Republican posts a big haul + Dee Dee Myers on Tesla + 3 cities get money to go carbon neutral
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REPUBLICAN FOR CONTROLLER BANKS A MIL
Via Lara Korte...
Mitt Romney’s former policy wonk has raised more than $1 million in his campaign for California State Controller, his campaign told The Sacramento Bee.
Lanhee Chen, a Bay Area Republican, reports raising $1,002,980 from 307 donors, including former Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang, Steve Poizner, and John Chambers, the former CEO of Cisco.
$734,280 can be used for the primary election in June. The remaining $268,700 is reserved for the general election in November, should Chen qualify. Chen launched his campaign in early July.
He currently works as Director of Domestic Policy Studies in the Public Policy Program at Stanford. A native of Southern California, he holds a Ph.D in political science and a law degree from Harvard. He spent much of the last decade working on high-profile Republican campaigns, including as a policy director for Sen. Mitt Romney’s two presidential bids and a senior adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio during his 2016 campaign.
Current California State Controller Betty Yee, a Democrat, will term out next year, leaving open the spot for chief fiscal officer. Chen is betting that Californians are ready to elect a Republican to statewide office after nearly 15 years of Democratic control, and touts support from across the political spectrum.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” Chen said. “And I think people recognize that there is a need to find problem solvers regardless of party.”
Currently, Chen has no Republican challengers. On the Democratic side, only two candidates have declared their running: State Board of Equalization Member Malia Cohen, and financier Yvonne Yiu.
State records show Cohen with a total of $401,650 in contributions raised as of June 30 (the latest available data). Yiu reports raising $501,250 in that time.
Dozens of candidates, some of them state lawmakers, have filed campaign committees for controller, though it’s unclear whether any of them will run in 2022.
DEE DEE MYERS ON TESLA RELOCATION
Via Jeong Park...
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said earlier this month that he’s moving the electric car company’s headquarter from California to Texas, citing the state’s high cost of housing and limits of growing the physical footprint in the Bay Area.
Still, the company is not “going anywhere,” said Dee Dee Myers, director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, or Go-Biz.
Myers said her office talked to Tesla leaders who were not aware until Musk’s announcement that he planned to move the company’s headquarters. But Myers also noted Tesla plans to expand the company’s factory in Fremont in the Bay Area.
And she took a shot at a Texas law that prevents Tesla from directly selling its cars to Texas residents. The law means Tesla cars in Texas have to be shipped to other states before they reach Texas residents.
“They sell 50% of the cars they make here in California,” Myers said. “They can’t even sell directly to people in Texas.”
Myers also noted that while Tesla is the “flagship” of electric vehicle companies, there are 33 other companies in the state working on such cars.
THREE CITIES GET $1M FOR SHOT AT CARBON NEUTRALITY
Via Lara Korte...
Los Angeles, Irvine and Petaluma will each get $1 million to execute plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
The cities were chosen by the nonprofit Cool City Challenge after a months-long application process involving more than 40 cities. Applicants were required to recruit a cross-sector leadership team, 25 community partner organizations, 200 block leaders and create a climate moonshot strategy.
According to the organization, cities produce 70% of the planet’s carbon emissions, and the challenge aims to build a partnership between citizens and cities in fighting climate change. Cities will organize at the local level and develop “moonshot climate solutions” in policy, technology and market development.
All three cities have already passed resolutions committing to carbon neutrality by 2030, and will use the funds to implement a “Cool Block” program that organizes neighbors to build sustainable habits in their communities.
L.A. City Councilmember Paul Koretz, who authored the city’s carbon neutral resolution, said the challenge provides the city with the framework for combating climate change.
“If we are to meet the greatest challenge ever faced by humankind — in time — we must look climate change square in the face, and do not what’s possible, but what’s necessary to keep our planet habitable and thriving,” he said in a statement.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“CA Democrats: IF PEOPLE DON’T STOP USING GAS-POWERED LEAF BLOWERS, THE PLANET WILL DIE!!!
Also CA Democrats: Did we say ‘people?’ We meant ‘other people.’”
- California Assembly Republicans’ Twitter feed, accompanied by photos of leaf blowers in use around the Capitol.
Best of the Bee:
The Golden State’s golden list of big name rich people from familiar companies such as Facebook and Google could feel a sharp sting from a new tax on billionaires, via David Lightman.
California state correctional officers who work in prison health care settings must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 24 or face disciplinary action, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told employees in emails Monday, via Wes Venteicher.
Opponents of California’s controversial and embattled high-speed rail project hope a state appeals court will put the brakes on using billions in bond funds for construction that’s now underway in Fresno County and the central San Joaquin Valley, via Tim Sheehan.
This story was originally published October 27, 2021 at 4:55 AM.