Politics
Column: A small-city mayor takes on big money and political propaganda
Steve Younger might have loved a pleasant, quiet retirement on this charming waterfront neighborhood within the northern a part of the Bay Space.
However Younger is a sociable kind and was wanting to make new acquaintances after he and his spouse moved right here in 2012. He’s not the type to hang around in bars, the 70-year-old Younger stated, and he doesn’t play any aggressive sports activities. So one method to meet of us, he figured, was to serve on an area board or fee.
After a number of interviews, Younger landed a spot on Benicia’s Planning Fee; it helped that he had spent his profession in native authorities, retiring as a pacesetter of Sacramento’s Housing and Redevelopment Company. His appointment to the fee led to his election to the Metropolis Council, which in flip positioned Younger for a profitable 2020 run for mayor — and a struggle with the oil firm that looms giant on this small metropolis.
Younger’s victory, and the deep-pocketed marketing campaign towards him, has positioned him on the intersection of two of the extra insidious developments in politics at this time: the flood of limitless cash and the gutting of native information media, which has left a void too simply stuffed by propaganda and misinformation.
“I perceive that it’s authorized,” Younger stated of the unimaginable quantities of money sloshing round campaigns from the White Home to Metropolis Corridor. “I perceive the Supreme Court docket stated it’s OK. But it surely’s not proper. And in my opinion it’s not democratic.”
So Younger is pushing again as finest he can, recruiting unbiased marketing campaign fact-checkers and searching for a municipal ordinance to forestall digital manipulation of political advertisements and different willful deceit.
“Individuals can say no matter they need,” Younger stated, “and in case you don’t have the cash to refute it, it can stick to voters.”
Benicia, which is one in every of California’s oldest cities, is residence to about 28,000 residents, a thriving artists colony and a sprawling oil refinery owned by Valero Vitality Corp. The San Antonio-based agency is town’s largest employer and taxpayer, a serious political power and a supply of appreciable native controversy.
The 2 worst refinery accidents within the Bay Space in recent times occurred in Benicia. Final month, San Francisco public radio station KQED reported the plant had launched extreme ranges of hazardous chemical compounds for greater than 15 years earlier than regulators found the emissions.
Naturally, the place there’s smoke, there’s an try to achieve political affect.
Within the final two elections, Valero spent tons of of hundreds of {dollars} supporting its most well-liked candidates for mayor and Metropolis Council, and concentrating on these, like Younger, who favored tighter regulation of its refinery. (The title of Valero’s political motion committee, Working Households for a Robust Benicia, is clearly extra palatable than Massive Oil Firm Spending Enormous Sums to Preserve Small Neighborhood Underneath Its Thumb.)
Main companies definitely have a proper to weigh in on issues affecting their companies, their workers and the communities the place they function. Based on the Supreme Court docket, that constitutes political speech protected by the first Modification. Companies are entitled to as a lot speech as they care to buy, which is significantly greater than your typical voter or candidate for native workplace can presumably afford.
“Companies can primarily purchase elected officers … by pumping cash into getting their most well-liked candidates into workplace,” or by opposing these “not as beholden or sympathetic,” stated Sean McMorris of California Frequent Trigger, a nonprofit good-government group.
In Benicia, the high-priced marketing campaign towards Younger by Valero and its allies included mailers that darkened his complexion — presumably to make him seem extra sinister — and distorted his voting file and efficiency on the Metropolis Council. A number of assertions, Younger stated, have been patently false.
He gained however.
As we took a driving tour of town — beneath a cloud of blossoming Bradford pears, previous white picket fences and Craftsman houses, by means of the economic park that homes Valero — Younger spoke of the pleasures, and frustrations, of serving as mayor. The job pays $525 a month and comes with healthcare advantages. That’s not loads given the fixed calls for, plus added pressure over masks and vaccinations, however it’s rooted Younger locally and, as he as soon as hoped, launched him to a lot of individuals.
“I prefer it,” he stated of his place, after temporary consideration.
What he can’t abide is the outsized political affect of town’s company Goliath. Elections in a spot like Benicia must be decided, Younger stated, by candidates knocking on doorways and assembly voters, not by whoever wields the heftiest pockets.
So together with Vice Mayor Tom Campbell, Younger got here up with two proposals to manipulate campaigns and attempt to stem Valero’s affect.
The primary sought to determine a form of municipal reality fee. However the metropolis legal professional famous the excessive authorized bar dealing with lawmakers in the event that they sought to enter the marketing campaign fact-checking enterprise.
Younger then approached the native newspaper, the Benicia Herald, in hope its meager employees will start truth-squadding political advertisements. If the paper is prepared, candidates “might use that in some future mailing or social media submit, saying a 3rd celebration has checked out this and it’s false.”
