The war at home

Your afternoon must-read briefing on politics and government in the Golden State

Jan 04, 2024 View in browser   By Sarah Grace Taylor and Lara Korte BOTH SIDES: It’s a difficult time to be a Jewish Democrat in the U.S. As Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel tells it, lawmakers like him feel trapped between two political extremes: Far-right extremists behind a surge in antisemitic attacks and progressives, including many in their own party whose embrace of a movement calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas has at times taken a much darker turn. “There is an incredible sense of vulnerability in the community right now,” Gabriel told POLITICO. “Some of the rhetoric around this has been very dehumanizing of Jews.” Protesters calling for a cease-fire in Gaza disrupt the first day of the California legislative session in Sacramento, California, on Wednesday. | AP Gabriel felt it acutely as protesters shut down business Wednesday at the state Capitol just as they did last month a few blocks away at the state Democratic Party convention. Protesters have called for a halt to Israel's attacks that have resulted in thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza. But the Los Angeles assemblymember, along with many American Jews, are anguished by those who haven’t condemned what sparked the war: the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel that left 1,200 people dead, mostly civilians, in a horrific paroxysm of violence. This occurs against the backdrop of rising far-right extremist actions targeting Jews, demonstrated perhaps most publicly with the 2018 attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh or the Unite the Right rally a year earlier. “And we now find ourselves in this incredible situation, where we are trapped between the far-right and the far-left,” he said. “Those two groups hate each other, see each other as a threat to everything that they love and believe is holy, and the one thing that they seem to agree on is that Jews are uniquely evil, and that we are responsible for the world's problems.” Lara has more in an interview she did today with the lawmaker at the Capitol. IT’S THURSDAY AFTERNOON. This is 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 sgtaylor@politico.com or send a shout on X. DMs are open. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY SCARY TIMES: Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis was the victim of a “swatting” call last weekend at her San Francisco home, authorities confirmed exclusively to POLITICO, following a series of elected officials being targeted with phony calls to police after they pushed to remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot. More details in this report from Chris Cadelago. IT’S NOT JUST A PHASE: Women of a certain age know one thing to be true: Menopause is coming. Yet there’s very little information out there about a phase of life that’s a biological inevitability for half the population. Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) is taking it on as a health policy issue this year in her Select Committee on Reproductive Health. The committee, which has traditionally focused on more controversial topics like abortion and contraception, is expecting renewed Republican interest in women’s health. “Currently, the state of play is just to suffer through it,” Bauer-Kahan said. “Not only does that have an incredible economic impact on the state, but women shouldn't have to suffer through this phase of their life.” In a series of committee hearings — at least two next month with more potentially on the horizon — the committee will look at the state of research, insurance coverage and employment issues relating to menopause. Subscribers can read more here. — Rachel Bluth ON THE BEATS Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, left, talks with Democratic Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer during the first day of the California legislative session on Wednesday. | AP RIVAS ROAD MAP: Speaker Robert Rivas has some New Year’s resolutions for his caucus. In a tonesetting speech that was delayed a day by Gaza cease-fire protests, the Hollister Democrat admonished lawmakers that restive constituents were “frustrated” and “concerned” and looking for results — and he has some thoughts about what to prioritize during his first full year in charge. Housing, criminal justice and climate change topped the list. True to his YIMBY bona fides, Rivas wants to build more housing, including by tackling fees and bureaucracy and by converting vacant buildings. He also hopes to address climate change via land use and to correct the “unintended consequences” of criminal justice reform, signaling that a dedicated retail theft committee he launched could yield tighter penalties. But budget pressure could make all of that more complicated. Rivas acknowledged a “staggering” deficit, pegged by the Legislative Analyst’s Office at around $68 billion, would require “serious fiscal restraint.” Put another way: There won’t be much spare cash to fund ambitious policies. — Jeremy B. White WHO’S GETTING PULLED OVER: Police are pushing back against a state report that found — for a seventh straight year — that Black drivers are more likely to be stopped by officers than white ones. The Peace Officers Research Association of California today faulted the methodology of the annual report from the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board, which has been used to support legislation calling for an end to the so-called “pretext” stops, in which police stop motorists for minor offenses to conduct searches for weapons or drugs. The report by the advisory board found Black drivers were pulled over in 12.5 percent of traffic stops, even though they make up only 5.4 percent of the overall state population. PORAC says the board fails to account for the fact that officers may not know the race of the driver before the stop. The association also says it’s misleading to use statewide racial data since the traffic stop may have occurred in an area with different demographics. The association, it should be noted, doesn't dispute the existence of bias in policing. “If we're really going to have an accurate conversation about it, we need to gather accurate data,” PORAC Vice President Damon Kurtz told POLITICO. “There are data marks that are just missing within the report and there's data that's omitted from the report, so we have to bring context to that data.” SENATE RACE: Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee and Republican Steve Garvey have qualified for the first debate in California’s U.S. Senate race hosted by POLITICO, Fox 11 Los Angeles and the University of Southern California Dornsife Center for the Political Future. The top four candidates running for the seat of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein qualified for the Jan. 22 debate based on the results of the POLITICO| Morning Consult poll of likely primary voters from mid-December. WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY Shipping containers are placed around People's Park in Berkeley, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. Police officers in riot gear removed activists and crews began placing double-stacked shipping containers to wall off the historic park as the University of California, Berkeley waits for a court ruling it hopes will allow it to build much-needed student housing. (AP Photo/Terry Chea) | AP MOVING IN: Law enforcement officers converged on People’s Park in Berkeley, clearing out hold-out protesters to make way for a student housing project in what could mark the beginning of the end to a long-running saga over the site. (Los Angeles Times) WHO’S PAYING: Hospitals were already treating migrants in California without legal immigration status, but now they will be getting reimbursed for more of the care thanks to the state’s decision to expand Medi-Cal this year to undocumented people between the ages of 26-49. (The San Diego Union Tribune) TAPPING OUT: Embattled Sacramento City Councilman Sean Loloee has resigned. (The Sacramento Bee) SNOWED IN: Three hikers were rescued after getting caught in a snowstorm in Tahoe National Forest. (The Sacramento Bee)   Follow us on Twitter POLITICO California @politicoca   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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