Rob Bonta

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Page 8

EDITORIAL

California Attorney General

OB BONTA is the appointed attorney general of California. His primary duties are defined by Art. V, §13 of the California Constitution, which provides:

“Subject to the powers and duties of the Governor, the Attorney General shall be the chief law officer of the State. It shall be the duty of the Attorney General to see that the laws of the State are uniformly and adequately enforced….Whenever in the opinion of the Attorney General any law of the State is not being adequately enforced in any county, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to prosecute any violations of law of which the superior court shall have jurisdiction, and in such cases the Attorney General shall have all the powers of a district attorney.”

Emphasis is added.

Statutes impose further duties.

But nowhere in the Constitution, the statutes, or any rules or regulations is there thrust upon the attorney general any functions or concerns that transcend the boundaries of the state. Bonta, does not seem to grasp that—nor did his predecessor, Xavier Becerra.

Bonta’s evident self-assigned mission is to garner publicity, all that he can, and to meddle in extraterritorial matters when it’s apt to generate attention.

We fail to see why California’s resources should be devoted to such activities as drafting an amicus brief for filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in support of the Mexican government’s lawsuit against seven U.S. manufacturers. Such a brief was filed on Jan. 31. Bonta is charged with serving the interests of Californians, not those of a foreign government.

California’s joining in a Dec. 27 brief filed in the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals attacking a decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona upholding an Arizona statute relating to abortions has no discernible relevance to a California attorney general’s defined responsibilities.

The validity of a new Florida statute placing limits on voting by mail should not have evoked a brief filed by California in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida on Dec. 3.

We see no need for Bonta to give advice to federal Environmental Protection Agency on setting mercury standards, as he did on April 12, or to urge the U.S. Department of Energy to adopt stricter standards for light bulbs, as he did on Jan. 27, or to advise the U.S. Department of Agriculture on livestock, meat, and poultry standards as he did on Dec. 21. As Yul Brynner proclaimed, in portraying the king of Siam, “et cetera, et cetera.”

The nation’s banks don’t need guidance from Bonta any more than federal agencies do. On April 6, he urged four financial institutions to eliminate overdraft charges, declaring: “It’s long past time for banks to end this predatory practice.”

Employing tortured logic, a Department of Justice press release issued that day says:

“No one should ever be charged a $35 fee for a $2 dollar carton of eggs. But under many banks’ current policies, that’s exactly what might happen if a consumer overdraws on their bank account.”

(Under that scenario, no one is charging $35 for a carton of eggs. The eggs cost $2. Wrongfully writing a check that bounces accounts for the $35 charge.)

Here are the headlines and first sentences of some Bonta press releases issued over the past 30 days reflecting nose-poking into matters foreign to what he should be addressing:

•Attorney General Bonta Leads Coalition in Urging EPA to Strengthen Regulation of Heavy-Duty Trucks

OAKLAND—California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, leading a coalition of 19 attorneys general, urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to impose stronger regulations to address nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and other harmful pollutants from heavy-duty trucks.

May 16

•Attorney General Bonta Joins Multistate Coalition in Defense of School Policy to Reduce Barriers to Education for Underrepresented Student Groups

OAKLAND—California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced joining a coalition of 16 attorneys general in an amicus brief in support of a Virginia School Board’s race-neutral admissions policy aimed at reducing barriers to a quality education for underrepresented student groups.

May 16

•Attorney General Bonta Urges FTC to Examine Deceptive Claims by For-Profit Colleges Relating to Student Earning Potential

OAKLAND—California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined 24 attorneys general in supporting the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) efforts to address misleading claims made by certain industries, including for-profit schools about earning potential.

May 10

•Attorney General Bonta Files Briefs in Support of Wage Protections for Federal Contractors

OAKLAND—California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a multistate coalition of attorneys general in filing three amicus briefs in support of minimum wage protections for federal contractors. The cases center around challenges to $15 minimum wage protections for federal contractors. In the friend-of-the-court briefs, the coalition highlights the importance of strong wage protections and urges the courts to uphold the current minimum wage protections for federal contractors.

May 5

•Attorney General Bonta Files Lawsuit Against Postal Service for Faulty Environmental Review Used to Justify Purchase of New Gas-Powered Vehicle Fleet

OAKLAND—California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, co-leading a multistate coalition, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service challenging its flawed environmental analysis for its Next Generation Delivery Vehicle Acquisition program.

April 27

•Attorney General Bonta Leads Coalition in Support of Current Federal Effort to Revise “Public Charge” Regulations

OAKLAND—California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced leading a coalition of 21 attorneys general in a comment letter applauding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) current efforts to revise “public charge” regulations.

April 26

•Attorney General Bonta Applauds Department of Education Actions to Fix Federal Student Loan Programs

OAKLAND—California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued a statement on the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) announcement that it will take action to address longstanding failures in its administration of federal student loan programs.

April 20


EARLY	HOCHMAN	SCHUBERT

Matters such as what federal contractors are paid and school policies in Virginia plainly are not within the ambit of a California attorney general’s legitimate concerns. The state has enjoyed services of outstanding attorneys general of both major parties including Democrats Thomas Lynch and John Van de Kamp and Republicans George Deukmejian and Evelle Younger. They did not divert their attention from issues that were relevant to the office they held; Bonta does so incessantly.

Bonta, like Becerra, constantly wanders into gardens that are for others to tend, diverting resources of a California office to non-California affairs.

It is clear that Bonta is not content to confine his activities to carrying out the prescribed duties of the attorney general. The electorate would be wise, in our view, to turn the office over to one of Bonta’s three sound opponents: former Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Hochman of the Central District of California, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, and civil practitioner Eric Early who heads a 25-member Los Angeles law firm. Each of them appears willing to perform the actual roles of California’s A.G.

(There is another contender, Los Angeles practitioner Daniel Kapelovitz, who, to his credit, battles for animal rights, but lacks both credentials and financing.)

Of the three serious challengers, Hochman is arguably the fittest in light of his extensive and impressive background in the criminal justice system. Schubert might well be the most electable in light of her gender, unblemished record in office, and having the largest campaign war chest ($1.2 million as of the last reporting period, ending April 23). The Office of Attorney General also has a civil component, and a solid background in law and leadership capacity, which Early possesses, counts.

Our view is that Bonta—a politician whose appointment as attorney general was the product of a spoils system and whose performance in that office has been aberrant—is unworthy of the post he holds. Hochman, Schubert, and Early, by contrast, is each fully fit to serve as California’s attorney general, and we hope to see one of them elected.