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** The Week in Populism
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Dear John,

The British philosopher G.K. Chesterton is most famous for his mystery series ([link removed]) featuring Father Brown, a Catholic priest who moonlights as a detective. But geeks also rightly honor his anti-populist defense of time-honored principles neatly summed up in what we’ve come to call Chesterton’s Fence. Chesterton (1874–1936) put it this way: if you’re walking through a forest and come upon a fence for which you can see no purpose, you might be inclined to tear it down — to free the wilderness, perhaps, to eliminate a blemish on the land. But it would be better if you first learned why the fence was there in the first place.

The impulse to destroy the things that limit us is human, of course. But we do so at our own peril, Chesterton said.

Consider California’s AB 218, authored by Lorena Gonzalez. You likely know Gonzalez for AB 5, ([link removed]) her notorious bill to drive independent contractors into full-time corporate employment where they could be forced to join unions. In 2019, hoping to strike yet another blow for progress, Gonzalez, a San Diego member of the state Assembly, declared there should be no statute of limitations on victims of childhood sexual assault.

Almost everybody, even the worst guy in the worst prison in America, hates adults who attack children. So, who could oppose Gonzalez’s proposal to permit legal claims brought by survivors of childhood sex assault — no matter how long ago those attacks took place? Certainly not Gonzalez’s colleagues in the state legislature, nor Gov. Gavin Newsom, who signed the bill that took effect in 2020.

What happened next was unintended but utterly predictable. Hundreds of lawyers brought thousands of claims by people who said they were savagely attacked as children in state and local foster care and juvenile detention centers. From one perspective, that might have seemed the fulfillment of the prophet Amos’s prayer that God’s justice might roll down like mighty waters; from another angle it looked more like a Los Angeles Lakers NBA championship celebration, like the one in June 2000 that turned into a riot of burning cars, looting and attacks on police.

The number of claimants and trial lawyers demanding justice — and money — was like the Worst Black Friday Sale Ever. Los Angeles County officials ([link removed]) solved the matter by surrendering. In April, they settled thousands of claims brought by plaintiffs who say they were sexually assaulted in county youth facilities. The total cost to taxpayers: an eye-popping $4 billion.

This week, we got a possible explanation for the county’s motivation to settle: it was protection money.

Instead of doing the hard work of identifying the people who ran the facilities where these monstrous acts took place, county officials gave us the equivalent of no-fault divorce. There will be no investigations, no identification of suspects, no charges, no due process, no justice — just this massive payoff by officials representing the nation’s largest county and among its most dysfunctional.

Speaking at a press conference this week, attorney John Manly explained why his 200 or so clients refused the county’s settlement offer. Reading from his August 4 letter to acting US attorney for the Central District Bill Essayli ([link removed]) , Manly said his clients are looking for more than money.

The county’s settlement with thousands of other plaintiffs “did not resolve our firm’s cases as our clients have received little or no information on how this happened, who is responsible, and, most importantly, zero accountability for the individuals at the county who caused untold suffering, denied their basic human rights, and literally allowed monsters to savage their little bodies and psyches,” Manly said.

“The sad and unbelievable truth is these camps were dens of sexual predation where LA County probation officers in charge of helping these children get on track turned them into human sex toys,” Manly said. “The sexual abuse at these camps by officers was pervasive, organized, and, worst of all, often ignored by rank-and-file officers, site managers and upper management, the Probation Officers Union, and the County Board of Supervisors. Thousands of former camp and juvenile hall residents have come forward since 2022 and allege they were sexually assaulted while under the care and custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Probation. Many of these victims’ parents were actually charged tuition by the County only to have their children raped by the adults in charge.”

Underscoring the ironies of progressive governance, Manly added, “It’s worth noting that virtually all the victims are from minority communities in Los Angeles.”

Manly says his clients want more than money. They want actual justice.

The county, by contrast, is eager to bury evidence that county employees conspired to carry out these shocking, decades-long attacks on children in juvenile detention — facilities that operated “essentially” like “Epstein island,” Manly says. The managers of those county employees would have been members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU); their employees would have been members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

Both government unions are among the most powerful in California politics.

Lorena Gonzalez may wish someone had told her about Chesterton’s Fence. When she left the state Assembly in 2022, it was to accept her reward, not in heaven but in Sacramento, as president of the California Federation of Labor. CFL is a kind of union trade association, a Death Star that represents the union bosses who raise the cash to finance the campaigns of candidates who, once in office, return the favor with sweetheart deals — deals like LA county’s payment of $4 billion in taxpayer funds to cover up crimes committed by government employees who are also union members.

