By Tom Phillips
Just how corrupt is Sacramento?
This eternal question got fresh legs this fall when one of the former members of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s closest inner circle, former Chief of Staff Dana Williamson, was indicted for her alleged role in siphoning campaign funds from then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
Williamson was infamous for her brass-knuckles style of interactions with lawmakers and just about anybody. But if she’s fast and loose with money, who else is?
The answer is right before our eyes in the Capitol.
There is a huge renovation that has been under way for three years so that the legislators can have modernized digs, the infamous Capitol Annex. And the Democrats in charge, month after month, interview after interview, have refused to say how much of your money this project is costing.
And we, based on their rules, can basically do nothing about it.
It is so public, so blatant and so consistent. And Democrats embrace it as a perfectly acceptable way of doing the public’s business. The California Legislature has intentionally designed itself to be an opaque institution. When it comes to spending money on themselves, it can be difficult if not impossible for the public to monitor what the leading lawmakers are doing.
The Capitol Annex project is merely the latest case in point. The reason for this project is perfectly valid. Behind the original capitol to its east was a 525,000-square foot addition completed in 1949. The original annex had little architectural flare, wasn’t designed for the disabled and simply wasn’t worthy of being connected to one of the state’s great buildings.
Under the Legislature’s direction, the old annex was demolished in 2022. The new annex was supposed to cost $543 million and be completed by now. Over the years the Legislature has increased potential spending upwards to $1.1 billion. But the latest actual cost estimate is a public mystery.
Normally any member of the public can apply a little sunshine to government recalcitrance to be transparent by submitting a request for project cost information via the California Public Records Act. But the Legislature has conveniently exempted itself from this act and basically sets its own rules.
The latest “report” on the project doesn’t have a cost estimate and only a pledge for a future one. The state is getting rid of its project management firm and hiring a new one. It will fall to new management to estimate the cost after taking into account “litigation costs, Pandemic-era supply chain issues, inflation, and the cost of delays.”
California’s Legislature has done everything in its power to keep details of this project as secret as humanly possible. More than 2,000 people familiar with this project have reportedly signed non-disclosure agreements to prevent details from leaking out.
The project cost is even a mystery to most lawmakers, particularly all Republicans. Two of their local members of the California Assembly, Josh Hoover of Folsom and Joe Patterson of Rocklin, wrote to Gov. Gavin Newsom last month, requesting that he step in and shake loose the information.
“Taxpayers deserve a full accounting of this project. We urge you to act without delay to provide the requested information and restore confidence in this process,” Hoover and Patterson wrote.
There is no evidence that any lawmaker is pocketing any money in all this. But the carefully orchestrated secrecy and obfuscation is downright dishonest, which is at the foundation of corrupt behavior.
This annex, whenever it is completed and at whatever the ultimate cost, is where some of California’s most important public business will be conducted. Its construction should be a period of anticipation and local pride. Instead, it is a sad reminder that the Legislature, under one party’s rule for a very long time, has developed a deep cultural aversion to being open with those who elected them.
Sacramento doesn’t have to be the breeding ground for corruption that is today. It just requires leadership by example.
