It's time for a new Attorney General

I was wrong again.  I thought when the last Attorney General, Becerra, got bumped up to HHS Secretary things would improve.  Similarly, I thought the same when the one before that got bumped up.  But I was wrong.  The Newsom-appointed Rob Bonta is as bad or worse than the last two AGs.  Just this week he decided to sue the US Postal Service for the crime of planning to buy, get this, 165,000 gas-powered vehicles.  I guess he is unaware that even with all of the credits, EVs are an expensive 4% of the market and a high-profile EV truck manufacturer (Rivian) just slipped its delivery schedule so much that its stock is down 70%.  Ford cut the value of its stake in Rivian by $5.4B.  Let's not forget the lithium and cobalt for batteries are expected to be in short (i.e. expensive) supply and mostly come from unfriendly parts of the world.  Is any EV company even planning a design that would work for the USPS?  Wanna bet the new GVs would be way better for the environment than the old ones on the road today?  Does Bonta even care? 

Also this week Bonta decided to investigate Exxon Mobil for misleading the public about the recyclability of plastic.  Wait, I thought the government was the source of the CRV fees that have apparently misled us all.  As soon as China stopped taking our used plastic, the whole model just broke down.  This isn't news as we saw last year here.  And the oil companies are responding by building recycling plants in the U.S.   Don't we want this?  Does Bonta have a clue about what it takes to rebuild the plastic recycling supply chain?  I doubt it.

And it's not like the things an AG is supposed to be doing in the state are going so well.  Harris left the office without putting a dent in the number of known criminals who still have guns but are not being searched out.  Becerra, same thing.  Did I miss the press release that Bonta is on the case and succeeding?  I doubt it.  Is he doing anything to prevent more known criminals from serving short sentences and shooting up Sacramento?  I missed that press conference, too.   It's time for a new Attorney General.  The primary election is on June 7.

Comments

[Handle Bard]

Don't forget how proud Rob Bonta was when the gang that stole a million dollars of jewelry from Sam's Clubs and JC Penneys got 16 months in jail. Not 16 years. 16 months. He thinks he did his job.

[Joe]

I forgot about that one. Here's Bonta trying to take credit for an investigation that started before he was AG and was led by the CHP:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Ringleaders-of-organized-retail-crime-ring-17136972.php

[Phinancier]

You don't think some electric car company isn't going to jump at the chance to design a boxy right-hand drive baby truck from scratch that has one purchase order for 165 thousand units and then nothing for five or ten more years? C'mon man.

[Joe]

Let's toss this on the pile of reasons we need a new AG:

https://www.burlingamevoice.com/2022/05/state-auditor-housing-requirement-numbers-way-off.html#comments

[Cathy Baylock]

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting with the Sacramento District Attorney in Burlingame a couple of weeks ago. Anne Marie Schubert is smart, tough and has is a career district attorney. An early adopter of using DNA registries such as Ancestry.com, she prosecuted the Golden State killer and brought justice to the victims’ families. If she makes it to the top two, I will be holding a fundraiser for her in Burlingame. Stay tuned!

[Lorin Flynn]

Meanwhile, citizens of San Mateo peninsula are being terrorized by three 3 gangs from Chile,LA and Oakland. Our home had an attempted burglary on 5/19 and with 12 hours 2 homes on our street were burglarized in the middle of the day. And I did report the attempted burglary. The PAPD says not to shop at the mall and if you can't order something online then has the your purchase item shipped of course then there is the porch pirates to think about and even my snowman was decapitated during the holiday season no one is safe on the mean streets on San Mateo county. BUT all politicians are more concerned about climate change then issues at their feet.

[resident]

Bonta is very interested in equity so our crime rate should be the same as Oakland and LA.

[Paloma Ave]

I second the recommendation to vote for Anne Marie Schubert.

We need an attorney general who will go after criminals, not push for unreasonable housing quotas and the coddling of criminals.

NO ON BONTA!

[Joe]

This blurb in today's WSJ opinion piece about the upcoming November general election suggests Xavier Becerra may be returning to California sooner than expected.

Mr. Biden should consider dropping anyone he thinks he would have to fire after a midterm election defeat. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is sure to get questions after the election about the surge at the border as well as the widely condemned idea to create a Disinformation Governance Board. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra could face scrutiny over the disposition of Covid funds as well as the Food and Drug Administration’s role in the baby-formula shortage. It might be better to let them go now to show the administration cares about these problems.
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I can think of a few more things he should get scrutinized about...........

[resident]

There won't be any consequences for this https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/California-DOJ-publicized-personal-information-of-17274600.php

If it had been some other files like foodstamps or illegal felons there would be hell to pay.

[resident]

The governor made a big announcement that he recovered a billion dollars of fraudulent covid payments. All they did was not payout money that was not claimed. There is still $30 BILLION dollars unaccounted for but is our attorney general going after that? No. He is too busy sending threats to cities who want to keep single family neighborhoods single family.

