Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

California Today

Newsom Visits The New York Times and Talks Trump and the Future

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at The New York Times.Credit...Marc Lacey/The New York Times

Good morning.

(Here’s the sign-up, if you don’t already get California Today by email.)

He dined with his archnemesis. He hobnobbed with his contemporaries. And then Gov. Gavin Newsom made a four-hour road trip from Washington to New York, where he swung by The New York Times.

Mr. Newsom’s visit to New York came after a weekend at the annual conference of governors, where he made headlines for what seemed to be a new willingness to work with the Trump administration. On Sunday, he met with the acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and attended a black-tie dinner at the White House hosted by the president.

“It is important for us to establish relationships not only with governors but with other legislative leaders in D.C.,” Mr. Newsom said. “And to the extent that we can with key cabinet agency directors and leaders in the administration and dare I say the president himself.” Still, he said, California is not backing down. He mentioned the 46 lawsuits California is fighting with the Trump administration and said a 47th might be filed as early as this week. The governor also talked about the many ways California sets the agenda for the rest of the country. Here are some more highlights:

California as the Future

“In every way we are America’s coming attraction,” Mr. Newsom said. “And I say every way because literally America in 2019 was California in the 1980s and 1990s. Everything we’re experiencing — the xenophobia, the nativism, the fear of the other, think back to Pete Wilson and Prop 187 — that would make Donald Trump blush.”

But, he noted, the ascendancy of the Republican Party came to a halt roughly two decades ago in the state and, “Now here we are: 27 percent foreign born, we brought in 112,000 refugees in the last 15 years, we’re a majority minority state, thriving economically, but still struggling with these disparities.” He added: “Someone recently said to me, ‘You are just America, but more so. More poverty, more problems, more opportunity, more ambition.’”

What’s Next:

Pharmaceutical drug costs and the death penalty are two major areas of focus for the governor in the near term, he said. And his administration is preparing for a recession — “more acute than ’01 but less acute than ’07.”

And Look for a West Coast Collaboration

Mr. Newsom seemed most engaged when talking about his fellow governors, including his colleague in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whom he referred to on a first-name basis.

When asked who else he is turning to for advice, he said:

“I am a best practice junkie. I am casing other people’s joints 24/7. I am inspired by good ideas wherever I find them. I have been particularly impressed with Jared Polis [Colorado]. Gina Raimondo in Rhode Island has been amazing. She is pragmatic, tough and interesting and a very capable governor. Jay Inslee [Washington] and I have been working on climate issues since I was lieutenant governor. We’re looking to do something pretty interesting: a West Coast collaborative that goes further than just climate issues. So not just decarbonization efforts, but working together on social justice and on a growth and inclusion agenda. So we have a draft of how Gov. Kate Brown in Oregon, Governor Inslee and myself can join in a broader collaboration. I’m working with other governors on the prescription drug strategy.

“There’s a lot of new energy. The D.G.A. [Democratic Governors Association] has been re-energized and there’s a state of mind for these governors and a recognition that you have to be nimble, adaptive and entrepreneurial in your mind-set with Trump.”

He pointed to one example where this joint effort is paying off:

“I can tell you it was very easy to pick up the phone and get 15 other governors to sign on to that declaration of emergency lawsuit. And trust me there are a bunch of others who are just waiting to join. Trump has forced us to collaborate in some respects and that’s an encouraging and enlivening thing and frankly it’s long overdue. We should have been doing this for years and years.”

Image
Zabriskie Point in Death Valley National Park, one of the parks that would expand under a land conservation bill.Credit...Prisma by Dukas/UIG, via Getty Images

(We often link to sites that limit access for nonsubscribers. We appreciate your reading Times stories, but we’d also encourage you to support local news if you can.)

In a rare show of bipartisanship, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would protect 1.3 million acres in Utah, New Mexico, Oregon and California, including adding about 40,000 acres of federal land to the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks and Mojave National Preserve. The bill now goes to the president, who’s expected to sign it. [The New York Times]

Senator Kamala Harris has had a strong start to her presidential campaign, but she’s had notable stumbles when it comes to concrete policies. Still, experts say Democratic voters will be forgiving of someone they think can beat President Trump. [The New York Times]

Tech developed by Code for America helped San Francisco erase or reduce 8,000 marijuana-related convictions that were eligible to be wiped out when adult-use marijuana was legalized. The move makes San Francisco the first county to fully comply with legalization, which also retroactively eliminated some pot-related crimes. [The Associated Press]

Thousands of people who live along the Russian River were ordered to evacuate as waters rose following a storm that has inundated the region. [The Press Democrat]

L.A. may tax ride-sharing companies in order to nudge riders toward public transit — or at least get them to car pool. It’s something several other big metro areas, including Chicago and New York, have tried. [The Los Angeles Times]

• Three languages are better than one — or two. And more schools in Southern California are adding a wider variety of dual language immersion programs, so students who speak, say, Spanish and English at home can also start learning Korean or French. [The Orange County Register]

Image
Customers line up for recreational marijuana outside of MedMen, a dispensary in West Hollywood. 

Credit...Richard Vogel/Associated Press

Spike Jonze is known for conjuring a futuristic Los Angeles in the 2013 film “Her,” which won Mr. Jonze an Oscar.

Now, he’s taken his talents to a smaller screen — like your phone — for a “short” film history of marijuana in the U.S., from hemp’s roots as a crop George Washington grew, to a pretext for making criminals of black and brown Americans. Now, the voice of the actor Jesse Williams argues, it’s time for pot to become “the new normal.”

The film is a commercial for MedMen, the cannabis retailer that’s been likened to the Apple store of weed. Both the stores and the commercial are sleek. And as the legal marijuana industry finds its footing, look for more glossy advertising — distributed outside traditional channels and catering to a sense of social justice. It could be the new normal.

California Today goes live at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.

Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, went to school at U.C. Berkeley and has reported all over the state, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles — but she always wants to see more. Follow along here or on Twitter, @jillcowan.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT