William Wayne Jones
April 6, 1949, to June 5, 2024

William Wayne Jones passed away peacefully on June 5, 2024, surrounded by loved ones. Bill grew up in Eureka and went to Eureka High School. Bill joined the United States Marine Corp during the Vietnam War and received a Purple Heart after being wounded in combat. When he returned home, he went back to his original job at McCrae Nissan, where he worked for 47 years. He also married his high school sweetheart and had three children.

Later he married Gwendolyn Jones and became a stepdad to Gwen’s daughter. Years later they had their own daughter together. Bill and Gwen moved to McKinleyville in 1979 and raised their five children. Bill and Gwen were married for 48 years.

Bill enjoyed spending time with his family. He attended all their sporting events, he enjoyed taking them camping and playing hours of card games with them, and just spending quality family time. Bill was an avid hunter. He loved being outdoors hunting, fishing and camping. Bill was very involved with the McKinleyville community, where he coached Little League Baseball for 12 years.

Bill was proceeded in death by his wife Gwendolyn Jones, his parents Jim and Mable Tucker, his sister Barbara Black and his biological father George Whiting.

He is survived by his children: Mendy Jones (Gary), Raeleen Olson, Carolee Strong (Randy), Brandon Jones, Kimberly Adams (Rodney) his eight grandchildren: Brittany, Derek, Ashlie, Connor, Halle, Natalie, Harlee and Robert and six great grandchildren: Aden, Mckinzie, Denali, Kota, Wade and Gunnar. He is also survived by his seven sisters, his brother-in-law Delbert Faulk and many nieces and nephews.

Thank you to Hospice of Humboldt and his nurse Krystal for all your support for the last few months. In lieu of flowers please make a donation to the American Cancer Society.

There will be a memorial service in the near future. The date is not yet determined.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Bill Jones’ loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

On Saturday June 29, 2024 Myrtle Louise Martin, known as Suzy by all her family and friends, passed away.

Suzy was born in Wyoming on February 2, 1938. She came to Humboldt County in 1954. Suzy met Carl Martin and they were married in 1956. Suzy and Carl lived on Martin Ranch, raising three children there.

Suzy was a wonderful cook and loved doing it. She and Carl hosted many community dinners. She especially loved events where she and Carl could dance together.

She worked for Carl Johnson Company for many years. If you went to the auction and visited the snack bar you would have seen Suzy.

She was predeceased by her husband Carl Martin and her youngest son Elbert Martin and her son-in-law Larry Cardoza.

She is survived by her oldest son Eugene Martin, daughter Carla Martin Cardoza, grandsons Joey Martin, Michael Martin, Justin Martin (Stephanie), great-grandchildren Kaden Martin and McKenzie Martin.

She was a loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She will be greatly missed by her entire family. Suzy loved flowers, so please plant a flower.

Right now I’m in a different place
and though we seem apart
I’m closer than I ever was
I’m there inside your heart

— Anon

Arrangements by Paul’s Chapel, Arcata. Interment at St. Mary’s, Arcata.

As Eureka works to expand housing options downtown and elsewhere, fears of a future city overwhelmed by cars with supposedly nowhere to park continue to alarm some Eurekans. 

That’s the issue that claimed the spotlight this morning, anyway, at a meeting of the Eureka Design Review Committee, which discussed a 44-unit affordable housing apartment complex for seniors coming to the corner of C and Clark Streets in Eureka. 

The project is an element of the Housing Authority of the City of Eureka’s (HACE) repositioning plan, which aims to improve and increase Eureka’s affordable public housing. For this project, HACE is working with the developing firm Brinshore Development LLC. 

The duplexes currently at 1115 C Street. Screenshot from Design Review Committee meeting.

The three-story apartment building – which will replace six existing duplexes at 1115 C Street – borrows design elements from nearby historical buildings in an effort to match the neighborhood. HACE will offer tenants in the 12 to-be-demolished units other housing owned by the authority or tenant protection vouchers to rent elsewhere. 

