Comments
LT. GOVERNOR RACE - Californians are starting to focus on the important contest to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom. Four months from today, the top two finishers in the crowded, highly competitive June 2 primary could end up anointing a single Democrat as all-but-certain successor in the extraordinarily powerful job as state executive and chief steward of California’s parklands and ecological splendor.
But alongside the next Governor as top protector of the state’s thousand-mile coastline and millions of acres of state lands, which help generate billions of dollars in recreation and tourism revenue, is the little-noticed role of Lt. Governor. It’s this lower-profile, high-stakes “LG” job, which two-term Democrat Eleni Kounalakis is set to hand off in 2026, that gives the office-holder a pivotal voice on the three-member State Lands Commission (SLC). The LG often chairs this commission, which is key for protecting the environment.
The SLC safeguards enormous swaths of beaches, riversides, estuaries, and inland terrain from the mountainous north to the desert south of our Golden State. It’s this office that some longtime profiteers are eyeing as a chance to enrich themselves and shift state policy in the direction of plunder, not preservation.
One favor-seeking corporation especially worth watching is Cadiz Inc. For more than 35 years, the L.A.-based company has sought to portray itself as a viable dispenser of water from precious, ancient aquifers beneath the Mojave Desert. In reality, the company’s scheme to pump out and pipe away ground water has been all but stopped by years of fervent, effective, bipartisan resistance from residents including multiple Tribes. Also blocking the scheme is a hard-won 2019 state law, signed by Gov. Newsom, that blocks depletion of the aquifers to harm natural springs that flow from them.
Scorned by the public and Californians who study the facts of its highly speculative business plan, Cadiz has turned instead to elites and politicians in position to make decisions on land use and water as a way to ingratiate itself, undo protections, and grab the aquifers’ bounty. The office of Lt. Governor is one they appear to be targeting.
In June 2023, Cadiz opened its corporate checkbook and made a $5,000 contribution to Fiona Ma, the state treasurer now running for Lt. Governor.
At the time, the state treasurer and LG candidate was engulfed in an ugly scandal involving sexual harassment allegations by an underling. The suit, which Fiona Ma eventually settled in August 2024, accused the state official of exposing herself and climbing into bed with a staffer. The state also reached a separate settlement with the accuser around the same time.
More recently, Fiona Ma has come under scrutiny for involvement with a tech firm promoting construction of a costly gondola in Anaheim. Ethics rules require state officials to keep an arm’s length, at minimum, from any private enterprise seeking their official support or action on matters of government business they decide on. But, as the Cadiz donation to her campaign shows, such ethics standards do not apply specifically to companies making contributions to state officials through their campaign accounts.
The whiff of influence-peddling has followed Cadiz for years. Fanning this stench is outspoken opposition to the company from labor and women’s rights leader Dolores Huerta among dozens of others, making Cadiz one of the most reviled entities on the civic landscape. A former top lawyer representing Cadiz, David Bernhardt, became Interior Secretary in the first Trump Administration. Now Bernhardt has returned as a lobbyist for a Cadiz shell entity called Fenner Gap Mutual Water Company, whose official contact in California is an executive at Cadiz.
As the favored candidate of Trump-friendly Cadiz, Fiona Ma will have to answer for the company she keeps. She faces serious competition in the contest for LG from several traditional, more progressive Democrats who reject entanglement with would-be predators of the environment. These include climate risk expert and former Sausalito mayor Janelle Kellman, who in October earned the endorsement of East Area Progressive Democrats (EAPD) in Los Angeles County, the largest grassroots Democratic club in the state.
Fiona Ma may be a top choice for the small cluster of Cadiz promoters and their increasingly Trump-aligned brand. But a much more sizable coalition of Californians is thirsting for candidates untainted by corporate water-carrying and degradation of the environment. At stake is who will safeguard the state’s public lands and be one heartbeat away from the governorship, at a time when resisting the Trump Administration’s power-grabs is a top priority for voters.
(Hans Johnson is a longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, environmental justice, and public education. His columns have appeared in USA Today and leading newspapers across more than 20 states. Based in Eagle Rock, he serves as president of East Area Progressive Democrats (EAPD), California’s largest grassroots Democratic club with over 1,100 members. Hans brings decades of organizing and policy experience to his work, advancing equity and accountability in local and national politics.)
