Rob Bonta was appointed California attorney general barely a year ago by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill a vacancy left by the departure of Xavier Becerra to become U.S. Health and Human Services secretary. Because Bonta was not elected, because his record in one of the state’s most important positions is short, and because he is serving at a time of increasing crime and pushback against the state’s historic criminal justice reforms, there is more motivation than in most election years to seriously study whether a challenger might be a better fit for the office.
But an extensive examination of the five candidates, their records, their positions and their statements makes it abundantly clear: Bonta is the right choice. He should be elected to a full term as attorney general. He has shown a commitment and an ability to effectively enforce laws that Californians have adopted, either directly by ballot or through their elected representatives. By contrast, the three leading challengers want to undermine or overturn many of those same laws — a dangerous stance for candidates seeking to be the state’s chief law enforcement officer.
Bonta’s brief tenure has been solid so far. In the midst of California’s housing affordability and availability crisis, he has stood firm against cities resisting laws requiring them to make space for more residents. For example, he called out Pasadena for its ploy to restrict multifamily housing in broad swaths of the city, and similarly warned Woodside ...
A popular social media conspiracy theory about a recent cluster of hantavirus cases claims that the word “hanta” means “scam,” “fraud,” or “nonsense” in “Hebrew slang.” That’s more or less where t...