Garcia was convicted in 2011 for his role in the shooting death of 18-year-old Arturo Bello, who was walking along a rural Orosi road.

Related Story: Three Children Test Positive for Cocaine in Tulare County, Couple Arrested

Prosecutors said Garcia and three fellow gang members were searching for rivals when they spotted Bello wearing a blue shirt — gang-affiliated attire. After stopping their car, a co-defendant exited and opened fire, killing the teen and injuring another.

Garcia admitted he knew his associate was armed and that the group was actively looking for rival gang members, the DA’s office said.

Related Story: Tulare County Man Arrested After Firing at Deputies During Eviction Attempt

A jury found him guilty of second-degree murder, conspiracy, and gang-related firearm enhancements.

He was originally sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. That sentence was later reduced to 40 years to life due to a trial error regarding jury instructions.

Since his conviction, Garcia has unsuccessfully petitioned three times for re-sentencing. Newsom took no action when Garcia filed for clemency in 2023.

Related Story: Tulare County Man Found Guilty in Violent 2020 Sexual Assault

“With the swipe of a pen, the governor voided the decision of the jury and the multiple decisions of Tulare County judges, jurists who presided where the crime took place, heard witness testimony, and understood the impact to the community,” said District Attorney Tim Ward.

“The defendant is only one third of the way into a 40 year-to-life sentence for a cold-blooded violent crime. By his own admission, he and his co-defendants went looking to inflict violence that evening in 2009. They were literally hunting other human beings.”

Garcia is housed at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility in Corcoran. He is now immediately eligible for a parole hearing and potential release.

Anyone wishing to contact the state Board of Parole to address Garcia’s release can do so at this link.

You can view all of the governor’s recent pardon letters at this link.
—

Connect with Anthony W. Haddad on social media. Got a tip? Send an email. 

The post Newsom Commutes Sentence in 2009 Tulare County Gang Killing appeared first on GV Wire.

Fresno Unified Board President Valerie Davis previously told GV Wire they would likely select the new superintendent Wednesday. After GV Wire published the names of applicants Friday, district spokesperson Nikki Henry said those candidates were not finalists and that the board would announce the finalist or finalists Wednesday.

In addition, GV Wire reported last week based on interviews with multiple sources that interim Superintendent Misty Her will succeed Bob Nelson as superintendent.

However, one thing is clear: Board members will not conduct a public forum of the top candidates even though community members and leaders are calling for that very thing.

Many executive search firms say getting good school superintendents requires keeping the names of candidates, sometimes even finalists, confidential.

Diego Arambula, vice chair of the CSU Board of Trustees and vice president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, has done numerous superintendent searches. He wasn’t surprised that the board decided to keep the search closed.

“Most districts that I’ve had a chance to watch go through this have had a closed search because otherwise they just fear they’re going to get no great external candidates,” Arambula said. “You either find someone who’s either currently out of a job and so isn’t worried about it, or you just lose people who might be great candidates.”

But community leaders say an open search process is essential given the board’s past desire to keep the superintendent search behind closed doors.

Retired Fresno County Judge Robert Oliver has served on several selection committees, including the search for a Fresno State president. He described the process as “unclear and confusing.” He said the public should be able to expect a thorough search with a list of finalists.

“We’re just looking for a selection of a person who hopefully will bring a new life and a new day to the unified school district challenge,” Oliver said. “This is a 74,000-or-so student, 10,000-or-so employee organization. I think it’s fair to say, without being overly critical, that the current leadership has not succeeded in making the necessary change to improve the standing of the students in the district.”

Related Story: Trustees Select Fresno Unified’s New Superintendent. Was ‘the ...

Community Didn’t Ask For an Open Forum: FUSD

In Texas, most districts don’t share names until they’ve found a lone finalist, said Susan Enfield, former superintendent of Washoe County School District in Reno and current executive director of The Network of Distinguished Educators.

Washington State districts typically release the names of the final two or three candidates once trustees have decided.

“Confidentiality is quite common as part of the search process for superintendents— mainly because sometimes those individuals applying are sitting leaders. That said, the process varies from district to district and state to state,” Enfield said.

In Texas, most districts don’t share names until they’ve found a lone finalist, Enfield said. Washington State districts typically release the names of the final two or three candidates once trustees have decided.

However, more and more, districts are opening up their search processes, including open forums with finalists. So much so that every one of the outside finalists applying to become Fresno Unified’s new superintendent has participated in one elsewhere — either taking questions from board members or from the community before getting the job.

Henry said the public had a chance to ask for a public forum but never did.

“The board brought the superintendent search timeline to open session for comment and feedback multiple times,” Henry said. “This was never brought about as a request by the public. The board will stick to the search plans they transparently voted on in open session.”

But the record shows that Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla talked about the importance of open search — including an open forum — several times going back at least to April 2024. That’s when a majority of trustees wanted to keep the search internal.

Many community leaders GV Wire spoke with say that with Fresno Unified’s failing student outcomes an open search is essential. Bonilla said it gives the public confidence that their choice was indeed the best.

“(Trustees) had an opportunity to regain trust in the community and to their employees by going through a very transparent process,” Bonilla said. “Because they didn’t, now it leaves a lingering process and it leaves a lingering doubt in the selection of Misty (Her). And that’s not fair to her, it’s not fair to the district, to its employees.”

Open Forum Best Serves the Community: District Employees

Bonilla wrote in an email to trustees on behalf of Fresno Teachers Association in April 2024 that by not being transparent and inclusive, the board opens the door to accusations of backroom deals and political maneuvering.

