Newsom's former chief of staff just pleaded guilty to federal fraud — FBI wiretaps, a $225,000 scheme run through the frontrunner for governor's own campaign account — and Xavier Becerra still won't answer whether he knew. This week Phil and Camille break down everything Sacramento hoped you'd miss before the June 2nd primary.
In the first story, they walk through the guilty plea of Dana Williamson — Newsom's chief of staff from 2022 to 2024 — who conspired with Becerra's own chief of staff Sean McCluskie to drain $225,000 from Becerra's dormant campaign account. The investigation involved FBI wiretaps. Federal prosecutors originally came to Williamson seeking information about Newsom. And at the final governor's debate, Becerra still couldn't guarantee she couldn't connect him to the case.
Then: California Democrats built the jungle primary system. They benefited from it for years — two Democrats on the same Senate ballot in 2016, two Democrats again in 2018. Now that the system might lock them out of the November governor's race, they've filed an initiative to tear it down — and found Republican allies to help. Phil and Camille get into what ranked choice voting and other alternatives actually look like, and whether any electoral reform rushed through two weeks before a primary deserves to be taken seriously.
No team. No tribe. Just the receipts.
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