The 44 one-bedroom, one-bathroom units will each be about 555 square feet in size, and half will be mobility units (meaning they’ll have accessibility features like low countertops, wide doorways and Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant hardware). And the complex will include laundry rooms on each floor, elevators, an outdoor community space and garden, an indoor community room, bicycle parking and 11 on-site parking spaces.

During today’s meeting, the Design Review Committee held a public hearing and considered a resolution that will move the project forward. Specifically, the committee was asked to consider approval of exempting the project from CEQA (because it aligns with Eureka’s General Plan), consider conditional approval of design review (which is a discretionary permit for the project) and consider conditional approval of density bonus for the project (which means it may exceed standard housing density regulations because it is low-income housing).

At the meeting, HACE Executive Director Cheryl Churchill said that residents living near the site “overwhelmingly” cited a need for senior housing during a HACE outreach effort. 

“I think that we’ve really worked to fit in what we heard the community ask for, which is accessible units, units for seniors, and a design that has a sense of community,” Churchill said.

A few community members appeared for the public hearing. Though some offered words of support for the project, every speaker worried that a boost in housing units will impact a neighborhood that’s “already pretty stressed on parking,” as one commenter put it. 

Parking is already tight, they said, because many of the homes – including Victorian buildings and multi-family units – have limited or no onsite parking spaces. And, they asked, what about the caretakers some of these seniors might employ, who will also need to park near the new building? 

“There’s 44 some-odd units and only 11 parking spaces. If that makes sense to you guys, then we’ve got a problem. Where are these people going to park?” said a Clark Street resident named William. “I foresee walking blocks to my home […] and if you haven’t considered that, I think you should.” 

Committee Vice Chair Gailey Browning asked if it would be possible to include an underground parking garage in the design.

“This is affordable housing, and with that, obviously, comes certain limitations around funding. And that is one of the biggest limitations, obviously, to bringing more housing,” Churchill said. “So while I think that’s a lovely idea, it’s not something that’s really feasible.”

Michael Den Hartog, the project architect, explained to the committee that there is parking beyond the 11 on-site spaces. HACE plans to redevelop the parking lot on a property it owns across the street, which would create another 12 spaces (that property has four units on it). And then there are the two dozen-or-so street parking spaces lining each of the two HACE-owned properties. 

Add all those up and suddenly the parking issue doesn’t seem so dire after all: around 46 spaces for a total of 48 units (that’s the 44 new units and four existing ones on the property across the street). 

“I know that’s not quite the same as 44 spaces on the property, but I think we’ve tried to look at it sort of holistically,” Hartog said. “The amount of units can be served by the parking that’s around the property.”

The project site and intersection at C and Clark Streets. Photo: City of Eureka

Though parking was certainly the main topic, other questions were asked and answered at the meeting. Can the entire property be lowered to street-level to make the new building feel less overbearing? (Too expensive, and also intrusive to neighboring properties, Hartog said; plus the Victorian next door is taller than the new apartment building will be, anyway.) Isn’t increased activity around the Clark and C intersection, which doesn’t line up evenly, a safety concern? (That’s something the Transportation Safety Commission and Public Works Department might address during the permitting phase, if it’s determined an issue, said Eureka Senior Planner Caitlin Castellano.)

Before voting, three of the four committee members present said that they, too, worry about the parking issue. 

“I think we’re at a place where parking regulations have been laxed in order for the downtown area to utilize less parking. And it’s having a detrimental effect on some of the residential neighborhoods unintentionally, I think,” said Committee Member Ryan Cameron. 

“The way to solve it is to do underground parking,” said Browning. “And I think that finding financing for that is very important.”

The motion passed 3-0, with Browning abstaining. Committee Member Chuck Ellsworth was absent.

We are reminded, via press releases from the cities of Eureka and Fortuna, that the local fall election season is almost upon us!

