| | | | |  | | By Christopher Cadelago and Alexander Nieves | YOU UP? Fox News host Sean Hannity’s much-anticipated prime-time interview airing Monday with Gavin Newsom started with a text message. Hannity directly appealed to the Democratic governor a few months ago and offered up his platform, according to three people familiar with the exchange. In his April opener, Hannity noted that the two men — both silvering Irish Catholics — had known each other for years. He wanted to sit down and chat about real issues, mano-a-mano. Newsom, a devout Fox News viewer and also one of its most savage critics, saw an opportunity. For more than a year now, he’s tried to take the fight directly to Republican officials while rebutting grim depictions of his state that run on Fox News. Both Hannity and Newsom showed interest in doing the interview. Each offered to show up on the other’s coast — Hannity to California and Newsom when he was out East. The official announcement that it would happen — at the unoccupied Governor’s Mansion in Sacramento — finally came earlier Thursday.
|  CORRECTS SHOW TO "HANNITY" INSTEAD OF "THE SEAN HANNITY SHOW" - Fox News commentator Sean Hannity tapes "Hannity," at Fox News Studios, Thursday, March 16, 2023, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) | AP | The clash is expected to be live-to-tape. If there are conditions, they don’t look too stringent. They are expected to talk about everything from immigration and the economy to the state of the Democratic Party, the 2024 race and Newsom’s newly proposed 28th Amendment to the Constitution regulating guns. And, while literally anything can happen, on the surface both host and interviewee stand to benefit from the exchange. Hannity, who had a direct line into the Trump White House, is reemerging from the long shadow of deposed Fox host Tucker Carlson, the network’s best-rated personality. Snagging the personification of blue-state dogma for questioning is something of a coup, particularly after President Joe Biden refused to indulge Fox for a customary interview with the network hosting the Super Bowl. Newsom, meanwhile, is trying to show his mettle outside the kid-glove media environs of MSNBC. As mayor of San Francisco, he used to revel in tussling with the likes of former Fox host Bill O’Reilly, who liked to complain about unchecked panhandling. While Newsom hasn’t done an interview with Fox since 2010, he’s been edging ever closer. He’s traveled to red states. He’s run TV ads and billboards in Florida, Texas and elsewhere. He’s talked a lot about higher crime rates in those areas. He’s assailed their leaders over abortion, guns and and falsely claiming to be for freedom. Just today, he went back and forth with Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves. And Newsom has pushed back on red state officials and their allies’ relentless descriptions of California as a filthy dystopia of open-air lawlessness and drug use. Asked to comment, Newsom’s team said he was eager to spar with Hannity. “He believes in going into the lion’s den,” said Anthony York, a Newsom senior adviser. HAPPY THURSDAY AFTERNOON! Welcome to California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check of California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to anieves@politico.com or send a shout on Twitter. DMs are open!
| | | | PLAYBOOK TRIVIA NIGHT! Think you know a lot about politics? PROVE IT! Compete in California Playbook’s inaugural Trivia Night. Grab a drink, kick back, and put your knowledge on display! Join top political power players on Wednesday, June 21st at Fox & Goose Public House for a night of fun and competition that you won’t want to miss. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | |  | WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY | | CHEVRON VERDICT: A Santa Barbara jury returned a $63 million verdict against Chevron on Wednesday after finding the company liable for a man’s cancer. Kevin Wright bought a home in Santa Maria in 1985 that had been built on top of a covered-up, undisclosed oil and gas waste pit that was owned by Chevron subsidiary Union Oil, according to a Trial Lawyers for Justice news release. Wright developed multiple myeloma, a blood cancer linked to benzene, 27 years later, according to the release. Chevron denied it was responsible and argued the claim should have been barred by the statute of limitations. — Wes Venteicher
| | On The Beats | | RISKY MOVE: Insurers have been pressing California to change the way they set property insurance rates to factor in climate change. That may happen now. Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara says his agency is examining the use by insurers of risk assessment tools to account for increased wildfire risk amid higher temperatures and recurring drought. It would be a change from the current formula, set by voters in 1988 under Proposition 103, which has allowed Californians to enjoy relatively lower property insurance rates than folks in, say, Florida. The decision to consider the change comes after State Farm announced last month that it would no longer write new property insurance policies in the state. Any change, however, would require the rulemaking process and would likely take a long time to put in place. — Camille von Kaenel REFERENDUM REFORM: Californians have a love-hate relationship with statewide referendums. That’s one conclusion from a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California. Republicans and Democrats have an overwhelmingly positive view of the concept, with nearly 80 percent of likely voters surveyed saying it’s a good thing that voters can approve or reject a law passed by the Legislature. But three in four Californians said the referendums are often too complicated or confusing, and nearly everyone said the century-old process is controlled by special interests. This would seem to be good news for AB 421. The bill would go after some elements of the rules that have been particularly helpful to special interest groups. It would require the major funders of the ballot campaign to be listed on the petition and the ballot. It would also limit the use of paid-signature gatherers. But regardless of how these ideas poll, it will be up to the Legislature, not the voters, to decide.
| | | | GET READY FOR GLOBAL TECH DAY: Join POLITICO Live as we launch our first Global Tech Day alongside London Tech Week on Thursday, June 15. Register now for continuing updates and to be a part of this momentous and program-packed day! From the blockchain, to AI, and autonomous vehicles, technology is changing how power is exercised around the world, so who will write the rules? REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | AROUND CALIFORNIA | | — “As Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon’s power grew, so did his wife’s income,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Hannah Wiley and Katie Licari: As Rendon’s influence grew, financial and lobbying disclosures show that Annie Lam’s consultancy business similarly boomed. Over the years Rendon served as speaker, Lam has founded a nonprofit, taken on several new clients and became the executive director of six total organizations, work that allowed her income to swell and public profile to soar. — “ATM fraud cases surge: Why a Romanian politician is sitting in the Ventura County jail”, by the Los Angeles Times’ Rebecca Ellis and Cristina Radu: Around 8 a.m. on April 1, Simi Valley police staking out an ATM arrested Virgil Negru, who allegedly possessed forged cards loaded with taxpayer funds. He is among dozens of Romanian citizens who have come to the region recently to steal cash and food stamp benefits, authorities say, lured by the large number of people on public assistance and weak security on the cards that the state uses to dole out the money. — “Is California facing a home insurance crisis like hurricane-ravaged Florida?” by The Mercury News’ John Woolfolk: Farmers Insurance had covered Don Baker’s light-gray house with powder-blue trim since he and his family moved to Boulder Creek 13 years ago. A few weeks ago, he got notice his policy won’t be renewed after it expires in August. Baker looked around and got an offer from State Farm to cover his home nestled among redwood trees in the Santa Cruz Mountains. But the agent withdrew it the next day, just before the nation’s largest insurer issued its stunning May 26 announcement that it won’t write new home policies anywhere in California.
| | MIXTAPE | | — “Grand jury joins chorus of people suggesting sheriff screen deputies, all jail visitors for drugs,” by The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jeff McDonald. — “Charts show how San Francisco’s job market is unusually strong despite ‘doom loop’ concerns,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Adriana Rezal and Dan Kopf. — “A small world: How caste discrimination came to California,” by CalMatters’ Sameea Kamal and Jeanne Kuang. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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