“They must commit to opening the search to all qualified applicants and provide a public forum for finalists to present their vision for our district,” Bonilla wrote.

During public meetings that year, multiple community members, including Bonilla, called on trustees to conduct an open forum. Those calls came with applause from the crowd.

“You have to have a process, and a process where those people that are going to be the top two, top three, come back to the community and meet with us and answer some difficult questions. The same problems come up over and over,” said community activist Gloria Hernandez on April 3, 2024.

Employees with Fresno Unified in an question-and-answer forum specifically asked for a community forum. One said the board can’t hide behind confidentiality and then say they’re being transparent.

Henry told them trustees chose not to do a public forum because it could scare away candidates.

“We decided to prioritize a confidential hiring process to ensure we received the most highly qualified candidates out there,” Henry wrote in that email. “Many potential candidates would be current superintendents or executives at other school districts who might not consider applying for the job if there were a public town hall before they were hired.”

All of District’s Outside Finalists Did Public Forums Previously

In 2022, when Calvert County Public Schools in Maryland held its superintendent search, the district held community meetings where the public could hear from candidates directly, ABC 7 reported. That included its current superintendent, Andraé Townsel, who is applying to be Fresno Unified’s superintendent.

Townsel earlier this year also participated in an open forum in Milwaukee Public Schools, according to ABC News WISN.

In December 2024, current Fresno Unified superintendent candidate Thomas Ahart took part in “a marathon of public forums,” according to the Albuquerque Journal. Ahart is a former superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools, where he served for more than 10 years.

Gustavo Balderas answered questions from the public when he applied to be the superintendent in Oregon’s Edmonds School District in 2020, according to community news site MLT News.

San Diego Unified — the state’s second largest district — took a transparent approach when it searched for a superintendent in 2021-2022. The school board created an advisory committee that held open meetings. The names of the finalists were publicly released, and the district hosted a town hall at which the community could ask questions.

And State Center Community College District trustees recently chose to use an open search process when selecting a new president of Fresno City College. The same approach was used in 2022 after college president Carole Goldsmith was elevated to district chancellor.

Both Clovis Unified and Central Unified held closed searches. Central Unified may do an open search in its upcoming superintendent search, said board trustee Naindeep Singh Chann.

Long Beach Unified, a district very similar to Fresno, kept its search internal. Arambula said the public was largely OK with that because that district has been successful in advancing student outcomes. Arambula said Fresno Unified is not at a place where it could justify keeping its search internal.

“I don’t think anyone can or should look at the results in Fresno Unified and say ‘we’re knocking it out of the park,'” Arambula said. “We have a long way to go to get to really serving our students in the way they truly deserve.”

A Good Search Firm Should Bring Strong Candidates: Arambula

Large districts such as San Diego or Miami have their own pull, Arambula said. Fresno, however, with its billion-dollar budget and 71,000 students, should draw out quality candidates.

“Fresno Unified should be a really attractive position to many internal and external candidates,” Arambula said. “There are huge opportunities for growth because they haven’t yet cracked the code on academic achievement. There is strong funding with the Local Control Funding Formula. Fresno is a great city; very livable. A good search firm could really pitch this place to build a great pool of candidates”

But given Fresno Unified’s challenges, they need a superintendent who will stay a long time and not use the district as a “waystop.”

In addition, trustees shouldn’t discount candidates based on the size of their previous districts, Arambula said.

Davis previously told GV Wire that “size and success matters.” Two of Fresno Unified’s candidates come from districts exceeding 30,000 students. To Arambula, districts at that size have the same level of complexity.

“It’s roughly the same amount of complexity, you’re still managing through multiple layers, you still have dozens of schools,” Arambula said.

‘Profound and Dramatic Improvements Are Required At All Levels’: FUSD Board Policy

Fresno Unified’s first board policy says “profound and dramatic improvements are required at all levels of the Fresno Unified School District.” Oliver said the board has not followed through on this.

The district consistently ranks toward the bottom for reading and math in California and nationwide, according to education data.

“By definition, if they are needing to make dramatic and substantial change for improvement, you would be well advised to look outside of the C-suite that has been unable to enact that substantial and necessary platform for improvement,” Oliver said.

GV Wire Senior Reporter David Taub contributed to this story.

The post Secret Search or Meet the Finalists? Debate Rages as Fresno Nears Its Superintendent Pick appeared first on GV Wire.

But now Torres and other California solar customers who bought or leased systems under NEM 1.0 or NEM 2.0 contracts could lose those financial benefits after 10 years instead of 20 under an Assembly bill proposed by Lisa Calderon, a Southern California Democrat who previously worked for Southern California Edison’s parent company.

Assembly Bill 942 would shorten the contract times for homeowners and eliminate the carryover of NEM contracts when homes with solar systems are sold. It also would impact government agencies such as school districts that have invested in solar systems.

Fresno Unified’s solar provider, Forefront, estimates that the district’s energy savings could be slashed by as much as 75% under AB 942, district spokeswoman AJ Kato said.

Although AB 942 would trim the net metering contract from 20 years to 10, the district’s agreement with Forefront would remain fixed for the entire 20 years, Kato said. If PG&E pays the district less for energy generated by Forefront’s solar panels, “utility bills will increase creating a scenario where having solar may cost FUSD more in energy costs than not having solar,” she said.

Violating a Guarantee

Before customers either lease or buy solar systems, they are provided a guide prepared by the California Public Utilities Commission that says the 20-year NEM contracts are guaranteed, said Brad Heavner, executive director of the California Solar and Storage Association.

