California lawmakers’ investments don’t always line up with their politics

Earlier this year, after California politicians filed their annual disclosures about their personal finances, journalists I work with in The Times’ Sacramento bureau began scrutinizing the reports.

They contained some big surprises:

Environmentalists with stock in oil companies. A vocal social media critic with hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in the owners of Facebook and YouTube. Union-backed Democrats making money off the very companies whose worker policies they’ve criticized.

A third of the members in the California Legislature collectively reported at least $14 million worth of investments on their most recent financial disclosures — but their stocks don’t always align with their political values, a Times analysis found.

That’s the opening passage of this remarkable article by Times reporters Mackenzie Mays, Queenie Wong, Hannah Wiley and Sandhya Kambhampati, who spent months poring over the investments reported in lawmakers’ financial disclosures, examining their voting records on key policies and questioning the officials on what they found.

It’s a deeply researched work of accountability journalism, and an article you’ll find only in the Los Angeles Times. If you appreciate this kind of rigorous coverage of California politics, I hope you subscribe to The Times. Your subscriptions power our watchdog journalism, as well as all the essential election coverage we’ve got in store for 2024.

I’m Laurel Rosenhall, The Times’ Sacramento bureau chief, here with the last California Politics newsletter of 2023. Happy holidays! We’ll be back in your inbox in January. Now here’s the biggest news of the week in Golden State politics:

Google’s lobbying skyrockets

Speaking of watchdog journalism, tech policy reporter Queenie Wong recently dug into Google’s lobbying reports and discovered that the search giant spent a record amount lobbying in California this year.

Why? Mainly to fund an ad campaign attempting to kill legislation that would force Google, Facebook and other large online platforms to pay news publishers for articles displayed on their sites.

Google’s payment to a taxpayers group for the advertising made up most of the record $1.5 million the company spent lobbying in California from January to September, Wong reports. During the same period last year, Google spent $187,434. The company spends an average of about $257,000 per year lobbying in California, according to her review of data from 2005-22.

The massive surge reflects the growing efforts by tech companies to influence California lawmakers as they debate how to protect young people and journalists and other workers from the threats posed by social media sites, artificial intelligence and other emerging technology.

Read the full article here: Why Google’s lobbying in California skyrocketed this year

Will Trump get dumped from the ballot?

California Democrats are hoping a court decision disqualifying former President Trump from the Colorado primary ballot will help them strike him from California’s Republican primary.

Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, a Democrat who is running for governor in 2026, sent a letter this week to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber urging her “to explore every legal option” to remove Trump from the March 5 ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, writes politics reporter Noah Bierman.

“This decision is about honoring the rule of law in our country and protecting the fundamental pillars of democracy,” she wrote, citing the Colorado Supreme Court’s 4-3 decision to exclude Trump from that state’s ballot.

Though it’s expected that the U.S. Supreme Court will wind up weighing in with a ruling that could effect many states, several — including California — are facing a time crunch to get ballots prepared for the March 5 primary.

Weber, who oversees elections in California, already released a preliminary list of likely candidates that includes Trump. She plans to mail a certified list of candidates to county elections officials Dec. 28 so that they can begin printing ballots. Although ballots could be amended later, changing them gets harder — and more expensive — as the election date draws nearer, Bierman reports.

Keeping up with California politics

Federal judge blocks new California law that would bar guns in many public places
A new California law that would bar licensed gun holders from carrying their firearms into an array of public places will not go into full effect Jan. 1 as scheduled, after a federal judge blocked major parts of it as unconstitutional Wednesday.

The wealthiest Californians are fleeing the state. Why that’s very bad news for the economy
Even though California has experienced lopsided out-migration for decades, the financial blow has been cushioned by the kinds of people moving into the state: The newcomers were generally better educated and earned more money than those who left. Now that long-standing trend has reversed.

Rep. Grace Napolitano’s retirement sets up battle for coveted San Gabriel Valley seat
The race to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Grace F. Napolitano, who has represented swaths east and southeast of Los Angeles since Bill Clinton was president, pits a wealthy outsider against a roster of lesser-known, hometown candidates with deep ties to the San Gabriel Valley congressional district.

Nancy Pelosi endorses former Rep. Gil Cisneros in L.A.-area House race
The endorsement is significant because Pelosi rarely picks favorites in Democratic primaries and Cisneros is one of 11 candidates who have filed to compete for the seat that has been held by Rep. Grace F. Napolitano for the last 25 years.

Skelton: In an eye-opener, most California Democrats don’t want U.S. siding with Israel
This just seems startling, writes columnist George Skelton: California Democrats think overwhelmingly that America should not take sides in the horrific war in Gaza. But Republicans side strongly with Israel.

Barabak: Newsom for president? No thanks, say Nevada Democrats, who have a big voice in 2024
In an alternative universe — one where things like money, filing deadlines and other practicalities don’t matter — there is wishful talk of a late entry in the Democratic contest, a savior to swoop in and electrify the party with a jolt of energy and passion. Someone like Gavin Newsom, writes columnist Mark Z. Barabak.