Wilk to co-chair bipartisan caucus + Cunningham forms a firm + DOJ hires a diversity officer
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
WILK TO CO-CHAIR BIPARTISAN CAUCUS
Former Senate Minority Leader Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, has a new title to add to his collection: co-chair of the bipartisan Legislative Problem Solvers Caucus. Wilk joins Fullerton Democratic Sen. Josh Newman in heading up the caucus, which promotes commitment to progress regardless of ideology.
“Californians could care less which political party comes up with a good idea, they just want a government that works for — rather than against — them,” Wilk said in a statement. “I look forward to working with my colleagues — more interested in collaboration than partisan bickering — to address the very real problems facing California.”
The caucus, which formed in 2021, has members in both the Assembly and the Senate.
Wilk and Newman have several ideas that they’d like to see implemented. One would make the offices of attorney general and secretary of state nonpartisan. Others would consolidate California’s more than 200 agencies, departments and commissions “with clear lines of accountability,” and create a two-year budget cycle with even years focused on “oversight of the executive branch and its vast array of departments.”
FORMER ASSEMBLYMAN LAUNCHES CONSULTING FIRM
Speaking of the Problem Solvers Caucus, one of its founding members has launched a new consulting firm.
Former Republican Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham has joined his former strategist and spokesman Nick Mirman to form CM Public Affairs, whose brand new website proclaims that “big thinkers need big doers.”
Cunningham, who represented California’s Central Coast in the Assembly from 2016 to 2022, frequently worked across the aisle with Democrats to get his legislation passed, including a bill last year aimed at holding accountable social media companies that target children.
Mirman’s own resume, which began during the Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger administration, includes leading the California Assembly Republicans’ communication shop and advocating, with Cunningham, to keep Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant open past its planned 2025 shutdown date.
CALIFORNIA DOJ HIRES FIRST-EVER DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION OFFICER
Kevin Hooks will serve as the California Department of Justice’s inaugural chief diversity and inclusion officer, the DOJ announced Tuesday.
Hooks previously served as president and CEO of CEOLIFE Unplugged, “leading various diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts,” according to the statement. From 2013 to 2021, he also served as president and CEO of the Las Vegas Urban League.
In his new position he is responsible for overseeing all of the DOJ’s diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging programs and will also work to strengthen the department’s recruitment, hiring and retention efforts.
“My top priority in this role will be to cultivate a more inclusive environment within DOJ and throughout California. I am committed to this work and I am confident that, by working together, we will build a more equitable California for everyone,” Hooks said.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Telling your dentist you cover politics means having no choice but to hear someone’s political opinions while you lie in your back and mumble occasionally.”
- Politico California reporter Jeremy B. White, via Twitter.
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