Crickets from California Republicans on Greene tweet + Newsom and Musk, face to face

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

CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS LARGELY SILENT ON MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE’S CALL FOR ‘NATIONAL DIVORCE’

Remember when Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene opined that Jewish-owned space lasers sparked California wildfires? Or, just days after a mass shooting at a Colorado LGBTQ club, when she called California State Sen. Scott Wiener, who is gay, a “communist groomer”?

And now, her Presidents’ Day tweet.

“We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government. Everyone I talk to says this. From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s traitorous America Last policies, we are done,” Greene wrote.

Things are different for Greene these days. Her unhinged tweets come not as a member of the House minority but from a perch on the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, as well as the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Unsurprisingly, Democrats were quick to condemn Greene’s secessionist remarks.

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California called her tweet “treasonous.”

“P.S. Are you sure you’re ready to part ways with the state that’s on the way to becoming the 4th largest economy in the world?” Padilla wrote in a tweet.

But what about her fellow Republicans in California?

The Bee reached out to every GOP member of the state’s congressional delegation, as well as the Republican legislative leadership and the California Republican Party itself, to see whether they agree with Greene and support her continued committee presence.

The response?

“Nice try,” said Jonathan Wilcox, spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa.

“The Congressman strongly disagrees with the statement,” said Jennifer Cressy, spokeswoman for Rep. Tom McClintock.

Karan Brar, a spokesman for Rep. John Duarte, told The Bee that “obviously, we don’t agree with the message at all.”

The rest was mostly crickets.

The offices of Reps. Kevin Kiley, David Valadao, Mike Garcia, Ken Calvert, Jay Obernolte, Doug LaMalfa, Young Kim, Michelle Steel and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy did not respond to inquiries. The same for Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher.

Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones’ office declined to comment.

There was one other California Republican that The Bee could find speaking out about Greene’s tweet — Sacramento-based consultant Mike Madrid, a co-founder of the anti-Donald Trump group, The Lincoln Project.

“Time to remind Marjorie Taylor Green (sic) about the last time southern secessionists wanted a divorce,” Madrid wrote in a tweet that included a picture of General William Tecumseh Sherman, who famously burned Greene’s home state to the ground during the Civil War.

NEWSOM, MUSK COME FACE TO FACE TO MAKE TESLA ANNOUNCEMENT

Are things between Elon Musk and Gov. Gavin Newsom all better now?

Recall that two years ago the Tesla CEO announced that he was leaving blue state California for red state Texas and taking his company with him.

Yet Wednesday, Musk joined Newsom at a closed-to-the-press event where the two announced that Tesla’s global engineering and AI headquarters was coming to Palo Alto.

You can watch the event here.

In a statement Wednesday, Newsom said that the future happens in California first.

“We’re changing the world through our historic investments, our conveyor belt for talent, and partnerships with companies like Tesla,” he said.

No word on if Newsom and Musk discussed the multiple lawsuits and federal investigation into Tesla’s so-called self-driving cars.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Barbara Lee is a stronger candidate than conventional wisdom is suggesting. The reason? Geography. The Bay Area media market is a decided advantage for a Democratic candidate.”

- California GOP consultant Mike Madrid, via Twitter.

Best of The Bee:

• California water officials have again upped the projected delivery allocation for the State Water Project in 2023, as the state braces for a big winter storm this week after a string of storms earlier in the year replenished reservoirs and Sierra Nevada snowpack, via Michael McGough.

• Both the California Franchise Tax Board, and later the Internal Revenue Service, said the California inflation relief — also known as the Middle Class Refund — is not taxable income and should not be reported on 2022 tax returns. The IRS guidance came weeks after both the filing season opened and several readers reached out to The Bee for answers. And there’s still confusion over what to do if you already filed a return paying tax on the refund. The IRS said it will issue guidance at some point on that question. The chaos is the latest in a lengthy string of troubles the tax agency has faced in recent years, via Brianna Taylor and David Lightman.

• Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday visited San Quentin State Prison for a one-on-one interview with comedian and political commentator Jon Stewart, via Maggie Angst.

• A state lawmaker has joined with parents and advocates in an ambitious effort to reform the system that serves adults and children with disabilities, a vast network of nonprofits that is “failing in significant ways,” according to a new bill, via Maggie Angst.

• The state of California wants bilingual Spanish-speakers to apply for jobs. State jobs are known for offering great benefits and enrollment in the nation’s largest state public pension plan, via Mathew Miranda.

• California lawmakers talk oil profit penalty — months after Newsom called special session, via Lindsey Holden and Maggie Angst.