California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that he will nominate Assembly Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) for Attorney General to replace Xavier Becerra, who was recently confirmed as U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services.
- Bonta is one of the most radical members of an already-radical legislature. His past highlights include the following:
- Proposing a law in 2013 to provide condoms to prisoners, even though it was a felony to have sex in jail;
- proposing a bill in 2017 to repeal the state’s ban on communists working in government (he later apologized to the South Vietnamese community);
- proposing a law in 2018 to allow California residents to bar themselves from owning firearms if they were suicidal;
- proposing a law in 2019 banning private prisons and immigration detention centers; and
- proposing a law in 2020 making it a hate crime to place a false call to 911 based on racist motivations (anti-“Karen” law).
Bonta also vocally opposed a 2014 bill that would have banned the use of abortion to discriminate based on a baby’s sex.
One of the factors in Bonta’s favor was his Filipino descent. Asian American and Pacific Islander representatives had pressed Newsom to choose someone from their community.
In a statement, Newsom drew attention to Bonta’s ancestry, noting that he was the state’s first elected Filipino legislator, adding:
“Rob represents what makes California great – our desire to take on righteous fights and reverse systematic injustices,” said Governor Newsom. “Growing up with parents steeped in social justice movements, Rob has become a national leader in the fight to repair our justice system and defend the rights of every Californian. And most importantly, at this moment when so many communities are under attack for who they are and who they love, Rob has fought to strengthen hate crime laws and protect our communities from the forces of hate. He will be a phenomenal Attorney General, and I can’t wait to see him get to work.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was reported to be campaigning for the post, but was not chosen.
Bonta’s confirmation by the state legislature, in which Democrats hold a supermajority in both houses, is reasonably certain.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new novel, Joubert Park, tells the story of a Jewish family in South Africa at the dawn of the apartheid era. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, recounts the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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