Here on the ground – we’re not talking way high up in the stratospheres of state or federal office – the fall election is about cities. County government usually gets its business done in the spring, but the cities wait until the general election to elect their representatives.

So if you live in one of the Seven Cities of Humboldt – Eureka, Arcata, Fortuna, Rio Dell, Ferndale, Blue Lake, Trinidad – and you think you have something to offer your town’s government, this is your moment!

Starting Monday, July 15, you can take out papers to run for City Council on the Nov. 5 ballot. That paperwork must be completed and filled out and returned by Friday, August 9 – unless an incumbent councilmember decides not to run for reelection, in which case the deadline for that seat is extended to Wednesday, August 14.

The person you need to see to go about getting this done is your city’s City Clerk. You’ll find ‘em in your City Hall.

If you’ve never done this before, you’ll want to get a jump on it. The paperwork can be arduous, and that’s especially true if you plan to raise or spend money on your campaign. At the very least, you’ll need to gather up signatures from your friends and neighbors and future supporters, who have to be registered voters in the jurisdiction you’re seeking to represent. Those will be required for you to even get on the ballot.

Here’s a reminder that Eureka is a charter city, and so it can do things a bit differently. Eureka elects its councilmembers by neighborhood. This year, the city’s Second Ward (currently represented by Kati Moulton) and Fourth Ward (currently represented by Scott Bauer) are up for election. Here’s a map for reference. If you don’t live in the Second or Fourth Wards, you’re going to have to wait another two years before you get your chance to serve.

Also, this will be the first time Eurekans will elect their councilmember by ranked-choice voting. You don’t have to worry about being a spoiler!

(Fortuna is the county’s only other charter city, by the way, but Fortuna does elections in the regular way – anybody can run in any election, regardless of where in town they live.)

Now get to it, aspiring councilmembers! Good luck and God bless!

The California Energy Commission today unanimously approved a sweeping plan to develop a massive floating offshore wind industry in ocean waters — a first-of-its-kind undertaking that will require billions in public and private investments and could transform parts of the coast.

The new state plan sets the path for harnessing wind power from hundreds of giant turbines, each as tall as a 70-story building, floating in the ocean about 20 miles off Humboldt Bay and Morro Bay. The untapped energy is expected to become a major power source as California electrifies vehicles and switches to clean energy.

California’s wind farms represent a giant experiment: No other place in the world has floating wind operations in such deep waters — more than a half-mile deep — so far from shore.

The commission’s vote today came after representatives of various industries, environmentalists, community leaders and others expressed mostly support, along with some concerns.

State and federal officials use the word “urgency” to describe the frenetic pace needed to lay the groundwork for development of five areas that the federal government has leased to offshore wind companies.

“I feel the urgency to move forward swiftly,’ said energy commissioner Patty Monahan. “The climate crisis is upon us. Offshore wind is a real opportunity for us to move forward with clean energy.”

She added, though, that the plan “is a starting point…There are a lot of uncertainties about environmental impacts. We need to be clear-eyed and engage the right scientific interests and move carefully.”

The five energy companies are now assessing sites within the 583 square miles, which is expected to take five years. That will be followed by about two years of design, construction and environmental and technical reviews.

Energy Commission Chairman David Hochschild recently called it “one of the single most complex processes I’ve been involved with.”

That complexity was reflected in the heft of the strategic plan, which includes three volumes and 500 pages of public comment. The breadth of the document — which involved coordination among nine state agencies — reflects the sheer size and scope of what’s being envisioned. State officials said offshore wind requires an unprecedented level of planning and policy development in California.

The offshore wind industry must be created almost from scratch: a new manufacturing base for the still-evolving technology; a robust and reliable supply chain; transportation networks on land and sea; specially configured ports to make, assemble and maintain the gargantuan seagoing platforms; finding and training a highly specialized workforce; building a large transmission network where none exists and beefing up those that operate now.