“They actually have to sign a piece of paper saying we’ve given them this solar consumer guide before they sign the contract,” he said. “It’s a PUC document, and it says that NEM is guaranteed for 20 years. It uses that word, guaranteed. And so customers are seeing that before they make the final decision to invest in solar or to sign a long-term lease. And for the state government to go back on its guarantee would be immensely unfair.”

Violating that guarantee would be “unprecedented,” Heavner said. “I’m getting calls from all around the country asking if this is real because other states are scratching their heads about California making this change.”

Opponents Plan Protest, Council Considers Resolution

Opposition to the bill has been gearing up statewide. Opponents are planning a “noisy” protest at Calderon’s City of Industry office on Wednesday.

The Fresno City Council will consider a resolution at Thursday’s meeting in opposition to AB 942, noting that it would force residents who “in good faith” signed up for solar system installation under a more favorable compensation arrangement to have to shift to a less favorable arrangement.

AB 942 would impact school districts that have used facilities money to install or lease solar systems, basing their calculations on the NEM 1.0 or NEM 2.0 compensations, said Nancy Chaires Espinoza, executive director of the School Energy Coalition.

If AB 942 becomes law, school districts would need to redirect revenues to cover energy costs instead of devoting dollars into classrooms, which would directly impact students, she said.

Changing the rules also could lead to a loss of public faith in government and in the ability of school districts to invest public funds, Chaires Espinoza said.

Other Energy Bills Pending

AB 942 appears to be the outlier of a number of bills introduced in the current legislative session. The majority appear to be aimed at reining in the skyrocketing cost of electricity for customers of investor-owned utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern Cal Edison.

Senate Bill 322 would link and limit rate increases to the consumer price index and would put restrictions on power shut-offs for customers unable to pay their bills. Assembly Bill 1167 would prevent utility companies from including lobbying, promotional advertising, and similar expenses from being passed along to ratepayers.

Lawmakers are finally recognizing their responsibility to control utility costs, Heavner said.

“I think something meaningful is going to pass to reform utilities and to check their runaway spending,” he said. “Finally, the Legislature is fed up enough about the regulators failing to contain utility spending that they are likely to act on something meaningful this year.”

Bill Would ‘Penalize’ Homeowners

Ramon Torres said he hopes legislators will realize how harmful AB 942 would be to Californians such as himself and reject it.

Torres, 57, lost his job as a finance director at a dealership in December. He’s a veteran and is working on a medical retirement, so his income will be fixed and limited moving forward. And he still has to keep the lights and air-conditioning on at his home, where he lives with his wife and their two teenage sons.

“I don’t think it’s fair for people that have already purchased (solar panels). You’re penalizing them for trying to help protect the environment. Instead of being rewarded, now we’re going to get added charges. … So basically, it’s a punishment for going solar, instead of rewarding us consumers,” he said.

The post Outrage Grows to Assembly Bill That Would Slash Solar Contract Benefits appeared first on GV Wire.

The only way that happens is when we force Fresno Unified to finally get its act together and provide our community’s children with the quality of education they need and deserve.

Sadly, Fresno Unified — which has some of the nation’s worst test scores, especially for black and brown kids — is up to its old tricks. Not only did the trustees shroud a promised national search for a new superintendent in secrecy, but they’re also ready to promote an insider, Misty Her, to the top job.

There are no rational reasons for this appointment other than politics and an insidious need to protect the district’s bloated bureaucracy. I understand why a board would want to keep an insider: you can control that person much easier, and you know they won’t be replacing the existing executive staff that trustees have established relationships with.

To our community’s shame, the trustees are passing on three highly qualified outside candidates with proven records of success as superintendents. One was the 2020 National Superintendent of the Year.

Related Story: The Superintendent Search Document FUSD Does Not Want You to See

How Much Longer Must Fresno’s Children Wait?

How much longer are we going to sacrifice our children’s and our community’s future on the altar of political ambition by trustees like Keshia Thomas and Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, both city council seekers?

How much longer are we going to bow to the highly paid Fresno Unified bureaucrats who fear an outsider will show them to the door because of their incompetence and indifference?

Misty Her has been the interim superintendent for a year without moving the needle on student learning or improving chaotic operations. The district remains mired in special ed challenges, an abundance of litigation, and a culture of retaliation.

In addition, she long has been part of the district’s failing team. It is very difficult and costly, not to mention disruptive for students, to remove a superintendent. Bob Nelson was superintendent for eight years with no demonstrable improvement in outcomes and would still be there today if he had not accepted a teaching position at Fresno State.

Related Story: Trustees Select Fresno Unified’s New Superintendent. Was ‘the ...

We need a leader with the expertise and backbone to do right by students. I am not sure Misty Her wants to be that person, because if she did, she would have already made many changes to her cabinet and the hiring process.

Central Unified recently let its superintendent go and brought in a proven winner, Eimear O’Brien, as the interim. In just one month, she is setting high standards and making sure that every employee does their job with urgency and in the best interests of students!

I’ll wrap up with a call to action: Show up at the Fresno Unified board meeting downtown on Wednesday at 4:30 pm and voice your opinion. If you can’t attend, email the trustees with your thoughts.

Let’s not sentence Fresno’s next generation to lives of poverty and despair, as we have done so many times before.

 

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(Video: FTA President Manuel Bonilla sharing his insights on the superintendent search and FTA’s offer to host a public forum featuring the final candidates.)

About the Author

Darius Assemi of Fresno is a builder and philanthropist. He is the president/CEO of Granville Homes and publisher of the award-winning GV Wire.

Make Your Voice Heard

GV Wire encourages vigorous debate from people and organizations on local, state, and national issues. Submit your op-ed to bmcewen@gvwire.com for consideration.

