Taking a little shine off Bonta's good guy image
Union City school board president goes topless for Pride
ELECTION 2022
—BONTA DYNASTY—East Bay local officials using President Donald Trump as a punching bag is pretty common. For example, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf routinely picked fights with Trump in order to burnish progressive credentials in her deep blue city. Alameda’s own Rob Bonta, also known as California’s attorney general, has also employed this strategy for several years. A few years back, he urged Alameda County Democrats to kick Trump’s ass… at the polls.
—It’s no surprise that Bonta is raising the orange specter in his November race for a full term at the AGs office. Last week, Bonta’s campaign called out his General Election opponent, Republican Nathan Hochman, in an effort to tie him to Trump. What is Hochman’s stance on women’s reproductive rights? Did Hochman vote for Trump?
—“I believe [Bonta’s] going to use the Donald Trump issue and other issues to divert voters' attention away from what should be the central issue of safety and security,” Hochman told Politico this week.
—The queries received a quick response from Hochman. Yes, he supports the state’s charter amendment enshrining abortion rights, and, no, he did not vote for Trump in 2016 and 2020. Don’t expect Bonta to let Hochman off so easy.
—BEE STINGS BONTA—Bonta’s campaign might rather talk about Trump than face the music about an article in the Sacramento Bee this week that questions his use of a taxpayer-funded email system to communicate with registered voters. The batch of emails appear to focus solely on Bonta and not the AG’s office, but that’s a matter of opinion. This is one of those public affairs stories that lacks the bite of illegal activity, but veers uncomfortably close to poor ethics.
—“There will be the perception on the part of voters that (the candidate is) doing something that doesn’t seem fair and that their opponents can’t tap into the funds of the State of California to promote their campaigns,” an ethics professor at Santa Clara University told the Bee. “It will raise questions in some people’s minds about whether their activities have a campaign and election purpose more so than a good public-policy purpose behind them.”
—This story shouldn’t hinder Bonta’s campaign this year, but it takes a little shine off of his well-groomed good guy persona. Recall, an article last year by CalMatters that also showed Bonta tiptoeing near the ethical line when it comes to his foundation funding his wife’s non-profit. Another article detailed the connection between contributions flowing into his AG campaign from sports betting interests hoping to get in good with the AG, who incidentally pens the title and summary for state ballot initiatives. The same interests were also larding the campaign coffers of Bonta’s wife, Mia Bonta, who later replaced him in the 18th Assembly District.
—The appearance of hinky activity was used repeatedly against Mia Bonta by her special election opponent, a progressive named Janani Ramachandran. By the way, specific special interests donating big checks to both Bontas was still evident during the past primary season.
MORE INSIDE:
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Union City school board president goes topless
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