The Energy Commission’s plan estimates that just the work to upgrade California’s ports will cost $11-$12 billion, much of it publicly funded. The plan identifies the large ports of Humboldt, Long Beach and Los Angeles as viable for storing, staging and assembling parts needed for offshore wind operations.

By 2045, 16 large and 10 small ports will be needed along California’s coast for various aspects of development and support, according to the plan. “Funding and permitting for these projects are a critical challenge to address,” the plan says. An estimated $475 million would be set aside for port infrastructure in a climate bond measure that will be on the November ballot.

Another pressing challenge is transmission — the complex job of getting the power onshore and distributing it to users. The Humboldt area presents the biggest challenge, the report says, given the rural region’s already sparse transmission network.

Capturing wind energy from giant floating ocean platforms is considered essential to achieving California’s ambitious goal of electrifying its grid with 100% zero-carbon energy. The state’s blueprint envisions offshore wind farms producing 25 gigawatts by 2045, powering 25 million homes and providing about 13% of California’s electricity.

Powering an expansive economy free of fossil fuels by 2045 means the state must triple its power generation capacity and deploy new solar and wind energy at almost five times the pace of the past decade.

The endeavor will require coordination with multiple state and federal agencies, as well as local and tribal governments, with overlapping jurisdictions and sometimes conflicting priorities.

That heavy lift, said Adam Stern, executive director of Offshore Wind California, an industry group, made it all the more remarkable that the strategic plan was finalized.

“This is tangible progress. It’s a remarkable record of intent and determination,” he said. “None of these things was happening a year ago. The plan mobilized the ecosystem of state agencies, industry, organized labor, environmental groups and tribes. There are lots of challenges ahead, but this is a great start.”

The plan “is tangible progress. It’s a remarkable record of intent and determination. None of these things was happening a year ago.”
— Adam Stern, Offshore Wind California

The Energy Commission missed its March deadline included in state law to approve the plan. Then the agency postponed a scheduled vote two weeks ago to give interested parties enough time to digest the dense package of documents.

The shipping industry is concerned that the plan doesn’t “address and ensure navigational safety and efficiency” for the commercial ships that serve California’s seaports. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the nation’s busiest.

“The plan lacks any effective identification and analysis of potential impacts to the commercial shipping industry,” the Pacific Marine Shipping Association wrote in a letter to the Energy Commission. “It is frankly confounding that there is resistance to include the maritime industry in this vital Plan; to be clear, the industry is not opposed to offshore wind development in practice.”

Environmental groups scoured the documents for answers to what have been unanswerable questions about offshore wind’s potential effects on marine life, migrating whales and birds, and the onshore environment.

Even state scientists have publicly noted a “data gap” when it came to understanding the impact of platforms in the sea, electrified underwater cables, huge spinning blades and increased boat traffic.

To answer those questions, the commission’s plan calls for a broad-based science consortium and a bird and bat conservation strategy, among other topics. Recreational and commercial fishing will be affected, the report says, and that will require continued research, officials say.

Some environmental groups have come to terms with the uneasy tradeoff between the need to address climate change with cleaner energy and the potential harmful impacts that come with any energy development.

Understanding that climate change is contributing to the rapid decline of bird populations means accepting some development, said Mike Lynes, director of public policy for Audubon California. “We want these projects to be successful. But we want to avoid impacts first and mitigate where we can.”

Dan Jacobson, senior adviser to the advocacy group Environment California, said he is becoming comfortable with the unknowns. “But we can’t slow down on the science and information that we need. We have to do things quickly, inexpensively and very smartly. You usually get two out of three of those things. How do we do this so that we cause the least harm and get the most good out of it?”

Assemblymember Dawn Addis, whose district includes 200 miles of the Central Coast, said it is clear to her that her constituents don’t have enough information to understand the implications of the new industry. Her 2023 bill to fund offshore wind scientific research was folded into the budget, with $3.6 million going to the state Ocean Protection Council to organize the research effort.