The post Will Fresno Unified Sacrifice Another Generation of Students? The Choice Is Ours appeared first on GV Wire.

After more than a decade being exiled from the governor’s office in California, Republicans are eyeing growing voter frustration with the dominant liberal politics of the state as a launching pad for a comeback next year.

Though lacking the statewide profiles of a deluge of Democratic contenders, a pair of GOP hopefuls with devoted conservative followings has jumped into the open 2026 gubernatorial race in recent months, hoping to persuade voters that only a radical shakeup can fix California’s problems.

“I don’t think there’s any other way of describing California today, other than the sick man of America,” said Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host and onetime political adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron who officially announced his candidacy on Monday. “It’s just undeniable that we’re in a terrible, terrible mess in California and we have to change direction.”

Hilton is kicking off his campaign today with an event in Huntington Beach, the city that has remade itself over the past few years into the bulwark of conservative resistance in California. He follows Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a hero of the right for defying state mandates during the COVID pandemic, who entered the race to succeed termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom in February.

Both believe that voters have grown sick of a generation of one-party Democratic rule in Sacramento and are banking on appeals to cut taxes and regulations — which they blame for making California unaffordable — to reach across traditional partisan lines.

“We are being led down a path of complete government control and socialism,” Bianco said in an interview. “This is no longer Democrat versus Republican. We’re at a point where it’s sane versus insane.”

But conservative candidates face a steep climb in a state that has not elected a Republican to statewide office since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won a second term in 2006.

California Democratic Party Chairperson Rusty Hicks said the gubernatorial race is about more than just who can deliver for Californians. Voters know the governor has a powerful platform to stand up to the Trump administration and they won’t want a Republican in a role that is also critical to the future of the rest of the country and the whole world, he said.

“I certainly applaud them for continuing to try,” Hicks said. “But time and time again, we see California voters see their policies for what they are, which is not in line with the values of Californians.”

Slashing Taxes and Regulations

More than 20 people have already filed a statement of intention to run for governor in the 2026 primary as Republicans — though few will be serious candidates and some may never qualify for the ballot at all, which requires paying a filing fee or submitting thousands of signatures from registered voters.

Only two, including Bianco, have reported raising any money for their campaigns so far. While the first fundraising report of 2025 is not due until the end of July, major donations are filed with the state on a rolling basis.

Leo Zacky, a poultry farm heir and perennial candidate who received 1.3% of the vote in the 2022 gubernatorial primary and 0.1% in the 2021 recall election, seeded his campaign last month with $50,000 of his own money.

Meanwhile, since launching his campaign in February, Bianco has reported more than $380,000 in major contributions — enough to solidify himself as an early frontrunner for conservative voters, but a far cry from the millions that some Democratic contenders have already raised.

That leaves an opening for Hilton, 55, a native of the United Kingdom who moved to California in 2012 with his wife, a public relations executive for tech companies. Hilton has a built-in audience from hosting the weekly commentary program “The Next Revolution” on Fox News from 2017 to 2023, and Silicon Valley connections that could provide the money he needs to spread his message more broadly.

Hilton said his campaign will focus on practical solutions to rebuild a “ladder of opportunity,” so that every Californian can have a great job and a great home — though many of them are ideas that the Democratic supermajority in the Legislature is unlikely to ever support.

He would eliminate the state income tax for Californians below an unspecified income level. He wants to boost housing development by simplifying building codes, ending lawsuits under the infamous California Environmental Quality Act, and promoting construction of single-family homes. He believes the state needs mandatory phonics education and more accountability for teachers based on test scores to improve student achievement.

Though he has had a long career in politics, Hilton has never held elected office himself, which he argues is an asset.

“I would ask people, how good are the machine politicians in Sacramento who are involved in this one-party rule? How is that working?” Hilton said.

Bianco, 57, was a longtime sheriff’s deputy in Riverside County who ran for sheriff in 2018 out of frustration with what he called a “pro-criminal” approach to public safety in California. During his two terms as chief law enforcement officer of Riverside County, he has been a controversial but locally popular figure, refusing to enforce Newsom’s COVID lockdown orders or apologize for his brief affiliation with the far-right Oath Keepers militia.

He said he’s now running for governor because, like many Californians, he is tired of how the government has failed a state that people otherwise love. Many of his priorities align with Hilton’s: Bianco would like to completely abolish the state income tax, get rid of laws that he said are driving farmers and ranchers out of business, and leave environmental regulation to the federal government.

And echoing the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative, Bianco said he wants to eliminate wasteful spending such as the high-speed rail project and multibillion-dollar programs that have not reduced homelessness.

“The number one job of government is public safety,” Bianco said. “All the rest of it is fluff.”

The Anti-Trump Bump

California Republicans have been jubilant since the November election, when they flipped three seats in the state Legislature as President Donald Trump increased his vote share in nearly every county. At a party convention in Sacramento last month, they strategized over how to build on the momentum by leaning into issues such as affordability and crime that appear to be helping them gain ground, particularly among Latino voters.

“That tells us that Californians, on the local level and when it comes to the laws that are being passed in Sacramento, they’re looking to Republicans,” Corrine Rankin, the newly elected chairperson of the California Republican Party, said in an interview. “They’re rejecting the failures that are coming out of the Capitol by the Democrats.”

In a February survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, only 48% of likely voters said the state is going in the right direction, compared to 51% who said it’s going in the wrong direction — underwater, albeit the highest approval in two years.

To win the governorship next year, Rankin said the state GOP would eventually unite behind a candidate who can help Californians understand how that dissatisfaction is driven by what Democrats in charge of the state are doing.

