Meet California’s new laughingstock: Anthony Rendon’s treatment of a new mother defies belief
State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon made himself a national laughingstock on Monday and Tuesday, a distinction he earned by orchestrating one of the most odious displays of failed leadership that we’ve seen in sometime here in Sacramento.
And my friends, that’s saying something.
The Los Angeles-based politician denied Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, the ability to vote by proxy during the coronavirus pandemic. He forced Wicks, a female member of his caucus, to schlep from Oakland to the Capitol in Sacramento with her newborn baby in tow to vote.
A smart, compassionate, emotionally mature leader would have let her vote by proxy.
But, no. Being a real leader was a bridge too far Rendon. He denied Wicks the ability to vote remotely, even though Republicans in the upper house voted via Zoom on Monday. And when initially called on it, Rendon and his smarmy staff doubled down, Donald Trump style.
“The speaker understands that members are committed to performing their legislative duties, while still trying to minimize risk of Covid-19 exposure. The house resolution pertaining to proxy voting is very specific, in that only members at a higher risk from Covid-19 will be considered eligible for proxy voting,” Rendon spokeswoman Katie Talbot said in an email Monday night. “This bar of eligibility was always intended to be high, to ensure the protection of our legislative process.”
I think I speak for many people when I ask: Are you kidding, me?
An act of pandemic cruelty
So he wasn’t just thoughtless and cruel in denying Wicks a safe space to vote, given she had just given birth in late July and is nursing. And, I don’t know, maybe he should have considered that, maybe, vulnerable people like mothers and newborns deserve some exception during this pandemic.
The doubling down and deploying female staff to defend your dirty work should define Rendon from now on.
Put it all together and what Rendon did was an act of cruelty and 1970s male chauvinism.
We expect our leaders under pressure to make rational and smart decisions because, if they can’t, if they totally fail the stress test of leadership, then we don’t need them and don’t want them.
Rendon failed all night long on Monday. He mismanaged the clock and bungled getting a bill to address California’s housing crisis by increasing housing density. Despite the mass demonstrations caused by the killing of George Floyd and the police shooting of Jacob Blake, Rendon wasn’t able to save a bill that would have targeted police officers with histories of excessive force.
He also took a weird shot at former state Senate Leader Kevin de León that made Rendon sound an awful lot like a guy who remains jealous of de Leòn.
Rendon took 24 hours to apologize to Wick. By then he had been pummeled by Hillary Clinton on Twitter.
Now, that’s the clincher.
It was only then, in a lame tweet about a full day after the odious event in question, did Rendon finally apologize.
Sorry, bro. The damage is done. Wicks was there to cast an important vote on family leave, demonstrating true leadership and courage that Rendon obviously lacks.
If this guy is capable of this, what else is he capable of? If this is what passes for judgment in the leader of the California Assembly, then the Assembly is one rudderless ship
Lack of morality
Rendon lost his moral authority. His actions followed by his inaction revealed behavior that is unbecoming of leaders. And were it not for some very brave women at the Capitol who called him out even though he has the reputation of being vindictive, he probably would have slithered by.
But he didn’t.
He’s no kind of leader. I have gone back and forth on whether to say, simply, Rendon should resign. But he’s not going to do that. A man who makes a female subordinate do something dangerous to her and her baby because of his stupid, arrogant and idiotic rules can’t be expected to do the right thing.
He’s lucky session is over.
But we shouldn’t forget it. We should let it inform what we think of this guy from now on.
I remember four years ago, during a fraught vote on farm worker overtime, Rendon stopped a session and left with his members before a vote was cast – leaving a gallery of farm workers to wonder why they had driven hours to Sacramento in the first place.
Maybe this guy thinks he can treat “underlings” any way he wants? Maybe he’s just that callous.
But I tell you what, I’ll take Wicks over Rendon as Speaker any day.
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
