Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings is getting a refund of $1 million from a committee supporting Matt Mahan for governor of California. It's not clear whether Hastings asked for the refund five days after making the May 15 donation given that Mahan has an almost-zero shot of making it through the primary or if it was returned by the committee voluntarily. [California Post]
“I was in the startup world,” he said. “Before that though I was a public school teacher.” The crowd applauded, and Mahan shot them a winning smile. He said he taught 7th and 8th grade English and history. “That’s wonderful,” Stewart responded, laying a trap. “And you left there . . . when?” “Teaching? 2008,” Mahan replied, stiffening slightly.
“The legal letter was just completely wrong in its interpretation of the law. And it had real implications for press freedom,” he said. “He was given a bunch of chances to sort of be like, oh, in hindsight, we shouldn't have sent that letter. And at every turn, he has doubled down.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom's former Chief of Staff, Dana Williamson, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud. Williamson was originally charged with 23 federal counts. Among the charges, she was accused of co-conspiring in a scheme to steal about $225,000 from a dormant campaign account belonging to Xavier Becerra.
Though it's not likely, Democrats in California run the risk of splitting their votes in the June primary and getting locked out of the November election, so some are arguing for being strategic with your vote. A vote for Matt Mahan or Katie Porter might, at this point, be a throwaway vote in the June 2 primary unless one or the other rises suddenly in the polls to overtake Tom Steyer or Xavier Becerra.
"If somewhere in a footnote, history should record my public service, I would hope that they record me as one who cared more for people than for policy, one who was a no-nonsense guy who worked hard for those in need of help, but who wasn't hesitant to knock heads of bureaucrats in order to get things done," he told supporters at the kickoff to his Senate campaign in 1992.
