Realtors, snark and the race to replace Fran Pavley
Good morning. On behalf of The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board, welcome to The Take, your opinion-politics newsletter. Please sign up for it here.
We start with snark in the race to replace Sen. Fran Pavley, the mother of AB 32, which would cut greenhouse gas emissions. We move to columns by Foon Rhee and Dan Walters, an editorial about a bill to save hot dogs, and the notion of government regulation. Finally, we turn to Harambe.
Take that
A snarky campaign mailer – and aren’t they all – opens with the depiction of a postcard: “Greetings from Peru,” and with a dollop of sarcasm says: “Sacramento bureaucrat Henry Stern got a free trip to Peru. What did we get?”
Stern is a senior aide to termed-out Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, who has endorsed Stern as he runs to replace her. Stern helped draft climate change legislation for which Pavley is known, and did, in fact, attend the 2014 climate change summit in Lima, Peru.
The California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee-funded mailer says Stern has “received thousands in gifts and trips paid for by Sacramento special interests.” Which is rich, coming as it does from the Realtors, who have been known to give gifts. But there’s more.
Take a number: $83,994
The California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee reports paying $83,994 to West Coast Public Affairs to oppose Henry Stern’s campaign for Pavley’s state Senate seat.
Consultant John Shallman owns West Coast Public Affairs. One of Shallman’s blue chip clients is Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, who, like Pavley, has sought to make his name with legislation to combat climate change.
And while Stern did join the California delegation in Lima, de León led the delegation. Hypocrisy perhaps?
Shallman responded by saying the real hypocrisy is that Stern took gifts from a group that has done work for oil companies.
Of course, many of them do, de León among them.
Our take
Editorial: Assemblyman Marc Steinorth, R-Rancho Cucamonga, proposes to make it legal to break car glass to free dogs from hot cars. Let’s use common sense.
Foon Rhee: The last Memorial Day of Barack Obama’s presidency.
Dan Walters: Jerry Brown is on the spot in the final days of writing his new state budget.
Karin Klein, among our regular freelancers: E-cigarettes and the new law raising the smoking age to 21 are good intentions gone awry.
Rena Steinzor and Katherine Tracy: Worker deaths should lead to punishment for companies and executives.
Their take: Regulation
The Orange County Register warns of the crushing cost of regulation.
The L.A. Daily News praises Assemblyman Bill Quirk for his bill to ban mylar balloons. They cause a crazy number of power outages.
The San Francisco Chronicle lauds a bill by Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, which seeks to compel manufacturers to charge the same price for gender-based products that are roughly the same. Take a wild guess which gender-based products cost more.
The Lexington Herald-Leader of Kentucky says the painkiller profiteers have gotten off easy. The number of pills shipped is stunning.
Syndicates’ take
Paul Krugman: Feel the math, Bernie Sanders.
Trudy Rubin: Democracy is threatened as populism rises.
E.J. Dionne: Barack Obama and Hiroshima’s moral lessons.
Eugene Robinson: Donald Trump’s rolling bluster.
Michael Gerson: GOP leaders’ sad surrender to Donald Trump.
Second takes
Kevin de León and Holly Mitchell: California should repeal the ineffective maximum family grant rule.
Ethan J. Kytle and Blain Roberts: The “Roots” remake won’t be as eye-opening, and that’s good.
And finally,
“Justice for Harambe” received more than 88,000 likes by The Take’s deadline. Cincinnati Zoo sharpshooters shot and killed the gorilla thinking they needed to save the life of a 4-year-old boy who had climbed into the enclosure. What should they have done? Let us know what you think at our Facebook page.
This story was originally published May 30, 2016 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Realtors, snark and the race to replace Fran Pavley."