A flurry of news stories in recent days exposed the questionable appointment of California Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Alameda) as chair of a budget subcommittee that will recommend funding for the state Department of Justice, which is run by her spouse, Attorney General Rob Bonta. The right response would have been an immediate mea culpa from those involved in the selection and a promise to remedy the apparent conflict of interest before the subcommittee’s first meeting in March.
After all, the public’s faith in government has been waning for years and there’s no point in exacerbating the mistrust, even if the appointment is perfectly legal. There are 79 other Assembly members, none of whom are married to the state’s attorney general, who could reasonably serve as a replacement.
But instead of contrition, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) chose to gaslight those who raised concerns, including Bob Stern, one of the state’s foremost political ethics experts: “The Legislature has a robust and transparent budget process, designed with checks and balances to ensure the best possible budget is passed. Our final Assembly budget proposal must be identical to the Senate, and will be approved or vetoed by the Governor,” Rendon said in a statement. In other words, “blah, blah, blah. Whatever. I don’t care.”
