A Midweek Post-Script Roundup

News Updates on the California Governor's race, the Palisades Fire, and California's Congressional Redistricting

During the past two weeks, a number of major news updates have occurred in the California Governor’s race, the Palisades Fire, and California’s Congressional Redistricting.¹

Off-Script: The Liberal Dissenter has published several recent articles on these topics and these post-script updates are worthy of an article itself. A quick review:

I. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan runs for Governor and Eric Swalwell’s Momentum Continues to Build

In The Battle of Brentwood Called Off, I speculated that Rick Caruso’s decision to not run for Governor of California would potentially benefit both San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin).

Mahan has since subsequently announced that he’s running for Governor with great fanfare. Many centrist commentators and big tech investors are praising him as their great moderate hope. Rick Caruso himself appears to have all but endorsed Mahan.²

However, the entrance of Mahan into the Governor’s race has not slowed Swalwell’s momentum or hurt him as the potential candidate of moderate and centrist political organizations.

After gaining the endorsement of the California Police Chief’s Association, this week, he gained the endorsement of the powerful California Medical Association.³

He also gained the endorsement of Congressman Raul Ruiz (D-Coachella), adding yet another Southern Californian and Congressional Hispanic Caucus member to his growing list of supporters.⁴

Ruiz is a politically skilled moderate, having repeatedly won re-election with scores of Trump voters in his districts crossing over to vote for him down ballot.

Swalwell’s initial fundraising numbers are impressive too. Aside from Tom Steyer, a self-funding billionaire, he was the top fundraising Democratic gubernatorial candidate. While he was technically out raised by Republican Steve Hilton, Swalwell raised $3.1 million during just under five weeks while Hilton raised $4 million over six months.

More impressively, Swalwell has not transferred any of the funds held in his Congressional campaign committee to his gubernatorial campaign either, something that he could probably legally do.⁵

II. The Los Angeles City Council Appears to Change Course on Building Permit Fees for Palisades Fire Victims

In The Los Angeles City Council's Refusal to Waive Building Permit Fees for Palisades Fire Victims - And What Angelenos can do About it, I criticized the Los Angeles City Council for refusing to waive building permit fees for Palisades Fire victims and suggested that Angelenos should consider banding together to remove them through the ballot initiative process, our constitutional right.⁶

This week though, the City Council seemingly changed course, voting unanimously to direct the drafting of an ordinance to remove permit fees for builders in the Pacific Palisades.

Because they have not yet passed this ordinance, I am not yet celebrating. Nevertheless, it is welcome news. Hopefully, once the ordinance is drafted, the City Council will quickly pass it.

III. The Latest Los Angeles Times Conspiracy Theory Against Karen Bass

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times published yet another attack against Mayor Karen Bass. They claim that Mayor Karen Bass secretly altered the Los Angeles Fire Department’s After Action Report out of concern for the city’s legal liability from Fire Department errors and then lied about it.

I view all L.A. Times attacks against Karen Bass with a critical eye. That’s because the owner of the L.A. Times publicly stated his political goal of removing the Mayor from office on the night of the Palisades Fire. Moreover, the financially struggling paper has newfound competition for rightwing readers from the California Post.⁷ Many of their articles have included spin and failed to meet basic journalistic standards.

Here, their alleged source is an anonymous source who claims to have heard from another anonymous source who allegedly works in the Mayor’s office. Just as a side note and to correct any misunderstanding caused by Lionel Hutz,⁸ if this “source” attempted to testify in court, the testimony would be inadmissible hearsay evidence.⁹

However, there’s a very simple reason that I am highly skeptical of this story.

As I recently explained in The Los Angeles City Council's Refusal to Waive Building Permit Fees for Palisades Fire Victims - And What Angelenos can do About it, the City of Los Angeles does not owe any legal liability to Pacific Palisades residents because the Fire Department is completely immune from legal liability.¹⁰

There is literally no legal theory under which Palisades Fire victims can recover against the city for failures of the Los Angeles Fire Department.¹¹ Additionally, there is also no potential for legal settlements to Palisades Fire victims on the basis of the Fire Department’s actions either.¹²

The Mayor is not stupid. She knows the legal reality. She has legal counsel working in her office. She has a weekly lunch with the City Attorney.

