Senate Democrat Josh Newman has been a major cheerleader for Sempra’s SoCalGas natural gas subsidiary.

Slapfisted Democrats

State Senate Democrat Josh Newman, recalled from office in June 2018 thanks to big money raised by San Diego Republican politico and radio star Carl DeMaio, has picked up a free meal worth $92 at Brea’s Slapfish restaurant, courtesy of Sempra Energy, another well-heeled San Diego political player. The giant utility’s most recent quarterly California lobbying disclosure report, filed April 28, showed that Newman was joined at the January 3 repast by his political fundraiser Michele Newman, whose LinkedIn page identifies her as working exclusively for Newman’s campaign.

Carl DeMaio, a politico with solid recall.

Newman has been a major cheerleader for Sempra’s SoCalGas natural gas subsidiary. “As we work toward achieving California’s ambitious clean energy goals, SoCalGas’ forward-thinking solutions, at scale and in collaboration with state and federal partners, offer real promise on paving the way for the essential role clean energy sources like hydrogen will play in meeting future energy demand,” he’s quoted as saying in a SoCalGas May 23 news release.

Sempra is controversial in some circles, having been accused of quietly backing a lawsuit that overturned the city of Berkeley’s ban on new natural gas hookups. “While the California Restaurant Association, or CRA, has served as the face of this suit, it turns out that the gas industry played a key role,” writes Matt Vespa, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, in a May 2 opinion piece run by CalMatters.com. “Public filings showed that when CRA filed its lawsuit, SoCalGas, the nation’s largest gas utility, began to pay millions in legal fees to Reichman Jorgensen, the same firm representing CRA. While SoCalGas had previously denied the work was related, last week SoCalGas was forced by the California Public Utilities Commission to admit that it funneled more than $1 million of customer money to pay for legal services by Reichman Jorgensen that included work on federal preemption of local laws to limit gas, the very issue at the heart of the CRA litigation. This was at the same time SoCalGas ramped up its donations to the CRA’s philanthropic arm, the California Restaurant Foundation, from $24,000 in 2019 to more than half a million in 2021.”

Newman’s 2018 recall resulted from political combat over another kind of gas. “Of the more than $44,000 in contributions reported by the Reform California committee since early April, at least $29,000 has come from donors in San Diego County, where recall leader Carl DeMaio, a former city councilman and congressional candidate, hosts a radio show,” the Sacramento Bee reported June 18, 2017, about DeMaio’s efforts to oust Newman. “Reform California and the California Republican Party have reported almost $408,000 in outside spending to gather the nearly 63,600 valid voter signatures to qualify a recall election and other costs. The state GOP has raised tens of thousands of dollars since early April, according to state filings.” Notes the website Ballotpedia, the recall was launched “following the passage of SB 1, a bill that increased motor fuel taxes to pay for transportation projects. Newman supported SB 1.” At the time of his early January meeting with Sempra officials, Newman was expected to need extra big money to handle a bitter intra-party primary battle.

After reclaiming his senate seat in 2020, Newman — squeezed into the 37th district by redistricting — was set to face off in 2024 against fellow California senate Democrat Dave Min, according to an Orange County Register account of last December 13. Then this January 23, Min jumped to a House race to replace fellow Democrat Katie Porter, who had declared her candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Dianne Feinstein. Last month, Min was busted for drunk driving, per a May 3 LA Times report. “CHP officers reported seeing a silver Toyota Camry late Tuesday night traveling south without its headlights on not far from the Capitol in Sacramento,” according to an arrest report that CHP provided to the Times. The officers followed the car to 9th Street and Broadway, where they saw the driver “stop at a red light momentarily but then proceed into the intersection while the light remained red. Officers then pulled Min over.”

Borderline silence

Though it’s been over seven months since award-winning Union-Tribune border writer Wendy Fry announced her departure from that role to sign on with Sacramento-based CalMatters.com, the paper is still advertising for a replacement for the long-vaunted position, for almost three decades held by veteran reporter Sandra Dibble, who retired two years ago. “I cannot imagine my life without Tijuana, where I often cross the U.S.-Mexico border to see friends, sing in a chorus, share a meal, attend concerts and report freelance stories,” Dibble wrote in an April 21, 2022, farewell the paper ran. “Tijuana sometimes breaks my heart. It deserves a better U.S. neighbor — one that does not keep demanding drugs and sending weapons. It desperately needs strong urban planning for a mass transit system, public parks, sewage collection and treatment. More than anything, it needs rule of law — well-trained and funded police and crime investigators, a strong judiciary, and government actions open to public scrutiny and accountability.”

Matt Vespa discovered that the gas company supports the sale of gas.

According to a U-T job notice that’s been running on the paper’s employment webpage: “We are looking for a versatile journalist who can take an enterprise approach to the beat, focusing on deeply reported, high-impact journalism. At the same time, the successful candidate must be able to juggle aggressive beat work and breaking news. This is an incredibly dynamic region to cover, and this reporter must be able to identify stories that resonate with a cross-border/U.S. readership. Coverage topics can include everything from security, human rights and politics to business, tourism, and culture. This reporter should be able to tackle stories that make a difference and hold accountable institutions and people in power, while carefully navigating a complex reporting environment. The pay scale for this position is $65,000 to $75,000. This is the pay scale range the Company reasonably expects to pay for this position at the time of this posting. Compensation will be determined based on skills, qualifications and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position.”

— Matt Potter

(@sdmattpotter)

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