Texas Gov. Greg Abbott invokes secession, earns praise from California GOP lawmaker

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TEXAS GOV INVOKES SECESSION IN STATEMENT. CALIFORNIA LAWMAKER SHOWS SUPPORT

The Civil War ended 159 years ago, but the language used by the secessionists who started it lives on today, most recently in a statement from Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

In a statement issued last week, Abbott said that “the federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the states” and announced that he was deploying the Texas National Guard and other state public safety personnel to “secure the Texas border.”

It’s the word “compact” that draws concern from some, as that is how seven of the 11 seceding states (including Texas) referred to the Constitution in their ordinances of secession, according to Civil War historian Stephen West on Bluesky.

It wasn’t just West that noticed that.

The Hill’s Nick Robertson wrote about Abbott’s language choice as well, in an article discussing how GOP governors were rallying around him.

“The so-called ‘compact theory’ is a rejected idea of state supremacy used to justify the secession of Confederate states during the Civil War. The Supreme Court repeatedly shot down the legal theory in the early years of the United States, when it was first proposed to nullify federal legislation during former President John Adams’s time in office,” Robertson wrote.

It’s not just words and theory, though.

Abbott has defied a Supreme Court ruling allowing federal agents to cut down razor wire that Texas installed along part of the border. The governor refuses to allow the U.S. Border Patrol access to it, saying that Texas constitutional authority is “the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary,” according to PBS.

Abbott’s showdown with the federal government has a supporter in California Assemblyman Bill Essayli, R-Riverside.

Last week, he penned a letter to Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, asking Newsom to “make a public declaration of solidarity” with Abbott on this issue.

“As a border state, Californian has suffered substantial economic and societal harm because of the porous border. While I appreciate your efforts to crackdown on fentanyl smuggling by increasing the number of California National Guard service members deployed to interdict drugs at U.S. ports of entry, more must be done to secure our southern border,” Essayli said in the letter.

Essayli spokesman Shawn Lewis told The Bee in a statement that the assemblyman’s support for Texas’ actions “is rooted in the plain text” of the Constitution.

“This has nothing to do with any discredited political theories used by Southern Democrats who started the Civil War,” he said.

Newsom, who routinely slams Abbott’s policies, isn’t interested in Essayli’s request.

Governor spokeswoman Erin Mellon said in a statement that California relies on a “comprehensive and humane approach” to the border in order to keep both Californians and migrants safer.

“We don’t play with people’s lives to score cheap political points, instead we work with our local partners to keep our border communities safe and to treat people with dignity who are fleeing unimaginable circumstances and seeking a better life,” Mellon said.

She pointed to Newsom’s call to Congress to act to fix the immigration system, help secure the border and provide necessary support for local communities.

“Texas is moving in the opposite direction by obstructing the federal government from enforcing immigration laws“ so that Texas can gain politically, she said.

DRINK UP! SENATE BILL ALLOWS RESTAURANTS, BARS TO HAVE OUTDOOR DRINKING

In a bid to perk up business for California downtown bars and restaurants, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, has introduced a bill, SB 969, to allow cities to designate temporary “entertainment zones,” where businesses within that zone would be authorized to sell alcoholic drinks.

Current law allows licensed vendors at downtown fairs and festivals to sell booze, but not the neighboring bars and restaurants. This bill aims to create parity, and provide some much-needed income for a sector still struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Getting people back out in the streets is key to the economic recovery of cities across California,” Wiener said in a statement. “By creating Entertainment Zones, we’re giving people a reason to go back to areas where recovery has been slow while creating a vital new revenue stream for bars and restaurants.”

Wiener’s office cited research from the University of Toronto that found that no California city has fully recovered the foot traffic they saw pre-COVID prior to 2020. San Jose comes close, at 96%, while Los Angeles is at 83%, Redding is 76% and San Francisco is 67%.

The bill has the backing of two big city mayors — San Francisco’s London Breed and San Jose’s Matt Mahan.

“In San Francisco we are bringing different strategies to create more dynamic neighborhoods, especially in areas that for too long have been focused on simply being a 9 to 5 destination,” Breed said in a statement.

Mahan said that downtown San Jose has recovered faster than other major California cities, and that SB 969 would provide a much-needed boost.

“When safely implemented, SB 969 would make it easier for local businesses to host block parties, wine walks and events that bring us all together to help drive the vibrant future of our downtown,” he said.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“So pathetically weak, this Republican Party, and the new speaker saying, ‘Oh yes sir, what else would you like us to do?’”

- California Gov. Gavin Newsom, in an interview with MSNBC’s Alex Wagner, ripping Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, accusing them of capitulating to former President Donald Trump’s demands that congressional Republicans torpedo a border deal with President Joe Biden.

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• Vice President Kamala Harris returned to her native Northern California Thursday, telling state Democratic officials and donors that they’re in for a tough, tight race against former President Donald Trump, via Lindsey Holden and Jenavieve Hatch.

• The California Public Utilities Commission approved a $45 million fine Thursday against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for the Dixie Fire, the second-largest wildfire in state history that scorched nearly 1 million acres in 2021 and gutted more than 1,300 structures, via Ishani Desai.