“We need change here in California. Californians expect change and we’re positioned to deliver,” she said.

But the modest advances of the last election belie a GOP that is still far from competitive in California. Trump only received about 38% of the vote, losing to Democratic nominee Kamala Harris by more than 20 percentage points, and Republicans lost three U.S. House seats.

The 2026 midterms, in which Democratic anger at the Trump administration could produce an even more liberal electorate, will be a difficult political environment for the California GOP to snap a statewide shutout that dates back to 2010. In 2022, no Republican candidate for statewide office came within 10 percentage points of victory, and most lost by about twice that margin.

Andrew Acosta, a Democratic political consultant who is not working on the governor’s race, said there are substantive problems in California for serious conservatives to campaign on. “The Republicans have a lot of fodder if they did it the right way,” he said.

But candidates so closely tied to Trump are unlikely to overcome the deep anti-Trump sentiment in the electorate and win the governorship next year, Acosta added. “There’s zero chance of these Republicans.”

Both Hilton and Bianco are vocal Trump supporters. Hilton’s campaign even references the MAGA movement with a “make California golden again” slogan, and he rolled out an endorsement on the first day from Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the architects of Trump’s DOGE initiative.

Though some Democratic candidates are already tapping into the fury at Trump to fuel their campaigns, Hilton said the focus is misplaced.

“None of that helps a single person in California,” he said. “These are real issues. So if Democrat candidates want to deflect from that and become national political commentators, then good luck with that.”

Bianco said Democrats have done “outstanding psychological warfare” for decades convincing people that Republicans cannot win in California, which has suppressed conservative participation in elections. But things have finally gotten so bad, he said, that those frustrated voters will turn out next year and elect a Republican governor.

“We can’t blame Donald Trump. Donald Trump doesn’t have anything to do with California and the laws that have been passed in the past 20 years,” he said. “I believe that the majority of people, of hard-working Californians, have conservative leanings.”

This article was originally published by CalMatters under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

The post Fox News Host? A Sheriff? Is There a Republican Who Can Finally Win Statewide in CA Again? appeared first on GV Wire.

Lobbying groups spent more than half a billion dollars to influence the state government in 2024, the most ever, according to a CalMatters analysis of data recently filed with the secretary of state. Lobbying by Google, oil companies and utilities in the third quarter appeared to drive the sharp spike in spending.

Companies and organizations reported roughly $540 million in lobbying expenses to push their point of view to California officials, including legislators, on hundreds of bills between January and December of last year — and that’s up by more than 10% from $485 million in 2023.

Perhaps that isn’t so surprising in a state with a full-time Legislature and one of the largest economies in the world, said Francesco Trebbi, an economics professor at UC Berkeley who studies political influence and lobbying.

“Half a billion is kind of normal,” he said. “If California is about 14% of U.S. GDP and federal lobbying is about $4 billion, $500 million is about 13% of that. So it would be in line with the size of the California economy.”

Thomas Holyoke, a professor of political science at Fresno State University, said that the spending increase might reflect not only corporations’ desire for more influence but also the growing influence of California policy itself.

As long as California maintains its prominence, “more and more interest groups and lobbyists are going to take what Sacramento does very, very seriously,” he said.

Major Players Driving the Lobbying Boom

The Western States Petroleum Association reported more than $17.3 million dollars in advocacy costs over the year, more than $10 million of which was spent last summer, and more than double the total bill of the previous year.

The organization took public positions on 18 bills last session and got its desired outcome two-thirds of the time, according to a CalMatters analysis of data from Digital Democracy, our platform to track state lawmakers and legislation.

In part, the trade group’s spending more than doubled because of increased proposed regulations on oil and gas, including a special session focused on gas prices.

The largest non-oil spender was PacifiCorp, which reported spending more than $13.4 million to influence California officials last year, 30 times the yearly average for the company over the last two decades. The investor-owned utility lobbied for a rate hike but didn’t take a public position on any bills in 2024.

Pacific Gas & Electric, one of the largest utilities in the state, reported nearly $3.6 million on lobbying last year. Over the two-year legislative session, the company took a public position on 45 bills and also got its way on roughly two-thirds of them, or 31 bills.

Google doesn’t usually spend much on state-level lobbying efforts but spent more in 2024 than the last 20 years combined.

The company reported one of the largest totals for state advocacy last year, driven primarily by a spending spree in the third quarter of the year when the tech giant was fighting a media bill and AI regulations. The company got its way in both cases.

Much of its advocacy went through the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which reported spending nearly $7.4 million, $7 million of which came from the Mountain View behemoth.

Only two labor groups spent more than $1 million on lobbying last year: the Service Employees International Union and the California Teachers Association.

SEIU reported spending nearly $3.4 million and the California Teachers Association, another powerful union in the state, spent more than $3.1 million. Both unions took public positions on hundreds of bills and got their way nearly 70% of the time.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

The post Special Interests Pour More Than Half a Billion Into CA Lobbying appeared first on GV Wire.

The main reason, several board members and the consultant firm the board hired said, is to protect the integrity and confidentiality of the process.

However, some school districts require their superintendents to inform them if they’ve become a finalist or even applied for another job. Thus, leaks sometimes happen even when the goal is confidentiality. For example former Fresno Unified Superintendent Bob Nelson had such as a clause in his contract.

GV Wire’s Edward Smith reports the finalists are interim Superintendent Misty Her; Thomas Ahart, a former superintendent in Des Moines, Iowa; Gustavo Balderas, superintendent at the Beaverton (Oregon) School District, and former Madera Unified superintendent; and Calvert County (Maryland) Superintendent Andraé Townsel.

