Furious infighting by Democrats has broken out in California, where the governor is being attacked by liberal members of his own party over laws meant to increase the supply of housing in the state.
Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom is getting assailed by state lawmakers after he forced the passage of a law to bolster the construction of low-income housing by allowing developers to pay nonunion wages to laborers. While Democrats have a supermajority in the legislature, opposition to the bill from pro-union lawmakers erupted in outrage against the governor.
‘I just cannot begin to explain how incredibly inappropriate and hurtful this is.’
“I just enacted the most game-changing housing reforms in recent California history,” said Newsom on Monday. “We’re urgently embracing an abundance agenda by tearing down the barriers that have delayed new affordable housing and infrastructure for decades. Let’s get building, California.”
Newsom was also able to lower environmental standards for housing that have strangled construction for decades, according to critics.
Labor advocates angry over Newsom’s laws filled a hearing with “mocking, yelling, and storming out” to show their opposition, according to a Politico report.
“Anyone who believed this would not cause a giant explosion — they were living in la-la-land,” said San Francisco political consultant Todd David.
“To have legislation that is this large and this significant be forced through at the 11th hour … seems pretty absurd to me,” said state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, a Democrat. “I just cannot begin to explain how incredibly inappropriate and hurtful this is.”
She went on to say that it was “incredibly insensitive” for Newsom to push for the labor law at a time when federal immigration raids were targeting “blue-collar workers who are Latino.”
Trade union lobbyist Scott Wetch accused Newsom of “contemplating a law to suppress wages” for the first time in California since the Jim Crow era.
Kevin Ferreira, a construction trades council executive director, said the bill would compel their workers to “be shackled and start singing chain gang songs.”
Some said the actions by the governor brought into question how he could move on to national aspirations after betraying his base in California.
One union leader accused California Democrats of kowtowing to pressure from Newsom in the same way that Republicans are caving to demands from Trump.
“California Democrats are crying foul that legislators and senators are passing things that they don’t even know the effect of that aren’t in line with their constituents that are just being shoved down their throats by Donald Trump,” said California Labor Federation leader Lorena Gonzalez to the Los Angeles Times.
“And those same legislators in California are allowing that to happen to themselves,” she added.
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