“Everyone’s hungry to understand the science,” said Addis, a Democrat from San Luis Obispo. “There’s still work to do to get that science into the world. This is a tremendous opportunity to study the deep ocean.”

Addis, who chairs the Legislature’s select committee on offshore wind energy, said lawmakers will analyze the strategic plan and “uncover needs that we just don’t know about yet. Getting this right is not just a slogan for me.”

Generally, the plan acknowledges environmental impacts but says that so-called “adaptive management” — flexibility to change an approach if it proves unexpectedly damaging — can address most concerns.

The projects will industrialize sections of the California coast with an indelible footprint, and could usher employment and revitalized economies to neglected regions. Nearly a fifth of Humboldt County households live in poverty.

Community groups and tribes along the North Coast, in particular, have been participating in formulating the state’s strategic plan to make sure that wind development doesn’t follow the boom-and-bust cycle of so many extractive industries, such as mining and timber. that have come and gone from the Humboldt region.

“We need to be part of the decision-making structure, to make sure that this industry delivers local community protection and investment, through legally binding and enforceable mechanism,” said Katerina Oskarsson, the executive-in-residence at CORE Hub and the Humboldt Area Foundation, part of a coalition of community groups and tribes.

“If this industry moves forward, host communities need to benefit.This is not just about jobs and economic benefit. It’s about justice beyond jobs. This needs to be transformational in a meaningful way,” she said.

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

In the nearly two weeks since President Joe Biden’s catastrophic performance in a televised debate, the Democratic freakout over whether he can continue as their presumptive presidential nominee has not abated.

Even as Biden insists that he is committed to finishing out the race, speculation continues among the party faithful and political observers over who might be best positioned to defeat Republican former President Donald Trump instead. Among those frequently cited is California’s own Gov. Gavin Newsom, a dedicated Biden surrogate who recently completed a tour on the president’s behalf through Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.

While Newsom says he’s standing firmly behind Biden’s re-election and has long publicly denied any presidential ambitions, this chaotic political moment is elevating the national profile that Newsom has spent years cultivating — including through a Fox News debate last fall against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and a heretofore unsuccessful bid for a constitutional amendment on gun control.

CalMatters spoke with political consultants and experts — veterans of California elections, swing state organizing and national campaigns — about Newsom’s prospects as a presidential contender. They largely agreed that he was extremely unlikely to become the Democratic nominee this year even if Biden ultimately withdraws, with Vice President Kamala Harris waiting in the wings, but that Newsom could be a strong candidate in the 2028 primary because of his progressive bona fides and extensive political network.

The biggest question mark: Can a California Democrat, the liberal caricature that has been a political punching bag for decades, win a presidential election? If the last eight years have taught us anything, it’s that the conventional wisdom may no longer apply.

💪 NEWSOM ASSETS

1. He’s a dynamic campaigner

Newsom’s classic good looks and charisma have always bolstered his political star power. (Never forget the infamous “New Kennedys” profile in Harper’s Bazaar in 2004, shortly after he became mayor of San Francisco.) But several observers said they were particularly impressed by how he has navigated a tough situation as a Biden surrogate over the past two weeks, defending the president on television immediately after the debate and then rallying Democratic crowds on the campaign trail.

“I don’t want to hurt him by saying this, but he’s a natural politician,” said Bob Shrum, director of the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future and an adviser on numerous presidential campaigns, including Democratic nominees Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004.

Newsom’s defense of the Democratic position — even in direct confrontation with conservative opponents and sometimes out ahead of his own party — gives him the image of a fighter, which could appeal to liberal voters looking for a new leader.

“The reason Gavin gets talked about is how dynamic he is, how polished he is in terms of talking about politics and policy,” said Roger Salazar, a Democratic communications consultant who served as a spokesperson on Gore’s 2000 campaign and is a Newsom appointee to a California commission for off-road vehicle recreation. “He’s very strong on the stump and he doesn’t back down.”

