Tension between SoCal Dems + A boost for CA ports + Letter calls for veto of prostitution bill
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
TENSIONS BREWING BETWEEN SOCAL DEMOCRATS
Two Southern California Democrats could soon clash, courtesy of redistricting.
When Rep. Katie Porter announced that she intends to run in California Congressional District 47, she likely expected to face a stiff challenge from a Republican. But one potential challenger to her seat has a D after his name: Fellow Southern California Democrat and former Rep. Harley Rouda.
Rouda, who was ousted from his seat in 2020, has been public with his desire to return to elected office, and CA-47 could be his ticket. The former congressman made that plain in a tweet Wednesday.
“I believe this district’s voters want moderate, pragmatic leadership, and I firmly believe that I am the most electable Democrat in this district; but I am also a realist, whose goal has always been to put my constituents and our country first. Towards that end, my family and I will be taking this opportunity to spend the holidays together, and evaluate all the options laid before us,” Rouda wrote.
While Porter has not publicly responded to Rouda’s statement, she put out a tweet of her own on Wednesday, writing that “winning this swing seat won’t be easy” and calling on supporters to chip in with donations.
Former Porter adviser and Democratic consultant Nathan Click was more direct.
“Seriously! Talk about zero grasp of reality. @HarleyRouda, the guy who just handed his seat to the GOP, thinks he can scare off @katieporteroc, the sitting Congresswoman who has never lost a race in the district and has almost 23x his cash on hand. Read the room, dude,” Click wrote on Twitter.
CALIFORNIA PORTS TO GET FINANCIAL BOOST
Via David Lightman...
The ports of Long Beach and Oakland will get millions of new dollars to help them become more efficient.
The southern California port has endured unusually long backups. About 40% of U.S. imports pass through the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
Long Beach is due to get $52.3 million for a three-part project that will include a new locomotive facility while extending east and west rail yards. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said in a statement the project should “improve supply-chain efficiency, helping facilitate the movement of goods out of the port and to consumers.”
Oakland will get $5.2 million to help transition to clear forms of energy. The funds will help replace an existing electrical substation and circuit.
Billions of dollars of agriculture produced are exported through the port each year, Feinstein said. The Oakland port was the nation’s eighth busiest last year.
It will also be important in building a new fuel cell facility, a solar array with battery storage and will connect the port’s substation to the local electric utility’s biomass-fuel generator, according to Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.
The backups at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, as well as some problems getting goods to stores and customers, have helped trigger shortages of supplies of a host of consumer products.
More help could be on the way. The infrastructure bill President Joe Biden signed into law last month included $17 billion nationwide for port and waterway aid.
LETTER CALLS ON NEWSOM TO VETO BILL
Remember, Gov. Gavin Newsom still has one last bill to either sign or veto.
Recall back to the tail end of the legislative year, when SB 357, a bill by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, which decriminalizes loitering for the purpose of prostitution, passed through the Legislature but was held, at Wiener’s request, til January for consideration of signing.
Since then, Wiener and his allies have rallied for the bill. Now, opponents of the bill are doing some rallying of their own.
A coalition of anti-sex trafficking groups, sex trafficking survivors, elected officials and other organizations have sent a letter to Newsom urging him to veto the bill.
“Identifying victims of human trafficking is a difficult and time-consuming task for law enforcement. Many officers rely on loitering arrests as a method to initiate trafficking investigations that lead to serious convictions for traffickers and pimps,” the letter reads in part.
The letter goes on to say that vetoing the legislation will be a boon to private businesses and working-class neighborhoods.
“Without your protection these families and businesses will be forced to tolerate an increase in prostitution and exploitation leaving them powerless to protect their families and minimize the loss of customers,” the letter reads.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“One year ago today I was appointed by @GavinNewsom to represent California in the US Senate. It is truly the honor of a lifetime to serve in this capacity, and I will continue to bring my lived experience, commitment and dedication to the fight for progress each and every day.”
- Sen. Alex Padilla, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
California will expand hours for state-operated testing sites and will provide at least one rapid test for every public school student as the omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads through the state, threatening hospital capacity, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, via Sophia Bollag and Lara Korte.
Republican Tamika Hamilton will take her stockpile of campaign cash to contest Democratic Rep. Ami Bera in the new 6th congressional district, her campaign announced Wednesday, via Gillian Brassil.
A California Public Employees’ Retirement System audit says three police chiefs and a police commander in a small community just outside of San Francisco defrauded the giant pension system for a decade, collecting retirement benefits while working full-time jobs, via Randy Diamond.