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California GOP legislators say redistricting proposal violates state constitution
VOL. 14,
Ex-LAFD chief’s claim accuses city, Bass of defamation, retaliation By Joe Taglieri joet@beaconmedianews.com
By City News Service
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redrawn congressional district map aimed at shifting five U.S. House seats to Democrats will go before California voters this November, a move some Republican state legislators — including Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach — said violates the state constitution. State lawmakers voted Thursday to put the newly proposed California congressional map — a direct counter to legislative redistricting efforts in Texas to increase the number of GOP House seats there — before voters in a Nov. 4 special election. Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement shortly after the vote, “The People of California will be able to cast their vote for a congressional map. Direct democracy that gives us a fighting chance to STOP Donald Trump’s election rigging. Time to fight fire with fire.” Just before Thursday’s vote, California Republican legislators accused their Democratic counterparts in Sacramento of pushing a redistricting plan without proper oversight or notice to the public. During a Thursday morning news conference on the steps of the Capitol, Sen. Brian Jones, R-San Diego, called the efforts an “attack on democracy” and “nothing less than rigging the election.” The minority leader also accused Democrats of refusing to explain how the newly proposed maps were drawn. “Gerrymandering by politicians is never OK, whether in California, Texas or anywhere else. Our state should be the model for fair elections and not the model for rigged elections,” Jones said. “This is not about good government. It’s about rigging the system to protect Democrat power.”
Sen. Brian Jones speaks at a press conference Thursday. | Photo courtesy of @SenBrianJones/X
Proposition 50 — also known as the Election Rigging Response Act — is an attempt to negate the Texas legislature’s effort to flip five congressional districts to the GOP side through a redrawn map. That effort passed the Texas House of Representatives on Wednesday and is headed to the state’s Senate, where it’s expected to pass and move on to Gov. Greg
Abbott’s desk. California Democrats, led by Newsom, have called the Texas plan gerrymandering, and California’s counter-push has drawn national notice. The proposed California maps would similarly shift five seats to Democrats and override the state’s indepenSee Redistricting Page 08
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dent redistricting commission that is typically responsible for drawing district maps. Newsom said in a statement earlier this week, “California and Californians have been uniquely targeted by the Trump Administration, and we are not going to sit idle while they command Texas and other states to rig the next election to keep power — pursuing more extreme and unpopular policies. This proposal would give Californians a choice to fight back — and bring much needed accountability and oversight to the Trump Administration.” Republicans filed a lawsuit to block the redistricting plan, but the California Supreme Court rejected the legal challenge on Wednesday. Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, who filed a citizens’ initiative earlier this week that called for a ban on elected office for state legislators who vote to approve the redistricting proposal, called the proposal a “seize of power from the citizens.” “What’s happening behind us in this building today is unconstitutional, it is wrong, it is illegal. It is also corrupt,” DeMaio said during Thursday’s gathering outside the Capitol. Strickland, who was one of several California GOP lawmakers who filed the emergency petition this week challenging the proposal, reiterated an argument in the Republicans’ legal filings that a 30-day public review period is required. He said the new district lines were “drawn behind closed doors” and would lead to predetermined elections down the line. “That means your voice
Then-LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, second from right, discusses rainstorm preparation with Mayor Karen Bass and city officials in February. | Photo courtesy of Mayor Karen Bass/X
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ormer Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley filed a legal claim Wednesday against the city and Mayor Karen Bass alleging defamation, retaliation and negligence. Crowley says she was the victim of dishonest scapegoating and illegal retaliation that culminated with her demotion in the aftermath of the January wildfires. Central to the ex-chief and 25-year public servant’s claim is “Bass orchestrated a campaign of misinformation, defamation, and retaliation to protect her political image while concealing the extent to which she undermined public safety,” according to court documents. Crowley’s claim demands immediate retraction of all allegedly false and defamatory statements, a public apology and an end to all alleged ongoing reprisals. The claim also calls for unspecified damages in excess of $25,000. “The citizens of Los Angeles deserve to know the truth about how under-resourced the LAFD has become and how that came to be,” Crowley’s attorney Genie Harrison said in a statement. “Kristin Crowley has put herself on the line yet again, this time to give the citizens of Los Angeles and its firefighters the truth — and the power to create change.” David Michaelson, counsel to the mayor, said in a statement, “We will not comment on an ongoing personnel claim, Mayor Bass is focused on the city’s preparations for the hottest temperatures of the year and the potential for regional fire danger.” According to the claim, Crowley did her job by truthfully informing city officials and the public that the mayor’s budget cuts and long-run neglect by officials had left the fire department underfunded, understaffed and ill-equipped to handle the escalating demands of a growing city that is especially at risk for wildfires. When Crowley publicly confirmed in media reports that Bass cut the LAFD operating budget by $17.6 million, she See Crowley Page 32