Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday appointed Democratic Rep. Rob Bonta as California’s attorney general, choosing one of the leading proponents of criminal justice reform who campaigned to abolish the death penalty and eliminate cash bail for many crimes.
If confirmed by the state legislature, Bonta, a resident of Alameda, will be the first Filipino-American to serve as California’s attorney general, having also set the benchmark for the state assembly when he was elected in 2012, representing a Bay Area district that includes the cities of Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro.
Newsom’s appointment fills a vacancy left by Xavier Becerra’s departure to become United States Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Biden government, after he was confirmed on Thursday by the Senate.
“Rob represents what makes California great – our desire to face fair struggles and reverse systematic injustices,” said Newsom on Wednesday. “Growing up with parents immersed in social justice movements, Rob has become a national leader in the fight to repair our justice system and defend the rights of all Californians.”
Bonta said he was humble with the trust placed in him by Newsom.
“I became a lawyer because I saw the law as the best way to make a positive difference for most people, and it would be a lifelong honor to serve as a lawyer for the people of this great state,” said Bonta in a statement. “As California’s attorney general, I will work tirelessly every day to ensure that every Californian who has been wronged can find justice and that all people are treated fairly under the law.”
Bonta’s appointment comes just days after a group of Asian and Pacific Islander leaders, including Congressman David Chiu (D-San Francisco), asked the governor to appoint an attorney general who would handle incidents in which Asian Americans were target of racist attacks. Chiu, who supported Bonta for the job, raised the issue by condemning a shooting in the Atlanta area on Tuesday, in which a white sniper is accused of killing eight people, including six women of Asian descent.
“The legal, legislative and lived experiences of the member of the Bonta Assembly make him the best choice to represent the diversity of this state,” said state senator Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), president of the Legislative Council of the Asia Pacific Islands, in a letter. to Newsom last month, who called the nomination “an important step towards the equitable representation of California’s fastest-growing racial and ethnic groups, the inhabitants of the Asia Pacific islands.”
The governor is expected to make the announcement at the International Hotel Manilatown Center in San Francisco.
The nomination ends weeks of political disputes between supporters of a dozen Democrats with an interest in becoming the state’s top police officer. Others with aspirations for the job include Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank, as well as county prosecutors and current and former judges.
Bonta, 49, was one of four names recommended for the post by the Asia Pacific Islands Legislative Council.
The attorney general’s job comes with an annual salary of $ 182,189 and the next position will be elected in 2022.
With this race approaching, Bonta will be using her skills as a
prodigious collection of political funds. His reelection committee had $ 2.3 million in its most recent lawsuit.
He also showed loyalty to the governor, emerging in recent weeks as an important voice against the threat of Newsom’s withdrawal.
Bonta, who is married and has three children, is the assistant leader of the majority of the Assembly and serves on committees that oversee spending, communications and health issues.
In the Legislature, he led efforts to change the state’s criminal justice system, including a now pending bill that would primarily eliminate cash bail for misdemeanors and many low-level nonviolent crimes.
It is your second attempt on the subject. In 2018, Bonta co-authored Senate Bill 10, which reportedly ended the cash bail system to address equity issues in the criminal justice system, reducing the incarceration of low-income people before the trial. But the bail industry qualified a referendum on the measure and voters rejected the changes last year.
“The prison door should not open and close based on how much money someone has,” said Bonta when presenting this year’s bill. “There is no denying that the current system wrongly treats people who are rich and guilty better than those who are poor and innocent. The status quo is indefensible and disproportionately affects low-income Californians and communities of color. “
Last year, Bonta demanded that prosecutors be forced to refrain from the investigation and prosecution for police misconduct if his election campaigns accept financial contributions from unions.
“It is about confidence in law enforcement and the independence of our elected prosecutors,” he said.
Bonta also supported Newsom’s 2019 order for a moratorium on executions in California. In the same year, Bonta was co-author of the Constitutional Amendment 12 of the Assembly, which would put a measure in the state vote to revoke the death penalty, although the project has not progressed.
“I believe that the death penalty is wrong for California and I oppose it,” said Bonta at the time. “It is not only inhuman and uncivilized, it is broken. The death penalty is fallible and, because it is irreversible and definitive, there is no recourse when a mistake is made and innocent people are sentenced to death ”.