The second proposal, to forestall digital manipulation — like casting a candidate in shadow — and different types of digital fakery, is about to go earlier than town’s Open Authorities Fee for consideration.
“I need to have one thing in entrance of the council by summertime,” Younger stated because the solar glinted off the Carquinez Strait, “as a result of clearly this must be in place earlier than individuals begin voting.”
At a time when democracy is underneath assault, the decimation of native media — typically a neighborhood’s solely supply of professionally gathered information — has turn into extra worrisome than ever. With out somebody protecting a watchful eye and holding the highly effective to account, these with the cash and means to have their approach will solely develop extra influential.
Younger’s effort is one small step in a single small metropolis. But it surely’s one thing, and a worthy instance others would possibly select to comply with.
Politics
Mike Kennedy advances past crowded GOP primary to secure nomination for open Utah House seat
Mike Kennedy on Tuesday won the Republican nomination for Utah’s 3rd Congressional District to replace outgoing Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, becoming the immediate favorite to win the seat in November.
Kennedy beat fellow Republicans JR Bird, John Dougall, Case Lawrence and Stewart Peay in a packed primary pool for the district. Curtis is vacating his seat to run for U.S. Senate to replace outgoing Sen. Mitt Romney.
Kennedy, a state senator, had won the party’s nomination for the seat in April but faced challenges from other candidates who gathered signatures to be on the ballot. Peay had won the endorsement of Romney, who is also Peay’s wife’s uncle. Kennedy had won the endorsement of Sen. Mike Lee, who said he was needed to “fight against the Uniparty and help get this country back on track.”
‘SQUAD’ MEMBER FACES OUSTER FROM CONGRESS AS NEW YORK, COLORADO AND UTAH HOLD PRIMARIES ON TUESDAY
From left, JR Bird, John Dougall, Mike Kennedy, Case Lawrence and Stewart Peay, candidates in the Republican primary for Utah’s 3rd Congressional District, take part in a debate at the Eccles Broadcast Center in Salt Lake City on June 12, 2024. (Spenser Heaps/Deseret News via AP/Pool)
Bird, a mayor, emphasized his experience of running a small town as well as the importance of the energy sector and agriculture, according to the Deseret News.
Dougall, the state auditor, had run as an anti-MAGA candidate and had slammed some GOP legislation, including what he saw as an overly aggressive bill that tasks him with enforcing a ban on transgender-identifying individuals using restrooms that are inconsistent with their sex.
WATCH: THIS HOUSE PRIMARY IS MOST EXPENSIVE IN CONGRESSIONAL HISTORY
He has also been deeply critical of former President Trump. On Tuesday on X, he also questioned the “cavalier manner” of any official who swears to uphold the Constitution “then endorses Trump following January 6th.” He has advertised himself as “mainstream, not MAGA.”
At a debate this month, candidates split on the question of military funding to Ukraine as well as whether the federal government should explicitly ban abortion. Peay, Dougall and Case Lawrence – a trampoline park entrepreneur – had called on Congress to keep sending weapons to Ukraine to help it fend off the ongoing Russian invasion.
Bird and Kennedy disagreed, arguing that it was not beneficial to the U.S. to keep funding the Ukrainians, with the two calling for stronger sanctions and the seizure of Russian assets.
HEAD HERE FOR LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING FROM THE PRIMARY CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Sen. Mitt Romney (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Kennedy will go on to face Democrat Glenn Wright in the November election, but the Republican is favored to win comfortably in a district that has voted Republican since 1997.
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Elsewhere in the state, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox, a major GOP Trump critic, held off a primary challenge from Phil Lyman, another 2020 election denier who easily won the state party convention.
The Associated Press and Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
California news publishers and Big Tech companies appear to be inching toward compromise on a controversial bill that would require Google and huge social media platforms to pay news outlets for the articles they distribute.
After stalling last year, Assembly Bill 886 cleared a critical hurdle Tuesday when it passed the state Senate Judiciary Committee. Several lawmakers described the legislation as a work in progress aimed at solving a critical problem: The news business is shrinking as technology changes the way people consume information.
“I do believe the marketplace is the best mechanism to regulate industry,” Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Orange), the committee chairman, said during a hearing on the bill.
However, he said, the demise of journalism harms democracy: “Thus, we have an obligation to find a way to support reasonable, credible journalism.”
The legislation, known as the “California Journalism Preservation Act,” would require digital platforms to pay news outlets a fee when they sell advertising alongside news content. It calls for creating a fund that the tech firms pay into, with the money being distributed to news outlets based on the number of journalists they employ. Publishers would have to use 70% of the money they receive to pay journalists in California.
Umberg noted that the bill does not specify an amount for the fund. He said it would be “a very elegant solution” for the parties involved to agree on what amount that should be.
Sen. Henry Stern (D-Calabasas) described talks as being “closer and closer to the place where we could actually land some kind of deal.”
