director. She’s a strong and fierce leader who will stand up for our workers! #StrongerTogether”

On the other side of the fence, the Freedom Foundation, an organization that encourages public sector employees to quit their unions, put out the following statement in response to the news:

“This fraud and corruption, even at the highest levels, comes as no surprise to the Freedom Foundation, a national government watchdog organization that encourages public workers to exercise their First Amendment rights to refuse to pay for the political speech of government unions.

“Since 2018, the Freedom Foundation has led the charge in educating SEIU California members about the ways the union is abusing their constitutional rights and spending their money on illicit activities, including acting as primary funders of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent recall survival campaign.

“Now it’s clear the problem was worse than anyone knew.”

Be sure to check out the Capitol Bureau’s coverage of the whole situation, including Jeong Park’s exclusive story on Hernández’s resignation, and Wes Venteicher’s explanation of the criminal charges she and her husband are facing.

ADAM SCHIFF TO COME TO SACRAMENTO

House Intelligence Committee Chairman — and staunch critic of former President Donald Trump — Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, is set to give a talk in Sacramento this Friday at noon at Capital Books.

Schiff, who has written a new book, “Midnight in Washington,” will discuss his work with host Mayor Darrell Steinberg, followed by an audience question-and-answer session.

You can get tickets for the event at Capital Books, or on their website at capitalbooksonk.com.

“Midnight In Washington” is “the vital inside account of American democracy in its darkest hour and a warning that the forces of autocracy unleashed by Trump remain as potent as ever,” according to Capital Books’ website.

GROUP SUES NEWSOM OVER VACCINE PROTEST LAW

Via Hannah Wiley...

Right to Life of Central California announced on Wednesday that it filed a federal lawsuit to block the implementation of Senate Bill 742, a new law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last week to limit protest activity at vaccination sites.

Specifically, the new law makes it a misdemeanor for protesters to physically interfere with immunization efforts, get too close to or intimidate and harass patients at vaccine clinics. SB 742 also applies to sites administering COVID-19 shots.

Right to Life claims that because some abortion clinics offer vaccine services, SB 742 would unconstitutionally limit their advocacy and outreach efforts.

The complaint, filed in the Eastern District of California, alleges that SB 742 violates freedom of speech, religion and the organization’s “right to freely describe its mission and services in public.”

“Our compassionate and competent staff and volunteers shine a bright light in this community through their loving care and support for women who are facing an incredibly difficult time in their lives,” the organization’s executive director John Gerardi said in a statement. “Through this new state law, the government is silencing our voice from the public square. We will continue advocating for California’s most vulnerable persons—the unborn—and caring for and supporting their mothers.”

The new law always raised questions about First Amendment rights.

The bill restricts demonstrators from, without consent, passing out leaflets, displaying signs or counseling someone. They can’t physically block someone from entering a clinic, or make threats as an intimidation tactic. Violators could face six months in jail, a $1,000 fine or both.

Sacramento Democratic state Sen. Richard Pan said he wrote the bill to protect those who wanted to get inoculated against anti-vaccine activists who regularly show up at clinics.

Pan has written several of California’s tough vaccine laws, and isn’t unfamiliar with how far certain groups will go to protest his legislation and fight against immunizations.

(You can read more about that here, here and here.)

In response to the lawsuit, Pan pledged to continue the battle. “This is just another obstructionist tactic from the anti-vax extremists,” he said, “We won’t stop fighting for safe access to life-saving vaccines.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“If we don’t solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020* (which we have thoroughly and conclusively documented), Republicans will not be voting in ‘22 or ‘24. It is the single most important thing for Republicans to do.”

- Former President Donald Trump, in a statement, h/t to Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Greg Bluestein.

*It’s worth noting that the allegations of widespread voter fraud have been thoroughly debunked, including by FactCheck.org and The Associated Press.

Best of the Bee:

• There’s a motto among locals in this coastal corner of Northern California, a rugged place where tourists ambling among the redwoods outnumber residents living in Crescent City.

  “There’s no law north of the Klamath,” a nod to the river at the county’s southern border with Humboldt County, via Ryan Sabalow and Jason Pohl.

• Front-line farm, grocery-store and meatpacking workers in California could see financial relief through a federal program designed to alleviate pandemic-related costs, via Gillian Brassil and Jeong Park.

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week vetoed legislation that would have required the California Department of Human Resources to develop employee “upward mobility goals” that would factor in race, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status and physical and mental disabilities, via Andrew Sheeler.