Even the NDA is subject to nondisclosure. Neither the firm McPherson & Jacobson, LLC, the school district, nor several board members were willing to immediately share the document. A California Public Records Act inquiry is pending.

School board president Valerie Davis referred GV Wire to McPherson & Jacobson for a copy of the NDA. The firm’s consultant, Ben Johnson II, said he would have to check with the firm’s CEO.

“I don’t know what I can’t disclose,” said Davis, who signed the NDA. “It’s confidential because it’s people’s lives, people’s jobs. Maybe the other superintendents haven’t told their board that they’re looking for a job or maybe it’s personal, personnel type of thing, OK? It has to do with employment law,” Davis said.

Seven members of a community advisory panel who met with the finalists also signed the NDA.

Related Story: Fresno Unified Trustees Passed Over a National Superintendent of the Year

Board Talks About NDA

Trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas said she signed the NDA this month, but was unsure what she could disclose about the document itself.

She said the board chose to keep the process closed.

“Some candidates may not want to apply because they don’t want their name out there. They’re currently employed, so it might limit the pool of candidates. And so, the search that we conducted was not an open search. So therefore, confidentiality was to be respected,” Jonasson Rosas said.

“We wanted to get the maximum number of qualified candidates.”

Last year, Trustee Susan Wittrup criticized the superintendent search process. The board delayed the search, opening it nationwide.

While she signed the NDA, she wishes there was more transparency.

“I wish the candidates would become public. I wish the community could see who our candidates are, who applied, and what their qualifications are,” Wittrup said.

Trustee Andy Levine spoke to GV Wire, but said he was not willing to talk about the search or signing the NDA.

“We’re still in the middle of this process. And so, when we have an announcement to make, I’m sure we’ll speak to some of those details,” Levine said.

Trustees Claudia Cazarez, Veva Islas and Keshia Thomas did not respond to GV Wire’s questions.

“We have all signed a nondisclosure agreement and anyone who has leaked this story is fully in violation. Quite frankly, there’s some other pieces to this story, and that we’ve begun to negotiate and so on and so forth. And that is absolutely not true,” Thomas told Alexan Balekian on his “Sunday Conversation” show on April 13.

Davis, Islas and Wittrup also served on the board search committee.

Search Firm: Leak ‘Lacks Integrity’

The board contracted with McPherson & Jacobson in February for $34,500 to find the next superintendent. The trustees ultimately vote on the hiring.

“Candidates put their career on the line by interviewing,” Johnson said. “An open search would reduce the quality of candidates you would get.”

He said that transparency and the nature of the search are up to the board, not the search firm.

Johnson was not happy that information about the candidates leaked.

“I’m beyond frustrated … the process has been violated. It lacks integrity,” Johnson said. “Someone lied. Someone signed the document and didn’t maintain that.”

Johnson is concerned that the leak might affect future superintendent searches.

“Someone made that worse. I can’t tell other districts nothing has leaked before,” Johnson said.

While some school districts around the country make finalists known to the public, Johnson said open searches in California are uncommon.

The post Why Fresno Unified Tried to Keep Superintendent Search Secret appeared first on GV Wire.

In 2020, the American Association of School Administrators named Gustavo Balderas as the national superintendent of the year for his work with Eugene School District. That year, he also won Oregon Superintendent of the Year. Balderas’ first superintendent position was with the San Joaquin Valley’s Madera Unified.

Balderas did not respond to a request for comment from GV Wire.

In 2020, Balderas participated in an open candidate forum when he applied to become superintendent of Oregon’s Edmonds School District. He said in that forum that he prided himself on increasing graduation rates of Latino students and students in poverty.

Graduation rates for Latino students and children in poverty increased by 19% and 23% for students in special programs during his tenure.

“The one thing that I’m really proud of is the work that we’ve done in Eugene the last few years,” Balderas said, according to Washington news site MLT News. “We been able to close the opportunity gap. Our graduation rates have increased by 14 percentage points because of the systems we’ve put in.”

Related Story: Trustees Select Fresno Unified’s New Superintendent. Was ‘the ...

Trustees Prioritizing Candidates from Large Districts

GV Wire learned the names of the four finalists — including Balderas and Fresno Unified interim superintendent Misty Her — in the district’s superintendent search. The others were Thomas Ahart, a former longtime superintendent of Des Moines (Iowa) Public Schools, and Andraé Townsel, superintendent of Calvert County Public Schools in Maryland.

Multiple sources confirmed to GV Wire that trustees have begun negotiations to hire Her. However, Fresno Unified spokesperson Nikki Henry rebutted that, saying that a selection cannot be made until the board takes action via a vote. Henry also said it was inaccurate to call anyone a “finalist.”

And, trustee Keshia Thomas said on Alexan Balekian’s “Sunday Conversation” on KMJ radio that there were no negotiations with Her “at the moment.”

In that same appearance, Thomas acknowledged the district’s academic failures, saying “We have not been student driven. We have not been outcomes driven. We’ve been messy, and that’s the real truth.”

Editor’s Note: In the chart below showing academic achievement for students in the finalists’ districts, the year 2019 was chosen because those results reflect performance before the COVID pandemic, which resulted in learning loss across the country. The 2024 results are the latest available. 

Fresno Unified board president Valerie Davis said the decision on the next superintendent would likely be announced at trustees meeting on Wednesday, April 23. She said in an email to GV Wire they are prioritizing candidates from large school districts. Davis did not respond to follow-up questions.