It also carries potential benefits behind the scenes, ingratiating Newsom to the Democratic establishment that could clear a path for his future plans.

“Being the loyal lieutenant and not appearing too ambitious will serve him to maybe buy some goodwill and become a legitimate heir apparent,” said Jason Cabel Roe, a longtime GOP strategist in Michigan and former deputy campaign manager for Mitt Romney’s presidential bid in 2007.

2. He has a growing national fundraising base

Newsom is a prolific fundraiser with experience building a war chest to boost himself and other Democrats nationally. It is one of his greatest strengths, rivaling any senator or governor who may be considering their own campaign for president, said Rose Kapolczynski, a longtime Democratic strategist working with Close the Gap California to elect more women legislators.

“He’s raised tens of millions of dollars for his own campaigns and ballot measures. He’s been an effective fundraising surrogate for Biden and others. And that’s given him the opportunity to build a national fundraising network,” Kapolczynski said. “He has a strong small donor network and he’s certainly well-known to major donors across the country.”

Newsom’s three federal committees, branded as the Campaign for Democracy, have raised $24 million for direct contributions to candidates, ad spending and more since launching in March last year, according to data from the Federal Elections Committee. Slightly more than half of that was transferred from his 2022 gubernatorial campaign.

“The more that Republicans say California is a liberal hellhole, that helps him. He wants that.”
— Mike Madrid, Republican political consultant

Most of the cash comes from donors in California, the wealthiest state in the nation and the beating heart of its lucrative tech and entertainment industries, a CalMatters analysis found. But Newsom — who regularly travels the country to elevate Democrats in red states — has also expanded his reach from coast to coast.

For example, the Campaign for Democracy PAC, Newsom’s political action committee contributing to Democratic parties and candidates, raised more than $10 million by March, about $6 million of which came from his gubernatorial account. An analysis of itemized contributions from donors who gave $200 or more suggests that more than 40% of the remaining funds came from outside California, across 46 other states.

Establishing the network now also shrewdly lays the groundwork for a potential future presidential campaign, giving Newsom a financial reserve to run ads and curry favor with other Democrats, said Bud Jackson, a longtime Democratic strategist in Washington, D.C., who spearheaded TV advertising efforts to recruit Wesley Clark and Barack Obama for president.

“It sounds like they’ve got their shit together,” Jackson said.

3. He’s appealing to Democratic base voters

If Biden sticks around, the next Democratic presidential nominee will be chosen through the 2028 primaries. Those are decided by a more liberal subset of the electorate that may be drawn to a candidate like Newsom with a history of bold progressive governance — from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as mayor of San Francisco in 2004 to declaring a moratorium on executions in California not long after he entered the governor’s office in 2019.

Rather than the pocketbook appeal to the working class that propelled Bill Clinton, Democratic voters in the Trump era are searching for a leader with the proper worldview, said Mike Madrid, a Republican political consultant who worked on the anti-Trump Lincoln Project during the 2020 presidential campaign. Madrid believes Newsom is the frontrunner for the 2028 nomination because he has shown Democrats how to win with the cultural issues, such as abortion rights, that are most important to the party’s core supporters.

“He understands the Democratic base better than almost any Democrat of his generation, and that they are driven almost exclusively by cultural issues,” said Madrid, who worked on the campaign for one of Newsom’s gubernatorial rivals in 2018. “I think he’s a generational talent.”

And while candidates generally try to broaden their message during the general election, Madrid said the calculus for how to win has changed. In an increasingly divided electorate, where miniscule margins will decide the presidential race, energizing the base is just as important as winning over the ever-narrower slice of swing voters.

The constant attacks against Newsom and his “California values” by Trump, DeSantis and other Republicans actually benefit Newsom with the people who hate what those conservative politicians stand for, Madrid said.

