California Politics: Jennifer Siebel Newsom, after Harvey Weinstein

Hi there! This is Laura J. Nelson, filling in for Laurel Rosenhall while she is on special assignment. I’m a staff writer at The Times in Los Angeles, and I’m joining the California politics team to cover campaign finance as we hurtle toward 2024. If you want to talk about money in politics, please reach out.

Let’s turn now to this week’s rundown of California politics.

Harvey Weinstein’s long shadow

As a feminist and documentary filmmaker, Jennifer Siebel Newsom has worked for years to upend the gender imbalance in American life, writes my colleague Taryn Luna. But the first partner of California and the wife of Gov. Gavin Newsom was still unprepared for what happened when she took the stand in November in the trial of convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein.

Siebel Newsom cried in the courtroom as she described how Weinstein had sexually assaulted her in a suite at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills in 2005.

One attorney belittled her testimony as an act and another picked apart the descriptions and called her a bimbo.

In her first interview since the trial, Siebel Newsom said that she was shocked by the line of questioning. It felt, she said, like being assaulted all over again.

“I thought if I went and spoke my truth that — I didn’t realize how much sexism and misogyny still exists in our culture,” she said. “I was shocked by that. I was shocked. I really was. I mean, shame on me.”

Since the trial, Siebel Newsom, who turns 49 this month, has pivoted from anguished to motivated. Publicly, she’s talking about funding for women’s health and support for families escaping domestic violence. Behind the scenes, she’s doubling down on trying to make the criminal justice system more fair to other survivors.

The full interview is an intimate portrait of how trauma has fueled activism for one of the Golden State’s most high-profile women. You can read it here.

Another scandal at L.A. City Hall

On Tuesday, Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price was charged with 10 counts of embezzlement, perjury and conflict of interest.

The office of L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón alleges that Price violated the state’s conflict-of-interest law by casting votes on affordable housing projects developed by companies that hired the consulting firm of his wife, Del Richardson Price. In the charging document, which you can read here, prosecutors said Price committed perjury by failing to divulge some of his wife’s income on the financial disclosure statements known as Forms 700.

The allegations come four years after The Times found Price had “repeatedly cast votes that affected housing developers and other firms listed as clients of his wife’s consulting company.” In the 2019 investigation, reporter Emily Alpert Reyes reported that Price voted on decisions involving at least 10 companies in the same years that they paid at least $10,000 to his wife’s firm.

Price also has been accused of claiming tens of thousands of dollars in medical benefits from the city for Richardson Price while he was married to another woman.

Price called the charges “unwarranted” and said through a spokesperson that he will fight them. City Council President Paul Krekorian said he would move to suspend Price; Price has resigned from his council committee assignments and stepped down as Krekorian’s No. 2.

Price is the fourth current or former member of the City Council to face criminal charges in the last four years. Others include former Eastside councilman Jose Huizar, who pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion and racketeering in January; and former South L.A. councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who was found guilty in March of federal conspiracy, bribery, and fraud charges.

Texas sends migrants to L.A.

A bus carrying 42 migrants, including eight children, arrived in Los Angeles from Texas on Wednesday afternoon.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said that busing migrants out of Texas provided “much-needed relief” for the U.S.-Mexico border. He added that Los Angeles “is a major city that migrants seek to go to, particularly now that its city leaders approved its self-declared sanctuary city status.”

The migrants spent 23 hours in transit without food, according to Jorge-Mario Cabrera, director of communications for the immigrant rights group CHIRLA.

The bus made a stop at Union Station before before being taken to a welcoming center at a nearby church. Cabrera said many of the travelers originally came from Venezuela, Guatemala and Honduras, and two were of African descent. One of the Guatemalan migrants has a court date scheduled in New York, he said.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the migrants’ arrival “did not catch us off guard.” She said it is “abhorrent that an American elected official is using human beings as pawns in his cheap political games.”

Abbott’s announcement comes after two private planes arrived in Sacramento with migrants earlier this month. Documents carried by the migrants appeared to show that the weekend flight was arranged through the Florida Division of Emergency Management, according to California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta.

Some people on the flights to Sacramento told The Times that contractors working for the state of Florida had offered them seats.

Distrust in D.C.

Although Sen. Dianne Feinstein is back in Congress after a two-month absence, there’s still wariness between Democrats and Republicans over what would happen if the 89-year-old lawmaker retired early.

Democrats are concerned that if Feinstein steps down before her term ends in 2025, Republicans would refuse to appoint a replacement to the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee.

“That’s the big unknown for me,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told The Times. (Former New York Sen. Hillary Clinton was more definitive in an interview with Time Magazine, saying Republicans “will not agree to add someone else to the Judiciary Committee if she retires.”)

The committee’s Republican members rejected an effort by Democrats to temporarily replace Feinstein with Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), with one senior GOP senator saying Republicans didn’t want to help confirm “what we consider to be controversial or unqualified nominees.”

Democrats hold a one-member majority on the panel, which is tasked with voting on Biden’s nominations to the federal judiciary. In Feinstein’s 10-week absence as she recovered from shingles, Democrats could only confirm judges with support from Republican members.

There are dozens of judicial vacancies pending in committee or awaiting a vote of the full Senate. In his first two years in office, Biden was able to fill more lifetime judicial appointments than former presidents Trump or Obama.

Newsom vs. Democrats on infrastructure

It’s budget season in Sacramento. Democrats leading California’s Senate and Assembly unveiled a legislative state budget deal this week, but remain at odds with Newsom over some infrastructure proposals.

Last month, after lawmakers had already wrapped up budget committee hearings, Newsom introduced a series of budget bills related to infrastructure — a move that drew criticisms from fellow Democrats.

“It feels disrespectful to the process, to all the work that we’ve done,” said Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, a Democrat who lives in Stockton and represents cities in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

It’s become common during Newsom’s gubernatorial tenure to pass a preliminary budget, then follow up later with an amended bill. But an estimated deficit of at least $31.5 billion has heightened discord at the Capitol over where to cut back.

Keeping up with California Politics

Silicon Valley tech executive weighs U.S. Senate bid in California
Silicon Valley executive Lexi Reese, a Democrat, announced Thursday that she is considering running for the seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Reese, 48, previously worked at Google, Facebook, American Express and other tech companies.

First Lady Jill Biden raises money for President Biden’s reelection campaign in Hollywood
First Lady Jill Biden touted her husband’s accomplishments on job creation, gun-control legislation and infrastructure investment as she courted donors on Wednesday in her first California fundraising trip since President Biden announced he would seek reelection.

Democrats’ plan to take control of Congress could depend on Southern California
Democratic hopes to seize control of the U.S. House of Representatives next year at a pivotal moment for policy decisions about reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights, education and the economy may hinge on Southern California.

Column: Think ‘gay Republican’ is a contradiction? Think again
Columnist Mark Z. Barabak profiles Charles Moran, the 42-year-old president of the Log Cabin Republicans, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights from within the GOP. The group, headquartered in Washington, claims more than 10,000 members nationwide.