She had no reason to personally manipulate the Fire Department’s After Action Report because of her fears of the city’s legal liability because there is no such prospect.¹³

IV. Proposition 50 Congressional Maps Remain in Place

Like many Californians, I felt like I needed a shower after I voted for Proposition 50 last fall. But one reason I felt less shame in voting for it is because, as I wrote about in Following the California Supreme Court ≠ “Political Power Play”, the State Legislature rejected a great deal of terrible legal advice and went to the voters as they were required to do under the California Constitution.

They recognized that a constitutional amendment requiring an affirmative vote of the public was needed instead of simple legislation. They also removed a provision that I wrote about in Redistricting: The 19th Century Legal Precedent That Might be a Thorn in Gavin Newsom's Side that could have potentially killed the entire measure.

Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari on the Republican petition to dismantle the Proposition 50 maps, which the federal courts had previously upheld against a baseless constitutional challenge. The new Congressional maps will be in effect for the November elections.

There was little chance of the Voting Rights Act lawsuit succeeding. However, had the California State Legislature not done its job properly, there were plenty of other ways in which Proposition 50 could have been legally challenged.

It is proof that hard work pays off. The California State Legislature actually did their jobs as legislators and ensured a constitutionally compliant effort to redistrict in California.

V. Non-Level Headed Politicians Crusading Against Casey Wasserman

In An Undecided Voter's View of the California Governor's Race, I suggested that as an undecided voter, one of the chief qualities I was looking for in a candidate for Governor of California was for a candidate who had their own inner Philip Wylie, the prolific 20th century fiction writer.

When Wylie’s niece Janice was brutally raped and murdered in 1963, the New York City Police Department initially arrested George Whitmore, who despite being illiterate wrote and signed a 61 page confession that included details of the crime that only the killer could have known.

Wylie publicly dissented (disagreeing with even his own immediate family) stating that he didn’t believe Whitmore had committed the crime.

Wylie, of course, was right.

A recent Epstein Files release involving LA 2028 Olympics Committee Chair Casey Wasserman has shown that too many elected officials lack an inner Philip Wylie.¹⁴

In 2002, Wasserman exchanged flirtatious emails with convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell who assisted Jeffrey Epstein in his heinous sex trafficking scheme.

Some local politicians have used this as an opportunity to demand Wasserman’s resignation. My reaction is that we honestly need better elected officials.

While my opinion is subject to change, based upon currently known information, the calls for Wasserman to resign are completely off the mark.

Wasserman is not suspected of knowing about the sex trafficking of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, let alone of being involved in sex trafficking himself. What the emails capture is that at that very moment in time, he happened to like a woman who, unbeknownst to him, was in fact an evil human being.

Having bad taste in potential sexual partners is not a crime. Further, if he and Ghislaine Maxwell engaged in consensual sexual relations in private, that’s not a crime either.¹⁵ It’s a constitutional right.¹⁶

Certainly, it’s not a reason for him to resign from his position. Obviously, if further information surfaces that demonstrates that he was involved in Maxwell’s sex trafficking or had knowledge of it but failed to do anything about it, that would be reason for him to resign.

Otherwise, calls for his resignation seem like political opportunism and an extension of cancel culture.

However, I’m going to assume that calls for Wasserman’s resignation are not politically opportunist jabs from politicians looking to score political points and are instead motivated by genuine horror over what Epstein and Maxwell did to minors and got away with for such a long time.

It’s still problematic because it shows a lack of leadership. They are demonstrating their lack of an inner-Philip Wylie - the inability to think rationally and clearly in the face of a traumatic situation and acting rashly without thought.

We deserve better.

VI. What are Your Thoughts?

What news stories should Off-Script: The Liberal Dissenter be discussing? Please let me know in the comments!

1. The author of this article is an attorney licensed to practice in the State of California and the District of Columbia. This article and all of the works on this Substack page are statements of the opinions of the author, only, and do not constitute legal advice; they are not intended to be relied upon by any individual or entity in any transaction or other legal matter, past, pending, or future. A paid subscription to this Substack page supports the author’s scholarship and provides access to research that the author has compiled, but does not establish an attorney-client relationship. The author does not accept unsolicited requests for legal advice or representation, and this Substack page is not intended as legal advertising. The opinions expressed on this Substack page reflect the personal views of the author only.

2. https://www.threads.com/@rickcarusola/post/DUGdIwgCW3o

3. https://www.threads.com/@ericswalwell/post/DUTitwnEZrC

4. https://www.threads.com/@ericswalwell/post/DURHYXRkctE