“The average Democratic voter across the country is not that different from the average California Democratic voter,” he said. “The more that Republicans say California is a liberal hellhole, that helps him. He wants that.”

😬 NEWSOM LIABILITIES

1. He’s not particularly popular

The challenge for Newsom is to reach beyond that Democratic base. While only a snapshot in time, recent trends in California are not encouraging.

After surging during the pandemic and then holding a steady majority, Newsom’s approval rating among California voters has cratered over the past year. The Public Policy Institute of California found in a June survey that just 47% of likely voters in the state approved of the job the governor is doing, down from 59% a year prior.

Pollsters did not track why Newsom is underwater. He’s spent most of the year dealing with a historic budget deficit and the threat of massive cuts to important public programs.

But survey director Mark Baldassare noted that the governor’s approval has shrunk notably with independents, less a third of whom approve of him. Among independent likely voters, his approval is down to 35% from 50% a year ago. During that time, Newsom has leaned into his role as a prominent national surrogate for Democrats and come under increasing criticism from Republicans.

In a breakout of survey respondents from the most competitive California congressional districts, only 42% of likely voters approved of the job Newsom is doing. That’s lower than California voters overall — a potentially bad sign for his appeal in swing states.

“Gavin Newsom has become a more politically polarized candidate in a more politically polarized time,” Baldassare said. “That’s one thing that a governor experiences when they put themselves in the national spotlight.”

2. He’s got a tough record to defend

Nearly all the experts CalMatters spoke to agreed that California’s rising crime rates, homelessness crisis and massive budget shortfall provide potent ammunition for conservatives — and even fellow Democrats — to target Newsom during a presidential campaign.

“There’s just so many things that are going wrong in the state, and he owns all of them. He is identified with all of them,” said Roe, the GOP strategist from Michigan.

Voters in California are increasingly frustrated with the state’s rising violent and property crime rates in recent years, although they remain lower than in the 1980s and 1990s, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

The sentiment fueled support for a ballot measure this November to partially undo Proposition 47 — a decade-old state law approved by voters — by toughening penalties for retail thefts and drug offenses. Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders balked at the measure but eventually backed down amid broken negotiations and failed attempts to put a rival proposal on the ballot.

Similarly, Newsom would have to reckon with overseeing a whiplash-inducing decline from record budget surplus to multibillion dollar deficit, and with the state’s homelessness crisis, which has in many ways defined his governorship. The number of homeless Californians has been on the rise in recent years, accounting for almost half of the nation’s unhoused population.

“His entire career, he just kind of walks into each office. So he’s got a glass jaw.”
— Jason Cabel Roe, deputy campaign manager for Mitt Romney’s 2007 presidential bid

To change the narrative, Jackson said Newsom must “sidestep” these weaknesses while pointing to other accomplishments.

“He can say, ‘The economy has been in a rough spot, inflation is very high, these are things that I can’t completely control,’” Jackson said.

Iin part to dampen public concerns about homelessness, Newsom championed Proposition 1 — a mental health bond measure he said would help tackle homelessness — which passed by razor-thin margins in the March primary. And in a friend-of-the-court brief, he also asked the Supreme Court to grant cities more authority to clear encampments. The court’s conservative majority last month obliged, to the outrage of the court’s liberal justices.

When it comes to crime and homelessness, Salazar said, Newsom could point to “major cities in red states” with “the exact same issues.”

3. His appeal to swing state voters is unknown

California Democrats brag about being on the political cutting edge, but their proudly progressive values also make them an object of ridicule. When Rep. Nancy Pelosi was Speaker of the House, Republicans used her San Francisco hometown as a cudgel in ads against members of her caucus. Former Gov. Jerry Brown earned the nickname “Governor Moonbeam” on the way to one of three unsuccessful presidential bids.

California’s luster appears to be dimming even further as Newsom’s star rises. A Los Angeles Times poll in February found that half of American adults believe California is in decline, and nearly half of Republicans said California was not American.

