Is any top-ranking California Democrat actually concerned with governing California?

I hope everyone cares about Congressional races in places like Modesto, Irvine and Hanford because those races are relegating important issues like rampant retail theft and the fentanyl epidemic to an afterthought.

You see, there’s an election coming up and regaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives is important to California Democrats, who are doing everything they can to suppress turnout from voters who might like to see meaningful reform on important issues: Republicans.

Some of you might read this and think Democratic control of the House is very important and should be a top priority. But be honest: Do you even know where Hanford is?

Setting aside the fact that those few Congressional elections will be largely determined by people and donors who live outside the district, and state, and who care little about the issues in those districts (and can’t locate Hanford, or Modesto, or probably not even Irvine, on a map), it’s disrespectful for those who actually want to see change right here in their home state.

The most notable example of this came earlier this month when leaked emails from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff showed her telling a negotiator of an initiative that will be on the 2024 ballot seeking to address retail theft and fentanyl distribution that Democrats were open to anything except this initiative appearing on this ballot.

In the emails, Newsom’s Chief of Staff said Democrats would be open to amending bills running through the Legislature (I’ll get to those in a second) or an initiative in 2026, but not a ballot initiative in 2024 (which, again, has already qualified and will be before voters in a few months).

Why would Democrats be open to these reforms now through the Legislature or on the ballot in 2026 but not the already-qualified ballot initiative in 2024?

Simple: They are worried about Republican turnout in a handful of Congressional races where margins of victory are expected to be tight. And if you’re one of the 34.5 million or so Californians who don’t live in these districts, go pound sand I guess.

With leadership like this, It’s not hard to see why 62 percent of Californians think the state is headed in the wrong direction, according to a recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California.

And speaking of failures of leadership, the aforementioned package of bills for which Newsom’s Chief of Staff was inviting amendments contain many of the same reforms as the ballot initiative, which is great.

But the bills in the Legislature also have self-destruct clauses, which make it so that the laws are repealed if the ballot measure passes.

If you’re wondering, that’s not normal.

Why would Democratic leadership in Sacramento insert provisions into their own bills to repeal themselves if a similar ballot measure passed?

Because it would force California’s Attorney General to write a title and summary for the ballot measure saying it would repeal public safety reforms. Again, this is purely to suppress turnout – the reforms themselves are irrelevant.

However, it does not appear these bills will become law. Many sensible Democrats in the Legislature are fleeing from this cynical strategy. Even Democratic authors of some of these bills are abandoning their bills with these amendments.

As of this writing, Democratic leaders are debating forcing a competing initiative onto the ballot, details of which have not been released.

If California Democratic leaders are willing to go to such great, devious lengths to suppress turnout in an election while simultaneously undermining public safety reforms, imagine what they could accomplish if they actually just focused on fixing problems!

Democrats have had total control of the state since 2011, and in that time problems have only mounted. On their watch we’ve seen failing K-12 education, a housing crisis, a cost-of-living crisis, a homelessness crisis and a fentanyl crisis, just to name a few. California’s energy problems have grown worse and there’s been little to no action taken to safeguard against the next drought.

Even if you want to say Democrats are not to blame for these problems, it’s hard to say they’ve done much to make improvements.

And it’s a shame, because I think most Democratic voters want to see positive movement on these issues and there is probably a lot of common ground with Republicans and independents.

You don’t have to be a far-right nutjob to think that roving mobs smashing windows of stores and taking whatever they want is a bad thing.

And it is the extremist who does not want to punish the same major fentanyl dealers who flood communities with a drug that kills dozens of California high school students a week.

Unfortunately, those extremists exist. In a Politico article, a progressive activist opposing the ballot measure, which is supported by District Attorneys throughout the state, said: “The (district attorneys) are out of touch with the average Californian.”

Except the District Attorneys are actually elected by average Californians, so maybe it’s far-left activists who are out of touch.

In related news, Newsom was in Georgia Thursday night to campaign for President Joe Biden’s re-election and expects to hit the trail hard for the president between now and Election Day.

Which begs the question: Is any top-ranking California Democrat actually concerned with governing California?