Clinton makes history. Plus: guns, coal and the Delta
Good morning. On behalf of The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board, welcome to The Take, your opinion-politics newsletter. Please sign up here.
Can we take a minute here to salute the historical implications of Hillary Clinton? Like her or not, she is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, which is “yuuuge,” as her presumptive opponent might say. And, by the way, the next U.S. senator from California will be historic, too, assuming it’s Kamala Harris or Loretta Sanchez. Only two other women of color have ever served in the U.S. Senate. The Take covers all that, plus the continuing fallout from Donald Trump’s blunder on Gonzalo Curiel, a worthy earmark for gun research, and a few takes on coal.
Take that
Now that Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Democratic nominee, we join the vice presidential speculation, and urge Take readers to do the same by submitting ideas to our Facebook page.
Former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is one. Environmental cred; swing state. Labor Secretary Tom Perez is another. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro comes from a state Clinton says could be in play, Texas. Sacramento’s own Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, comes to mind, but he is moving up the House leadership ladder. Becerra told The Take a “clear case can be made for Tim Kaine.” U.S. senator and former governor from purple Virginia. Nice guy, we’re told, and totally conventional.
We can’t imagine Clinton will chose Bernie Sanders. But Elizabeth Warren? That would be bold, though she might not be a great veep. Warren does get under the very thin skin of Donald Trump, who derides her as “Pocahontas.”
A dark horse, floated by one of our smart sources: William H. McRaven. Retired admiral. University of Texas chancellor. Oh, and he oversaw Operation Neptune Spear, the mission that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden. Writing in The Tampa Tribune, he attacked “how politicians abuse and denigrate military leadership.” Remember the name.
We’re having a hard time imagining Donald Trump’s pick, assuming the “Dump Trump” wing of his party can’t find a way to maneuver him out of the race.
Take a number: $5 million
For two decades, Congress, under the thrall of the National Rifle Association, has blocked federal spending on firearm research. Dr. Garen Wintemute, a UC Davis medical school professor, has sought heroically to fill that vacuum by spending $1.3 million of his own money for gun research.
Now the California Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown should step up by funding a new Firearm Violence Research Center at the University of California. At Sen. Lois Wolk’s urging, the Senate included $5 million for the center in its version of the new budget. The Assembly has earmarked nothing. There’s still time. The Legislature’s budget deadline is a week from today. Even Attorney General Kamala Harris threw caution to the wind, and submitted a letter supporting it.
Our take
Editorial: It may seem anti-climactic that Hillary Clinton has secured the delegates to win the Democratic nomination, but never before has a female candidate gotten this close to the White House.
Editorial: Every Republican supporting Donald Trump should renounce him over his comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel, including Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones and House Speaker Paul Ryan. We’re waiting.
Editorial: Legislation by Assemblymen Jose Medina, D-Riverside, and Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, is the wrong way to make space at the University of California.
Dan Walters: California’s peculiar election rules affect who wins and who loses.
Marcos Breton: California Assembly blows chance to right historical wrong on farmworker overtime.
Daniel Weintraub, among our regulars: A new push by Uncle Sam offers common sense housing and health care.
Dick Ackerman and Mel Levine: Assemblyman Kevin McCarty’s AB 1711 shorts the University of California and is a recipe for turning the world’s greatest public university into little more than a diploma mill.
John Jackson: Sen. Ricardo Lara’s SB 1146 violates religious freedom on faith-based campuses such as William Jessup University.
Their take
The L.A. Times: GOP leaders made a deal with the devil, aka, Donald Trump, and now are feeling the heat.
Debra J. Saunders of The San Francisco Chronicle: Give Donald Trump time to improve or implode, and then decide.
The Miami Herald: Donald Trump’s racism and egomania have been evident from the day he declared his candidacy.
The Lexington Herald-Leader of Kentucky: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell must save health benefits promised to coal miners as the United Mine Workers’ health and pension funds falter.
The Belleville News-Democrat of Illinois: That black richness under our feet is so close, yet so far. Funny how Barack Obama, a guy from Illinois, hates coal.
Syndicates’ take
Ruben Navarrette: A Trumpian blend of ignorance and racism.
Dana Milbank: The GOP is shocked – shocked! – that Donald Trump remains Trump.
David Brooks: Let’s have a better culture war.
Kathleen Parker: Florida lost and mourned.
And finally,
Escrow was supposed to close today on the Metropolitan Water District’s $175 million purchase of five islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta from a Swiss insurance company. But a court intervened. We expect MWD to deploy its mighty army of lawyers to get the stay lifted. Assuming MWD succeeds – there is, after all, a willing seller and willing buyer – the purchase either will expedite Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to build the $15.5 billion, 30-mile-long tunnels to move water south, or the islands will make for great habitat. For elusive white elephants, perhaps.
This story was originally published June 8, 2016 at 5:31 AM with the headline "Clinton makes history. Plus: guns, coal and the Delta."