🍊 🇺🇸 OC Conservative Brief - 4.14.23

Good morning, happy Friday (the first Friday of April!), and welcome to your weekly edition of the OC Conservative Brief, your run down of Orange County's local politics from a conservative perspective. If you like what you read, please make sure to subscribe and forward to your friends. 

This week, we have an unexpected campaign announcement that shook up the race for Orange County's toss-up 47th Congressional District and explosive new allegations of abuse by Congresswoman Katie Porter (she did what with a bowl of potatoes?)

But first, we're diving into unwelcome changes that may soon be coming to your electrical bill thanks to Sacramento...

A SHOCKING ELECTRICAL CHARGE... Last summer, Democrats quietly and with little media coverage snuck a provision into a sprawling bill mandating a big change to the way California's three major electrical utilities (Edison, PG&E, and SDG&E) calculate ratepayers' monthly bills. 

Starting in 2025, to offset a roughly 33% reduction in electricity rates across the board, California will add a fixed monthly charge to residential ratepayers' bills based on annual income. That means, while some lower-income households could see a reduced monthly bill, higher-income ratepayers will be paying up regardless of their electricity usage.

According to a joint proposal submitted by the three utilities to the state this week, the charges are substantial:

• Edison households earning between $69,000 and $180,000 a year would pay $51 a month, and incomes above $180,000 would pay $85 a month.

• It's not just wealthier customers who have to pay the charges. Edison households earning between $28,000 to $69,000 would pay $20, and those earning less than $28,000 would pay $15.

Given that the median household income in Orange County is about $100,000, the vast majority of OC residents will be paying at least $51 a month, if not more, with no guarantee that the corresponding rate cut will actually net-lower their bill. 

On its face, this new liberal scheme is intended to help lower-income Californians pay their mounting bills, thanks to the state's skyrocketing electricity costs, by taxing wealthier residents and redistributing the costs. But there are problems:

• Surcharges on utility bills are nothing new, but given that the "charge" (isn't it really a tax?) will be assessed based on income, it's almost certainly inviting a lawsuit when these start appearing on customers' bills.

• There are also issues with how to operate such a program, as the utility companies have said they do not and will not collect customers' income data.

This socialization of electricity usage is alarming, but if we look at the broader context, this law has a more manipulative purpose. Its real intent, as even the LA Times noted, is to make "the adoption of all-electric appliances and vehicles more attractive."

There it is! As with seemingly everything in this state, this new scheme was derived from the Left's obsession with climate. Given that California is still decades away from meetings its goals on renewable energy, they have a clear problem: how do they "electrify" everything from our cars to our water heaters to our stoves without investing in more fossil fuels to power the grid or without exposing Californians to politically catastrophically-high electrical bills? 

• As one energy expert from Berkeley put it: “We’re gonna mandate electrification and then there’s just going to be huge political blowback. Mandating electrification when you’re charging people 30 or 40 cents a kilowatt-hour is going to be immensely expensive.”

The answer: insulate middle class voters from the costly consequences of Sacramento's actions by legislating a mirage "rate cut" funded by the wealthier half of the state.

It's almost laughable. While Democrats' ability to ignore reality to meet their climate dreams may be infinite, there is only so much electricity and taxpayer dollars to pay for it all. Eventually, this house of cards they are building to engineer their green dreams will collapse. The electrical grid might literally collapse, as it almost did last summer. They better have a good excuse ready for when millions of Californians, regardless of their income, can't turn on their stove they were forced to install or charge their car they were mandated to buy.

It's sad that it might take a full-scale energy grid meltdown for Sacramento to get knocked back into reality. In the meantime, hopefully someone steps up to legally challenge this machination...or fund an information campaign to ensure voters know who's responsible for that new charge on their bill and why. 

KATIE SAID, HE SAID... OC Congresswoman Katie Porter's rumored abusive tendencies are back in the news this week after the Daily Mail obtained her 2013 divorce records and published new details of accusations made at the time by her former husband Matthew Hoffman...including one involving a bowl of steaming potatoes. 

First, keep in mind that the timing of the divorce records resurfacing is no coincidence: Porter published a new book on Tuesday titled "I Swear: Politics Is Messier Than My Minivan," that dives into her side of her relationship with her former-husband. Porter is also running for Senate, boosting her national profile a boost and the media scrutiny that goes along with.

