It's Thursday. A California law is supposed to make political texts more transparent and less spamlike. Plus, Karen Bass wins the race for Los Angles mayor. |
 | | Democratic campaign messages sent in the name of President Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi featured prominently in texts submitted by readers. Many complained that they had difficulty opting out.Zak Bikel/The New York Times |
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Like voters around the country, people in California were inundated with political text messages during the midterm election campaign. In October alone, Californians received a whopping 163.9 million of the messages, according to estimates from RoboKiller, an app that blocks robocalls and spam texts. |
Many Californians found the electioneering texts annoying, polarizing, occasionally dubious and definitely intrusive. Among those who felt that way was Amber Stoffel, the manager of a community science program in Huntington Beach, who received a barrage of unsolicited texts from local and congressional candidates across the political spectrum. |
"Hi Amber, this is Heather, a volunteer with Katie Porter for Congress!" said one message promoting the re-election campaign of Porter, a two-term Democrat. |
Another message sent to Stoffel, this time disparaging Porter, came from the Congressional Leadership Fund, a Republican political action committee. |
Stoffel told me she was registered without a party preference. "I guess that makes me free game for everybody," she said of the flood of political text messages. "To be honest, it feels like spam." |
Unlike most other states, California has a law specifically intended to make political texts more transparent and less spamlike. The state has long been a pioneer in U.S. tech regulation. Yet, as Stoffel's experience suggests, the narrow rules may have limited effectiveness. |
I'm a tech reporter at The New York Times and I starting looking into the boom in political texting this fall. I wanted to learn more about the campaign messages, partly because, unlike political ads on broadcast TV or radio, texting uses a private channel that is not subject to public scrutiny. |
Another big difference: Unlike broadcast TV and radio ads, mass campaign texts do not have to adhere to federal rules requiring political ads to say who paid for them. |
To help with the reporting, more than 960 readers, including more than 100 in California, answered questions from The Times about their experiences. People also sent in more than 1,000 images of the political texts they received. |
In 2019, California became the first state to pass a measure requiring a "paid for by" disclosure in mass political texting. Called the Text Message Disclose Act, the law requires candidates, party committees and independent expenditure groups sending bulk text messages that support or oppose a political candidate or a ballot measure to state who paid for them. |
Given California's rules, I was curious to see whether electioneering texts sent to Californians provided more details about their sponsors than similar messages sent to voters in other states. Examples sent in by readers suggest that at least some do. |
One text assailing Proposition 30, a state ballot measure that would have increased taxes to help promote electric vehicles, for instance, clearly stated that it was paid for by "No on 30," a ballot committee. It also noted that the group's "top funders" included Reed Hastings, the chief executive of Netflix. |
Even so, it can be difficult to figure out who is behind a political text message. The state's transparency rules apply only to California candidates and ballot measure committees, not to congressional races. |
Take that text from "a volunteer with Katie Porter for Congress." To check who paid for the message, I emailed Porter's campaign last week. |
The next day, I received a call not from Porter's campaign, but from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Neither the campaign nor the committee responded to questions about who sponsored the Porter text. |
In California, federal campaigns don't have to play by local political transparency rules. |
Natasha Singer is a technology reporter for The Times who covers consumer privacy.
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 | | Karen Bass at her election night party at the Palladium in Los Angeles.Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York Times |
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If you read one story, make it this |
 | | Malia Cohen defeated Lanhee Chen, a Republican who gave his party its best shot in years to end its losing streak in statewide elections.Jeff Chiu/Associated Press |
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- Car crash: A driver plowed a car into a large group of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department cadets as they were on a training run, injuring 22, five of them critically.
- Golden Globes: Brendan Fraser, whose performance in "The Whale" has made him a likely awards candidate this year, said he wouldn't attend the Golden Globes in January if he's nominated, The Associated Press reports.
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- Stanford: The university plans to purchase and renovate the property of a nearby college that has scaled down its programs significantly amid financial difficulties, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
- Housing issues: Members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors used a public hearing to bash state housing officials for what they said were unrealistic expectations on housing production, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
- San Jose mayor: Matt Mahan appears headed to victory in San Jose's race for mayor after Cindy Chavez conceded to him on Wednesday, The Mercury News reports.
- San Francisco activist: Peter Gabel, the co-founder of the Noe Valley Farmers Market, and a longtime civic fixture, has died at 75, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
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 | | Christopher Testani for The New York Times. |
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 | | Three Bridges Vista Point at Tolay Lake Regional Park.Sonoma County Regional Parks |
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Today's tip comes from Suzanne Tucker, who recommends hiking in Sonoma County: |
"At Tolay Lake Regional Park, in the hills southeast of Petaluma, there is a wonderful hike that takes you along overlooks of the Petaluma River and then onto an overlook back to San Francisco Bay and the San Francisco skyline. Another fabulous place to hike is in Helen Putnam Regional Park, which although in the city of Petaluma, is an oasis of bucolic farmland and rolling hills." |
Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We'll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter. |
We're writing about how Californians celebrate Thanksgiving. Do you make stuffing with sourdough, or opt for roasted brussels sprouts instead of green bean casserole? Maybe you always travel to a special spot within the Golden State. |
Email us at CAtoday@nytimes.com with your California Thanksgiving traditions and memories. Please include your name and the city where you live. |
We may include your email response in an upcoming newsletter or in print. By emailing us a response, you agree that you have read, understand and accept the Reader Submission Terms in relation to all of the content and other information you send to us ("Your Content"). If you do not accept these terms, do not submit any content. |
 | | Harm Venhuizen/Associated Press |
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And before you go, some good news |
When Joseph Chahayed immigrated from Syria to Los Angeles, he envisioned a better life and a brighter future for his family. |
For 42 years he worked tirelessly toward that dream, and, last week, he finally received some well-earned recognition when the Altadena gas station he owns was awarded a $1 million prize for selling the winning $2 billion Powerball ticket. Under California's Powerball rules, the retailer that sells the winning ticket earns 0.5 percent share of the jackpot, with the reward capped at $1 million. |
"He's a really hard-working man," his son, Danny Chahayed, told The Los Angeles Times. "Seventy-five years old and he refuses to take a day off; he's up at like 5 a.m. every day. No one deserves it as much as he does." |
The newspaper reported that the elder Chahayed plans to share the lottery money with his family and grandchildren, who continue to provide him the motivation and support to keep working and building community. |
Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow. — Soumya |
Briana Scalia and Isabella Grullón Paz contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. |
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