He also said that the death penalty has a different impact on people of color, who he said “are much more likely to be executed than white people, especially if the victim is white”.
Bonta also voted last year to pass Bill 1506 of the Assembly, a law that requires the state attorney general to investigate police shootings that result in the death of an unarmed civilian.
As a legislator involved in worker protection projects, Bonta had support for the post of attorney general for several labor groups, including Teamsters Joint Council 42, Northern California Carpenters, California Faculty Assn., United Teachers Los Angeles and California Federation of Teachers.
“In Sacramento, he has struggled to ensure that all of our children, regardless of their zip code, have a fair start in school and in life, and that teachers and school staff have the tools to meet the needs of their students,” said Jeff Freitas, president of the California Federation of Teachers.
Bonta was born in Quezon City, Philippines, he said. His parents decided to move with him to California when he was 2 months old, acting before the declaration of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, he said in a biographical account.
Bonta’s parents worked as organizers for United Farm Workers of America, and he recalls a childhood living in a trailer in La Paz in the Tehachapi mountains outside Bakersfield, near the home of César Chávez, the group’s founder, an experience he said which gave him a close-up view of the struggles of agricultural workers.
He said he was influenced by his father, who was also involved in the civil rights movement in the south.
Bonta graduated in law from Yale Law School after working at Yale College, where he was captain of the football team.
Prior to his election to the Assembly, Bonta was an adjunct attorney for the city of San Francisco and also worked as a private attorney dealing with cases involving racial discrimination and other ill-treatment.
He also served as director of the Alameda Health District and as deputy mayor of the city of Alameda.
Other legislation introduced by Bonta protected tenants from undue evictions, ended the use of private for-profit prisons and created the marijuana regulatory system after voters legalized recreational use of marijuana in 2016.
Bonta also faced controversy while in the legislature. In 2017, the deputy formed a foundation and requested donations of business interests on Capitol. One of its foundation’s first contributions in 2018 was $ 25,000 provided to a non-profit organization called Literacy Lab, where his wife was an executive director and earned a six-figure salary, CalMatters reported in February 2020. Ethics experts said that while such activities are not illegal, they should not be allowed.
The attorney general oversees the California Department of Justice, which has 4,500 lawyers, investigators, peacekeepers and other workers. As the state’s top attorney, the attorney general advises the state government on legal issues and defends the state in court when facing litigation.
As the state’s chief police officer, the attorney general assists local prosecutors and law enforcement agencies with criminal investigations and prosecutes violations of state laws, including those that protect the environment, charities and arms security.
The attorney general’s office also acts as a watchdog for police misconduct. Some critics of the criminal justice system criticized Becerra for not being aggressive enough in investigating police and police agencies accused of using excessive force and other misconduct.
These same criminal justice reform advocates pressured Newsom to appoint someone who would act to reduce incarceration, reform or eliminate the bail system and hold law enforcement accountable on other issues.
Becerra, 63, was the first Latin American attorney general in California. He was named the state’s top police officer in 2016 by then Gov. Jerry Brown to fill a vacancy when Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate.
As attorney general, Becerra was one of the main litigants, challenging many of the former president’s policies, having sued the Trump administration 123 times, including nine lawsuits filed on Trump’s last day in office that challenged changes to environmental rules.
Republican lawmakers said on Wednesday they expected Bonta to approach the job differently from his predecessor.
“The Golden State has many challenges and I hope our new attorney general will focus on what is important to ordinary Californians – safe streets, protection from fraud, identity theft and ensuring that our civil rights are protected,” said the leader Republican Senator Scott Wilk of Santa Clarita.
The next state attorney general is not expected to spend so much time in court challenging federal policy during the Biden government.
The new selection represents Newsom’s third high-level political nomination in recent months.
In December, the governor appointed Secretary of State Alex Padilla as the first Latin American to represent California in the United States Senate, filling the vacancy created when Senator Kamala Harris was elected president of VIce. That same month, Newsom appointed deputy Shirley Weber of San Diego as secretary of state, filling the vacancy caused by Padilla’s departure for Washington.