Jones, Ashby clash over designation + Weber names ‘Democracy Defenders’ + Granholm comes to Cali

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JONES, ASHBY RESPOND TO COURT RULING ON BALLOT DESIGNATION

On Wednesday, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto, a man, ruled that Sacramento City Councilwoman and State Senate candidate Angelique Ashby, a woman, could not list “women’s advocate” as her ballot designation as that was an inaccurate representation of her vocation.

Ashby’s campaign had been taken to court by her opponent, Dave Jones, who objected to the Secretary of State’s approval of the “women’s advocate” designation.

Acquisto ordered Ashby’s designation changed to “City Councilwoman.” The judge did allow the Ashby campaign to continue using the description of “women’s advocate” in her ballot statement.

Ashby pushed back.

“Today, Dave Jones claimed that being a women’s advocate is not a real vocation. A male judge agreed with him. That’s disappointing, but not surprising. The California State Legislature is predominately male. The Sacramento City Council is predominantly male. Sacramento has not elected a woman to the Legislature in over 20 years. If you needed a reminder, you got one today. Women are still marginalized and easily dismissed. But I refuse to accept that as our fate. Let this be a rallying cry. Elect more women,” Ashby said in a statement.

The campaign for Jones, himself no stranger to questions about his ballot designation, released its own statement, saying that this isn’t the first time Ashby misrepresented her profession.

“Councilmember Ashby previously claimed to be a public defender, until evidence came out that she had never worked as a public defender, and wasn’t even an attorney,” Jones campaign spokesman Michael Soneff said in statement. “...Ashby’s attempt to mislead voters shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who followed her primary campaign, as she never shied away from misrepresenting her record and the record of Dave Jones, lies that were paid for by the big oil companies and their allies that backed her campaign.”

Ashby received $4,900 from a PAC with numerous funders, including the oil industry. The same PAC coordinated an independent expenditure campaign against Jones, to which Ashby had no connection.

WEBER ANNOUNCES ‘DEMOCRACY DEFENDERS’

Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, but that hasn’t stopped many GOP candidates from echoing former President Donald Trump’s so-called “Big Lie” that the election was rigged.

Now, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber has announced her support for a series of “Democracy Defenders” whom she says are committed to fair and impartial administration of future elections.

“The past two years have seen the rise of conspiratorial secretary of state candidates who are committed to supporting the Big Lie and potentially overturning the will of the voters. Our commitment to democracy requires us to stand up for free and fair elections, run by impartial elections officers. We simply can’t go down the dark road of allowing Big Lie promoters to oversee future elections,” Weber said in a statement.

To that end, Weber is supporting four candidates for secretary of state — two Democratic incumbents, Michigan’s Jocelyn Benson and Minnesota’s Steve Simon, and Democratic candidates Cisco Aguilar of Nevada and Adrian Fontes of Arizona. Each faces an opponent committed to the false narrative that Trump won in 2020.

Weber is using her campaign to fundraise for each of those candidates.

“I was born in the Jim Crow South — my parents never got to exercise the right to vote until they arrived in California. The right to vote in a safe, secure election is personal to me and my family. I won’t stand by idly while fringe conspiracists try to block the will of the people. The 2020 election was a free and fair election, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying for their own political gain. The stakes are too high to let a Big Lie proponent gain office as a Secretary of State,” Weber said.

SECRETARY GRANHOLM TO COME TO CALIFORNIA

U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm is coming to California on Thursday and Friday, where she will tour SoCal along with Reps. Pete Aguilar, Norma Torres and Katie Porter.

“During this trip to the Golden State, the Secretary and Members of Congress will tour the site of one of the first electrified truck dealerships in America and meet with the next generation of clean energy workers,” according to a statement announcing the visit.

The visit comes as the Biden Administration seeks to promote the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, that includes provisions intended to increase access to electric vehicles by making them more affordable.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We’re close but a couple votes short on our teen vaccine bill (SB 866) on the Assembly floor. We’re thus moving the bill to inactive. The anti-vaxxer harassment campaign worked this time, at the expense of teen health. We lost this round but aren’t going anywhere.”

- Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, via Twitter.

“Believe me... it was more than a couple votes short!”

- Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, D-Long Beach, via Twitter.

“Assemblymember, I do know how to count votes. I know exactly where my votes were and weren’t.”

- Sen. Scott Wiener, via Twitter.

Best of the Bee:

• Fresno farmworker and immigrant rights groups are calling on California Sen. Alex Padilla to vote “no” on federal legislation they say would hurt both domestic and guest agricultural workers, via Melissa Montalvo.

• California teens will still need parental permission to get vaccines after a lawmaker pulled a measure lowering the age of consent to 15 following an “anti-vaxxer harassment campaign,” via Lindsey Holden.

• As the November election looms, the Indian tribes that own California’s glittering casinos are waging an epic battle against a coalition of online gambling companies. At stake is whether legalized sports betting comes to California, and who gets to make money from it, via Dale Kasler.

• Debate on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to extend the life of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant has raged for weeks. But on Tuesday, conflicting interpretations of a single phrase led to a whirlwind of political wrangling, via Ari Plachta and Stephen Hobbs.

• Angel Noriega walked more than 150 miles alongside the United Farm Workers earlier this month to pressure Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a bill that would give laborers more ways to participate in union elections. By the end of the trek, his feet were blistered and his ankles were swollen up to his calves, via Laura S. Diaz.

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been outspoken in his criticism of states like Texas, Idaho and Alabama that have passed laws severely restricting or even criminalizing transgender medical care. Now he’ll have a chance to back that up with his signature, as lawmakers have sent him a bill turning California into a sanctuary for children seeking gender-affirming treatment, via Andrew Sheeler.