“Leading the third largest district in the state requires someone who has worked successfully in a very large district,” Davis wrote in the email. “For everything that has been coming out of your GV Wire, I don’t think anyone has ever thought of the most obvious qualification. Size and success matters.”

Board members and community members previously stated they want someone who understands the diversity of the Central Valley.

There is no salary range listed in job posting for FUSD’s superintendent, but Nelson made $426,757 in pay and $99,066 in benefits in 2023, according to Transparent California.

Related Story: Why Fresno Unified Tried to Keep Superintendent Search Secret

Trustees Want Confidentiality. Others Seek Transparency

Board members and district administration stressed confidentiality of applicants despite search firm McPherson & Jacobson LLC telling board members on Feb. 12 that once candidates are finalists “there’s no holding back.”

“Once you’re a finalist, there’s no holding back,” Ben Johnson, spokesperson for McPherson told the board in that meeting. “You’ve put yourself out there, you’ve said you’ve got to be able to contact all people to be able to give an assessment, good and deserving about your candidacy.”

However, Johnson recently told GV Wire that the finalists’ names shouldn’t have become public.

Of note: Fresno Unified required former Superintendent Bob Nelson to disclose if he ever became a finalist for employment outside the district.

Community members and Fresno Unified employees have called for an open forum since it was announced the district needed a replacement for Nelson, who retired last summer.

In a districtwide notice to employees, one teacher said a community forum would ensure transparency.

“Respectfully, the board can’t hide behind ‘confidentiality’ in the process and then say they’re being transparent and ensuring the community’s concerns have been brought into consideration,” one teacher said on FUSD’s forum board. “How are we supposed to believe that? There’s no accountability.”

National Superintendent of the Year Is Son Of Mexican Immigrants

Balderas is the current superintendent for Beaverton School District, which enrolls 37,459 students across 54 schools in a Portland suburb.

The first-generation son of Mexican immigrants, Balderas often emphasizes learning for students in poverty, especially those overcoming language barriers, according to news articles and podcasts.

“I understand firsthand some of the barriers that students face in Beaverton schools — those in poverty and those navigating a new language and culture. These experiences will help me connect with students and families and help identify ways to meet the needs of our students furthest from educational justice,” Balderas told KGW8 in 2022, when he was selected for the superintendent at Beaverton.

Balderas was superintendent at Madera Unified from 2011 to 2013.

Since 2011, he has been superintendent of five school districts.

Iowa Superintendent Focuses on Equity, Balanced Budget

Former superintendent Thomas Ahart spent 14 years at Des Moines Public Schools, which is Iowa’s largest school district and had 31,000 students at the time. He served as superintendent for 10 years.

The Des Moines Register reported that the Des Moines school board decided not to extend his contract past 2023. Ahart left one year ahead of his contract end date.

Ahart did not respond to a request for comment.

In his letter of resignation, Ahart stressed his focus on equity. About 76% of students at Des Moines schools receive free or reduced lunch. Students there speak 83 languages and come from 109 nations, he said.

“We implemented standards-based grading, redrew district boundaries, made every school a school of choice, increased enrollment in Advanced Placement courses, and dramatically shifted the composition of the student body attending Central Campus and Central Academy,” Ahart said in his letter.

In his tenure, all of the district’s 40 portable classrooms became permanent, he pointed out in his letter. He also kept the district’s budget balanced.

Ahart has been a consultant with the Council on Great City Schools for the past 10 years, focusing on improving student outcomes. Fresno Unified is a member of Great City Schools, which brings together 78 of nation’s largest urban public school systems in a coalition dedicated to the improvement of education for children in the inner cities. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Calvert County Public Schools Has Highest Literacy Rate in Maryland

Another finalist for FUSD’s top position, Andraé Townsel, started as superintendent of Calvert County Public Schools in Maryland in July 2022. Townsel recently applied for superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools, where he was a finalist.

In a public forum, the Howard University graduate talked about his literacy plans and how Calvert County — enrolling 15,461 students — has the highest literacy scores in the state, according to Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service.

Townsel said the district achieved that rate because of “attention to detail and investment in the science of reading.”

In contrast, Fresno Unified is significantly behind other Valley and California school districts in literacy, as well as math.

Fresno Unified Interim Focuses on Attendance, Narrows Goals

Whereas Fresno Unified had nearly 170 educational goals last year, Her — the only finalist who hasn’t been a superintendent — told GV Wire said she wanted to focus on four major goals.

“We have to be great at a few things. And I think what the board has allowed us to do for the first time in Fresno Unified is to go from very big to now, very narrow,” said Her.

Here is a look at the district four major initiatives:

— 1st-graders proficient in literacy will increase from 48% in June 2024 to 80% by June 2030.

— Students graduating from high school college and career-ready will rise from 43% in June 2024 to 64% by June 2030.

— 3rd- through 8th-grade students more than one year behind in English Language Arts and who make more than one year’s growth will increase from 10% in June 2024 to 50% by June 2030.

— The district will track 6th-, 8th-, and 12th-grade students for Portrait of a Learner competencies with a percentage goal set soon for June 2030.

Before being appointed interim superintendent, Her served as deputy superintendent for Nelson.

As interim leader, she has taken steps to reduce the number of students who are chronically absent. Students who are chronically absent struggle to learn, and their repeated absences result in the loss of state funding.

Related Story: Has Fresno Unified Finally Planted the Flag for an Academic Revolution?

“We have to be great at a few things. And I think what the board has allowed us to do for the first time in Fresno Unified is to go from very big to now, very narrow,” said Her.

The post Fresno Unified Trustees Passed Over a National Superintendent of the Year appeared first on GV Wire.

