Supporters defend anti-corruption law + GOP lawmakers at Sacramento ‘March for Life’
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
SUPPORTERS OF SB 1439 EXPLAIN WHAT’S AT STAKE IF LAWSUIT OVERTURNS IT
Last year, SB 1439 passed the Legislature without a peep of opposition and was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom with little fanfare.
The law, which went into effect Jan. 1, mandates that city and county elected officials recuse themselves from voting on certain issues that financially benefit anyone who has donated more than $250 to the official’s campaign within the last year. Elected officials can return the money if they wish to cast a vote.
Jonathan Mehta Stein, executive director of California Common Cause, said in a press conference Monday that the law is “a narrowly tailored solution to an acute and documented problem.”
“California’s local governments have been plagued by scandals in which special interest companies pump campaign cash to local government officials who determine their fate on licenses, permits and contracts. The examples are all over California,” he said.
The reason for Monday’s presser?
A group of elected officials and business interests have sued to block the law from being enforced, arguing that it is overbroad and infringes on the First Amendment rights of both contributors and elected officials.
Richard Miadich, who chairs the Fair Political Practices Commission that voted unanimously to support the law, expressed his disappointment with the lawsuit in a statement, which Mehta Stein read to the press.
“We’ll continue doing just that and will continue to enforce the law unless and until a court ruling says otherwise,” Miadich said.
Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, who authored the law, called the plaintiffs’ argument of free speech infringement “a dubious claim.”
“This law does not interfere with their ability to make those contributions. The law is focused on the recipient of the contribution, the council member, the board of supervisors member, the special district member, that’s the focus,” he said during Monday’s presser.
Glazer said that people “have become numb” to political corruption and that “pay-to-play” is antithetical to good government.
“It should be rooted out and killed like a cancer that has infected the body politic,” he said.
MARCH FOR LIFE COMES TO SACRAMENTO, SEVERAL GOP LAWMAKERS ATTEND
For the first time since the U.S. Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and empower dozens of states to outlaw or heavily restrict abortion, anti-abortion advocates gathered in Sacramento to take a literal victory lap around the Capitol.
“In light of the Dobbs Supreme Court Decision, it is more important than ever for peaceful pro-lifers to boldly advocate for the humanity of our preborn brothers and sisters,” said Jonathan Keller, president of the conservative California Family Council, in a statement.
Among the speakers at Monday’s rally, the third ever in Sacramento, were former Sen. Melissa Melendez and Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno.
“I want to tell you something: We’re doing something right and we’re getting the attention of people who are doing something wrong,” Patterson said in his remarks.
At one point, Patterson referred to counter-protesters at the event, saying, “despite the noise over here, there is a noise one day in Heaven where we will hear the noise of the joys of the praise of those little babies who the Lord adopted and is living with now.”
Keller also mentioned a number of other Republican lawmakers who were present at Monday’s rally, including Assemblyman Joe Patterson, R-Rocklin, Assemblyman Devon Mathis, R-Visalia, Assemblyman Bill Essayli, R-Riverside, Sen. Brian Dahle, R-Bieber, Assemblywoman Megan Dahle, R-Bieber, and Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I think all of us hold some prejudice, and we have to fight it our whole lives. But resistance is how we grow.”
- Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in a Twitter thread where he sought to speak to “anyone who has chosen the path of hate.”
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