“For better or worse, that’s not something that’s going to play all too well in other parts of the country,” said Dan Schnur, who served as the national communications director for John McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign and now teaches politics courses at UC Berkeley, Pepperdine University and the University of Southern California.

“If he were the smart, personable, aggressive and mediagenic governor of Wisconsin, he’d be unstoppable.”

Jonathan Kinloch, a Michigan Democratic Party official in Detroit and a Biden delegate, saidmany voters outside of California perceive the state as the “socialist center” of America and Newsom would have to answer their concerns about its tax and environmental policies.

“When you talk about left, California is far left and…is willing to tax itself out of existence,” Kinloch said.

Newsom would also need to figure out a stronger message with nonwhite working-class voters who could carry him over the top in swing states, said Madrid, the GOP consultant. These voters care more about economic issues and have consequently been drifting away from the Democratic Party in recent elections.

“The pathway to the middle class in California is among the least attainable,” Madrid argued. “The record in California is not great. Is it fixable? It is. But he’s going to need time to get there.”

Schnur said running in a presidential primary — when Newsom can lean on liberal issues that play to his strengths, such as abortion rights and climate change — would give voters more time to get to know him and become comfortable with him.

“In a general election, the landscape is going to be much less hospitable,” Schnur said. “But in a primary, it’s easier for him to change the subject.”

But being from a blue state, Newsom lacks experience in competitive races. That could put him at a disadvantage compared to other politicians — such as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear — who have also been floated as future presidential contenders.

“His entire career, he just kind of walks into each office,” Roe, the Michigan Republican consultant, said. “So he’s got a glass jaw.”

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

California — a state whose officials love to tout it as the world’s fifth largest economy — is a year late in producing a report on its own financial health for the sixth year in a row.

The most recently available such report, from 2022, blamed the chronic lateness of the reports on, among other things, a state software changeover that started in 2005, the year the first YouTube video was uploaded.

The state’s annual comprehensive financial report, which aims to provide insight into California’s financial health, is significant because it helps maintain the state’s credit rating, which is important in situations where the state might need to borrow money.

While there isn’t a specific deadline for the reports under state law, bond certificates and federal funding require reporting by April 1 and March 31, respectively. State Controller Malia Cohen’s office said it typically tries to meet the March 31 deadline.

This is the sixth consecutive year that the report missed those deadlines. The last available report is for the fiscal year that ended in 2022, published this past March.

Cohen’s office attributed the delay of the 2021-2022 report to the “unanticipated” extension of personal and corporate income taxes by both the federal government and California in 2023, as well as to ongoing challenges with agencies’ transition to FI$Cal, the state’s replacement budgeting and finance platform.California launched the FI$Cal overhaul in 2005 to bring all of its budgeting and finance systems under one umbrella. If FI$Cal were a person, it would now be old enough to vote. The Legislature passed a bill to deem the project complete as of July 2022, but the state auditor noted that state agencies struggle to use the system.In the 2022 report, the state auditor raised concerns that continued delays could affect California’s ability to maintain a high credit rating and borrow money at low interest.

But the controller’s office told CalMatters via email that the reporting delays haven’t harmed California’s bond ratings yet due to the “availability of data from a number of other sources describing California’s financial position and ability to meet its bond obligations.”

Cohen, who took the helm as controller last year, pledged in the 2022 report published in March of this year to get the reports on track by March 2026.

The statement from her office said she “has taken substantial measures to mitigate the root causes” of delays, including streamlining processes and optimizing technology.

The state also allocated more resources to the controller’s office in the 2023-24 budget to address workload and provide state departments with technical assistance.

“These efforts are part of a comprehensive plan to return the State to timely reporting over the next several reporting cycles,” the email from the controller’s office said.

In April, a report from the Illinois-based government transparency group Truth in Accounting ranked California 48th in financial transparency, based on a mix of factors including the state auditor’s opinion and the timeliness of reports.

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.