Most Californians in all probability see the Capitol as a spot the place governors, legislators and different state officers collect to do the general public’s enterprise. That’s true, no less than superficially.
Elected officeholders come and go, however the Capitol has a everlasting substructure of women and men who do the true, if typically hidden, enterprise of retail politics. These within the “community,” as some dub it, continually flow into amongst its three pillars — workers on the general public payroll, lobbyists for curiosity teams, and managers of political campaigns.
It’s not unusual for somebody to have portfolios in all three. And because the revolving door opens and closes, it’s tough to discern when and the place one position ends and one other begins, and even whether or not there may be, in truth, a distinction.
Dana Williamson typifies the species. And her arrest final week on federal felony expenses opens a window into the secretive world of California’s skilled political operatives.
Williamson can also be charged with falsifying paperwork to justify a COVID-era federal enterprise mortgage, mendacity to FBI brokers and falsely claiming revenue tax deductions as enterprise bills — for a lavish trip and purchases of high-priced designer items.
The 2 males who have been charged with Williamson, Sean McCluskie, Becerra’s former chief deputy within the California Division of Justice, and lobbyist Greg Campbell, have pleaded responsible. However Williamson insists that she is harmless.
It’s the juiciest scandal to hit the Capitol for the reason that FBI’s undercover bribery investigation, dubbed “Shrimpgate,” erupted 37 years in the past and despatched some legislators and lobbyists to jail.
Among the many Capitol’s energy gamers, Williamson has stood close to the highest, working for 3 governors, lobbying for numerous curiosity teams and working poll measure campaigns. She is understood for a profanity-laced, take-no-prisoners model.
Becerra is a sufferer however might face questions on his judgment, since he was apparently being fleeced by these he employed.
In 2022 Janette Wipper, chief counsel of the Division of Honest Employment and Housing, which introduced the case in opposition to Activision, was fired. Her assistant, Melanie Proctor, resigned in protest, citing stress from the governor’s workplace to settle the case.
Proctor wrote in a public memo that the governor’s workplace “repeatedly demanded advance notice of litigation strategy and next steps in the litigation” within the case, and the interference “mimicked the interests of Activision’s counsel.”
The Williamson scandal may very well be a one-and-done incident if her lawyer negotiates a plea settlement. Or it might drag out if she insists on a trial and the soiled linen is displayed for all to see, maybe revealing much more politically embarrassing episodes of backroom maneuvers.
Dan Walters is a CalMatters columnist.