[JP]

And Gavin is running for re-election in Florida. You go, man.

[Spurrina]

Vacationing in Montana where he forbids state employees to vacation due to anti-gay stance.

French Laundry.

[JP]

Bonta should investigate this. He's probably got state paid security. Bonta "Yeah, right, I'll get right on it".

[Paloma Ave]

I hope no one is holding their breath!

[Joe]

This just in from the SacBee by way of Calmatters.org:

California taxpayers footed the $204,700 bill for Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office to hire an information technology firm to set up the software necessary to send a weekly newsletter to millions of voters — whose emails Bonta’s office obtained from a voter registration database managed by the California Secretary of State, according to a Tuesday investigation from the Sacramento Bee. In the lead-up to the June primary election, the emails rounding up California Department of Justice news began featuring a first-person greeting from and portrait of Bonta, whom Newsom had appointed to the position about a year prior.

The Bee’s findings prompted some critics to wonder if Bonta was bending campaign ethics laws to increase his name recognition — though the emails never specifically mentioned that he was facing reelection.

[Time For Some New City Council Leaders...]

Candidate Filing for the November 8, 2022 Election Opens Monday, July 18

The November 8, 2022 election will be the City’s first district based election, with candidates for District 1, District 3, and District 5 on the ballot. Registered voters will now vote only for the Council seat in their district. To find which district you live in, go to www.burlingame.org/districtelections.

Individuals who wish to run for one of the three seats on the November ballot must:
• Be a registered voter and live in the district in which they are running
• Set up an appointment with the City Clerk by email: [email protected] or phone: 650-558-7203 to begin the candidate filing process
• Complete all necessary paperwork and file with the City Clerk’s office between July 18 and August 12

The County Elections Office is holding a candidate seminar on July 22 at 2:00 p.m. This seminar will cover important topics including filing deadlines, filing forms, candidate statement, campaign finance reports, and voter data. To RSVP for the meeting and receive the Microsoft Teams link, go to: https://www.smcacre.org/elections/rsvp-candidate-filing-seminars

If you have questions about running for City Council, reach out to City Clerk Meaghan Hassel-Shearer at [email protected] or at 650-558-7203

[Joe]

Thanks, Time. You beat me to it, but I will also add it to the council districting thread.

[Joe]

From CalMatters. org. I have a crystal-clear idea of who should be held "accouintable".

A dispatch from me (Ed: Emily Hoeven) and CalMatters political reporter Ben Christopher: Legislative Republicans called Tuesday for an independent state audit to find out “what in the world happened” when the California Department of Justice briefly published the personal identifying information of more than 240,000 concealed carry weapon license applicants late last month.

Assemblymember Jim Patterson, a Fresno Republican: “There is no more private information that the Department of Justice and the Attorney General has in their possession than information about people who thought themselves at serious enough risk that they were able to demonstrate an outright need for (a concealed carry gun permit).”

The state Department of Justice on June 27 published an online web tool designed to show aggregate gun-related statistics, but that also allowed users to download a database containing the names, home addresses and other personal data of more than 240,000 concealed carry license applicants — including at least 140 current and former judges.

The dashboard was taken down within 24 hours of being published and remains offline three weeks later, along with other public data maintained by the department. The agency is directly contacting those affected and offering them free credit monitoring. (Ed: Really?? That's it??)

Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta called the data release “unacceptable” and announced an internal investigation. Last week, he pledged that he would “be holding folks accountable, appropriately.”
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Not holding my breath.

[Joe]

Today's Black Friday special at the Voice taken from Redstate.com:

Bonta’s office issued a press release on Tuesday aimed at informing residents on how to avoid shopping scams and other problems they might face as they swarm retail stores for the Christmas season. However, in one section, the press release urges residents to snitch on retailers that fail to comply with a new state law requiring them to provide gender-neutral sections for toys and childcare products in accordance with Assembly Bill 1084.

Holy authoritarianism, Batman!

The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021, applies to retail department stores with 500 or more employees. These businesses must create a gender-neutral area where toys and childcare items marketed to boys or girls must be displayed together.

Companies that fail to comply could face fines of up to $250 for the first violation and $500 for subsequent violations, so these companies better make sure Barbie isn’t too far from the Transformers.
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Snitch away......Rereading the OP was fun since EV maker Rivian just got a desperation loan from the Feds for $6 billion (with a B) to help them as they lose $107,043 PER VEHICLE SOLD......they have debt maturing in 2026 at 12% so naturally the Feds' loan is at 6%.

[Paloma Ave]

How can you tell when a democrat is lying? His lips are moving!

[Cassandra]

I’ll believe Governor Newsom when he cancels HSR. They could’ve put 2 lanes both directions on I-5 by now.