One of the more colorful allegations brought to light by the Daily Mail: Porter allegedly dumped a bowl of steaming hot boiled potatoes on Hoffman's head after yelling "Can't you read the f***ing instructions!" and burned his scalp. 

• Hoffman also alleged that Porter refused to let him own a cell phone because he was "too f***ing dumb to operate it," and once came home from work "enraged that the house was not clean and slammed a glass coffee pot on the counter, causing glass shards to spray everywhere and cut him."

A Porter spokesperson told Fox News that the allegations were false and cited court documents that showed Hoffman said he later regretted making them. According to Fox News, those documents didn't specify whether he regretted making them because they were untrue or because of some other reason.

• Hoffman was arrested on charges of battery when Porter called the police after a confrontation in April 2013. Porter requested the temporary restraining order the next day, and on the morning of the hearing, Hoffman's lawyer filed a reciprocal request for protection where he made these allegations.

This story is notable because it isn't the first time Porter has been accused of abuse. Last December, former Porter staffer Sasha Georgiades, a veteran, accused Porter of firing her for a violation of her office's COVID protocols. Screenshots of her text conversation with Porter went viral. Georgiades, who was willing to put her name on her allegations, told Fox News:

• "She has made multiple staffers cry and people are generally so anxious to even staff her because if ANYTHING goes wrong she flips out on whatever staffer is present."

Georgiades also said she had heard Porter use racist language around other staff, ridicule people who alleged sexual harassment, and mock "individuals whose parents passed away from COVID."

It doesn't end there. Last fall, Fox News obtained texts sent between Porter and Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan where Porter appeared to berate and threaten Khan after a town hall that turned violent and attacked Irvine police as a "disgrace.

I'd say this would all be disqualifying...but given that Katie Porter is a Democrat, and that this is California, it may catapult her to the front of the pack in the Senate race.

CA-47 RACE SHAKE UP... The race for Orange County's open 47th Congressional District seat took another turn this week as one candidate announced his campaign...and another unexpectedly suspended his. 

Democrat Harley Rouda, who announced a stunning $1.25 million Q1 fundraising haul just last week, revealed on Tuesday that he is ending his campaign for Congress. In a lengthy statement posted on Twitter, Rouda said that he suffered a "traumatic brain injury" last month after a fall that left him with a "concerning diagnosis." 

• "Thankfully, my doctors say that I have started on the path to a full recovery," Rouda said. "But on their advice, I am ending my campaign for California's 47th congressional district today. This is not the outcome I wanted. But my family comes first, and to be there for them, I need to focus fully on my recovery in the months ahead."

Our prayers go out to Rouda and his family and we wish him a full recovery. 

Rouda represented the area for a single term before losing re-election in 2020 to Republican Michelle Steel. His previous history with the district, alongside his impressive $1.25 million fundraising straight out of the gate, would have made him a serious contender in the CA-47 primary. Rouda's withdrawal paves an easier path for lesser-known Democrat state Sen. David Min, who represents the area in Sacramento and is also running for the House seat.

On the Republican side, a second candidate has entered the race alongside Scott Baugh. Max Ukropina, a Newport Beach-based businessman and first-time candidate, announced on Monday that he is running for the 47th District seat.

WAIT, THERE'S MORE...

🇺🇸 The iconic but decaying bicentennial mural on the Prado Dam in Corona alongside the 91 Freeway is being restored and repainted this month after years of fighting over its future.

🤣 The OC Register penned a new editorial this week slamming Gavin Newsom for his political "lecture" of the rest of the country, telling him to "mind his own store."

🇹🇼 OC Republican Rep. Young Kim sat down with Fox News' Trace Gallagher this week to discuss her trip to Taiwan.

🤑 New data released this week found that nine of the top ten wealthiest congressional districts in the country are represented by Democrats, a dramatic swing from just a couple decades ago.

❌ A bill in Sacramento that would require schools to inform parents if their child is identifying as transgender at school was denied a hearing and killed by Democrats.

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Have a tip on a news item in Orange County conservatives should know about? Drop me a line at [email protected]