Manly is not to be trifled with. He has earned a national reputation for winning large settlements and verdicts in high-profile sexual abuse cases, particularly against the Catholic Church, USA Gymnastics, and in California’s union-run public schools where, Manly says, a new culture of hostility to parents has led to hundreds of sexual assaults against children. He wants Essayli to use federal power to crack open these cases and identify the people who committed these crimes — and who may still be on the payroll.

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In other news from the Week in Populism: Hoping to improve his chances at capturing the title of “Most Ferocious Anti-Trumper in the Race for the White House,” Governor Newsom is moving ahead with a plan to tear down the nonpartisan commission that draws voting districts in order to help Democrats win more seats in Congress. He’s doing this, as you likely know, because President Trump has asked Texas Governor Greg Abbott to redraw the Texas map to boost Republican control of the House. The problem for Newsom: Texas state law allows for redrafts of the voting map. In California, Newsom would have to amend the state constitution — which requires voter approval at the ballot box.

In order to make a difference in the outcome of California’s March 2026 and November 2026 general elections, Newsom has some tight deadlines. Legislators return from vacation on August 18, likely with a bill already drafted and sizzling on their desks in the capitol. Newsom would (just as likely) sign their bill immediately, and Attorney General Rob Bonta would likely approve their initiative, clearing the path to furnish California voters with the chance to replace current nonpartisan voting commissions with a new voting map drawn by the legislature. Foxes would once again guard chickens.

Voters would have their say on November 4 — just 88 days from today. Reasonable people disagree on the probable outcome of that vote. Political consultant (and CPC contributor and Substack ([link removed]) author) Jon Fleischman told the Los Angeles Times ([link removed]) , “If Gavin Newsom places this on the ballot, it means he’s already done his polling and has figured out that it will pass because he cares more [about] running for president than redistricting in California. And he knows he can’t afford to make this play and lose.”

But others predict a November 4 loss is Newsom’s likeliest outcome. Assemblymember Alex Lee, among the capitol’s most leftwing lawmakers, observed, “Trying to save democracy by destroying democracy is dangerous and foolish.” Voters, he and others say, are likely to chastise the governor.

Win or lose, the result will likely move to the courts. Judges will weigh in. The clock will run. Registrars of voters in the state’s 58 counties will be confronted with producing multiple sample ballots that reflect multitudinous changes in state and local voting district boundaries. Chesterton’s fence will lay scattered in the bushes. Chaos will ensue.

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Please listen to this week’s Radio Free California podcast ([link removed]) , in which Cal Policy’s Sheridan Karras answers the question, “Where have all the children gone?” Her research into state data shows that families are moving their K-12 kids out of California’s union-run public schools into myriad alternatives — including charter schools, homeschools, and micro-schools. How have California teachers unions responded? By blocking the exits: a bill now moving toward the governor’s office would threaten charter schools’ ability to operate in California, especially the ones offering the most flexible options. That would fulfill the teacher union’s unofficial motto: What we do not control completely, we will burn to the ground. Sheridan begins at about the 54-minute mark, but the whole show (featuring cohost and CPC boardmember David Bahnsen) is wonderful.

— by CPC president Will Swaim
New Podcast ()
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** Radio Free California #401: The Mission District Mamdani
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On this week's podcast, CPC president Will Swaim and CPC board members David Bahnsen: San Francisco’s Saikat Chakrabarti is wealthy, naive, and running for Nancy Pelosi’s House seat on a socialist vibes platform. Newsom races to the bottom in his redistricting battle with Texas Governor Greg Abbott. David applies his “Ten-Second Rule” to the fraudster behind the California secession movement. Listen now. ([link removed])

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** Iowa Senator Slams Wasteful California Rail Transportation Projects
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Sen. Joni Ernst’s report on wasteful federally-funded construction projects takes aim at three transit projects in Northern California. CPC visiting fellow Marc Joffe explains why slashing federal funding for the BART and Caltrain extensions could be good news for Bay Area taxpayers. Read the article. ([link removed])


** ICYMI: Declining enrollment in traditional schools highlights California’s need for alternatives
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Over the last decade, 45 of 58 California counties saw declining traditional public school enrollment, while charter school enrollment grew in 38 counties. CPC Research Manager Sheridan Karras examines the growth of education alternatives in the Golden State — and the political forces working to shut them down. Read now ([link removed]) .
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