In Canada, Google is paying $74 million annually into a fund for the news industry under a law similar to the one proposed in California.
Jaffer Zaidi, Google’s vice president of global news partnerships, testified against the California proposal during a hearing in which news executives from across the state lined up to express support for the bill, while tech industry lobbyists lined up in opposition. The bill is sponsored by the California News Publishers Assn., of which the Los Angeles Times is a member.
“The bill would … break the fundamental and foundational principles of the open internet, forcing platforms to pay publishers for sending valuable free traffic to them,” Zaidi said.
“It puts the full burden of support on one or two companies, while shielding many other large platforms who also link to news from California publishers.”
He said Google had shared a proposal for a different way to support journalism “through targeted programs” that would be funded by more companies than just the very largest platforms. The current version of the bill would apply only to Google and Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook.
“We hope this can serve as a basis for a workable path forward together,” Zaidi said. “We remain committed to being here and constructively working towards an outcome.”
The bill’s author, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), said she is “aggressively trying to engage” with companies that oppose the bill in the hopes that the sparring sides can reach an agreement that will allow the news industry to thrive.
“At the end of the day, I want the best solution to the problem,” Wicks said.
She closed the hearing by talking about the role journalism has played in exposing problems that lawmakers wind up addressing in the Capitol, such as crafting new laws to extend the statute of limitations for sexual abuse lawsuits after The Times’ investigation revealed a pattern of allegations against former USC gynecologist George Tyndall.
The bill now advances to the Senate Appropriations Committee. It will go to Gov. Gavin Newsom if it clears both houses of the Legislature by Aug. 31.
Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail.
FACE OFF: Don’t miss the Fox News Simulcast of the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET. Stay in the know for more updates here.
What’s happening…
-Calls for Biden to fire official for past anti-Israel tweets
-Trump urges drug test for Biden
-Whistleblower who exposed NPR bias finds new job
What can he say?
Judge Juan Merchan has partially lifted the gag order he imposed against former President Trump – weeks after the jury found him guilty on all counts.
Trump and his legal team have been fighting the gag order since it was imposed upon him at the start of the trial, but had ramped up their efforts when it concluded last month. The former president and presumptive Republican nominee’s legal team had argued the gag order should be lifted before the June 27 presidential debate.
Merchan’s gag order barred Trump from making or directing others to make public statements about witnesses with regard to their potential participation or about counsel in the case – other than Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg – or about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff.
Merchan on Tuesday partially lifted the gag order because the trial has concluded.
Trump is now able to speak about protected witnesses and jurors.
Trump is still blocked from commenting about individual prosecutors, court staff and their family members. That portion of the gag order will remain in effect until Trump’s sentencing on July 11.
Judge Juan Merchan imposed over Donald Trump (AP)
White House
‘JUST HORRIFYING’: Watchdog group calls for Biden to fire WH official for past anti-Israel tweets …Read more
Capitol Hill
‘OBSCENE’: House GOP lawmaker rips State Dept ahead of vote on U.S. dollars going to Taliban …Read more
U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) speaks to the crowd while he campaigns in the Bronx borough of New York City, U.S., June 22, 2024. REUTERS/Joy Malone (REUTERS/Joy Malone)
Tales from the Campaign Trail
‘THEATER OF CONFLICT’: Democrat challenger slams Bowman tirade, says profanity-laced rally jeopardizes party ‘unity’ …Read more
JUST SAY ‘NO’: Trump urges drug test for Biden, says he’ll do same screening …Read more
EPIC CLASH: How to watch the CNN Presidential Debate Simulcast on the Fox News Channel …Read more
‘SUGARCOATING’ CONTROVERSY: California city keeps charged ballot language for non-citizen voting measure …Read more
CALL TO THE BULLPEN: Obama again serving as Joe’s closer ahead of 2024 Trump rematch …Read more
Trials and Tribulations
DAY 3: US v Trump: The afternoon public hearing ended with no decision from Judge Cannon Read more
Across America
NO ABORTIONS FOR MINORS: Tennessee sued over law banning adults from helping minors get abortions without parental consent …Read more
MOVING ON: Whistleblower finds new gig after exposing alleged liberal bias at NPR …Read more
NEW YORK PAYS PRICE FOR NAIVETY: Cuomo scorches Dems for migrant crisis: ‘We’re finding out, 200,000 people later, you needed a plan’ …Read more
GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER: This blue city that ‘Defund Police’ supporters call home has over 1,000 unsolved homicides …Read more
KENYAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE: Kenyan police depart for Haiti to tackle rampant gang violence …Read more
ALL MUST SERVE: Israel’s Supreme Court rules ultra-Orthodox men must serve in military in unanimous decision …Read more
HUGE POPULATION: Houston area, an immigration hot spot, reeling from murder of Jocelyn Nungaray …Read more
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