Related Story: Fresno Joins Global Protest Against Donald Trump and Elon Musk

The demonstration is organized under the “Hands Off!” banner, which calls for the protection of key social programs and policies.

The flyer reads, “No Kings in Fresno. Remove. Reverse. Reclaim.”

Support for the event has grown on the Fresno subreddit, where several commenters said they are creating protest signs and preparing to attend.

Fresno Joined Global Protest Earlier in April

The demonstration follows a global wave of “Hands Off!” protests that took place on April 5, aimed at opposing the influence of public figures like Trump and Elon Musk on social programs and government policies.

Thousands gathered in cities around the world, including in Central Valley communities such as Fresno, Hanford and Visalia.

In Fresno, more than a thousand demonstrators lined the streets near Shaw and Fresno avenues, chanting and criticizing efforts to roll back Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and protections for marginalized communities.

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Connect with Anthony W. Haddad on social media. Got a tip? Send an email. 

The post Protest Planned in Clovis Targets the Trump Administration appeared first on GV Wire.

While WrestleMania has always been the spotlight of the WWE year, it was the third edition in 1987 that put the body slam on its wrestling industry rivals. Veteran writer and historian Keith Elliot Greenberg looks back at how the WWF — as it was known then — won the wrestling war in his new book “Bigger! Better! Badder! WrestleMania III and the Year it All Changed.”

At the Pontiac Silverdome, Hulk Hogan body-slammed Andre the Giant to victory in a legendary match that remains the most famous in pro wrestling history.

“The fact that they sold out an NFL stadium was something inconceivable to the public, including the wrestling public,” Greenberg said in a phone interview with Off the Bottom Rope.

While the stories of WWF’s ascension to pro wrestling dominance, the Hulk-Andre match, and the myths behind WrestleMania III have been explored by other historians and documentaries, Greenberg talks to several WWF executives who shared the story of not only the event, but the years of buildup. He also talked to heads of rival promotions.

Despite knowing Greenberg, who asked him to participate, former WWF/WWE chairman Vince McMahon declined to be interviewed for the book.

Not long after the success of WrestleMania III, several smaller regional wrestling promotions closed. The company that eventually became World Championship Wrestling survived, but only until  the WWF bought them out in 2001 — officially ending the wrestling war.

A Weeklong Spectacular Comparable to the Super Bowl

Greenberg has covered wrestling for more than 40 years for several publications, including the official WWF Magazine. He’s written several wrestling books and often appears as the historian on WWE documentaries.

WrestleMania used to be just a one-day spectacular. Now, it is a weeklong celebration of all things wrestling, comparable to the Super Bowl. Cities bid and pay a site fee for the spectacular.

Fans will descend from around the world, stay at hotels, attend several official WWE events such as the Hall of Fame, the WWE World exhibit, and other wrestling cards. Even The Undertaker is holding a one-man act.

“It is a true pilgrimage for wrestling fans who come from around the globe. None of that would exist without WrestleMania III. WrestleMania III sent a message that this was something on par with the Super Bowl and the World Cup,” Greenberg said.

Greenberg said he’s attended most WrestleManias, covering for various publications. But, he can’t even receive a media credential this year, writing for UK-based Inside the Ropes. He said the WWE received more than a thousand media credentials.

“People who don’t even follow wrestling week-to-week want to be at WrestleMania because it is a destination to be. That is why there will be celebrities at WrestleMania. They want to be seen there,” Greenberg said.

The Attendance Myth

The WWF claimed that 93,173 fans jammed into the Pontiac Silverdome in 1987, shattering the world indoor attendance record. That number has been debated, analyzed and examined ever since. Greenberg dedicates a chapter into whether that number is accurate or WWF myth-making.

“It’s an eternal debate. I interviewed executives who are responsible for making sure those seats were filled. They adhere religiously to 93,173,” Greenberg said. “There are some question marks there.”

More likely, 78,000 paid to attend, but the mythical number also includes anybody in the building — wrestlers, ticket takers, and even those who snuck into the building.

“That’s a lot of people going to professional wrestling, when you consider that up until that point professional wrestling was considered low-brow entertainment,” Greenberg said.

The true number may never be known.

“It doesn’t really matter. The number itself is part of mythology, you could make a biblical analogy; Was every animal really on Noah’s Ark?” Greenberg said.

WrestleMania 41

WrestleMania 41 takes place Saturday and Sunday at Allegiant Stadium near Las Vegas, home of the Raiders. Similar to when Hulk Hogan took on the newly villainous Andre the Giant, this year’s main event features hero Cody Rhodes defending the Universal WWE championship against new bad guy John Cena on Sunday.

A triple threat match highlights Saturday’s card, with the most dominant wrestler in the last decade Roman Reigns facing CM Punk and Seth Rollins.

Ticket reseller StubHub lists $269 as the lowest price for a single ticket Sunday, in the third deck.

Among the other sanctioned WWE events for the week include the regular Friday Night SmackDown and Monday Night Raw at the T-Mobile Arena; the Hall of Fame at the Fontainebleau; shows for NXT, the WWE’s development territory; The Undertaker’s show; and even a Sunday morning “The Roast of WrestleMania.”

Several other wrestling promotions use the week to hold dozens of events in and around Las Vegas. And, for those who can’t get a ticket to the stadium, several hotel/casinos are hosting watch parties.

Former NFL star Rob Gronkowski, who is known to dabble in the ring himself, is hosting a pool party, where tickets remain for $89.99.

The post How WrestleMania Came to Rival the Super Bowl and World Cup appeared first on GV Wire.