Coronavirus summit, or stunt? + COVID-19 cases plateau + New ads for affirmative action

Good morning and happy Monday! Election Day is just eight days away!

NORTH STATE CORONAVIRUS SUMMIT

The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors is embroiled in a fierce and public dispute over a conference led by Republican state lawmakers who are critical of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

Five GOP lawmakers sent the board a letter this month asking them to send a delegate to a conference about the pandemic involving officials from more than a dozen mostly rural Northern California counties.

What sparked infighting between board members was the tone of the letter and the decision by board Chairman Brian Veerkamp to send someone to the event even though his counterparts voted against allowing him to appoint a delegate for the meeting.

The invitation plainly takes aim at Newsom. Two of the lawmakers behind it, Assemblymen James Gallagher and Kevn Kiley, in fact, are suing the Newsom administration in Sutter County Superior Court in a case that turns on the governor’s use of emergency powers this year.

“In these trying times, the disconnect between the state government in Sacramento and our way of life in Northern California has never been more painfully clear. The extended state of emergency has destroyed even the appearance of representative government and left our communities as mere subjects of overreaching state power,” the letter from the lawmakers’ reads. Newsom’s “machinations have been guided by politics and the influence of Sacramento special interests more than public health and the well-being of our citizens. We will call it exactly what it is: an autocracy, and not a benevolent one.”

On Friday afternoon, Supervisor Sue Novasel alleged Veerkamp abused emergency powers by unilaterally deciding to send County Sheriff John D’Agostini to the conference.

Veerkamp said a chance to meet with lawmakers openly looking for input on coronavirus is too important to pass up.

“If you don’t go discuss things with elected representatives, they’re hard to get a hold of at times,” Veerkamp said.

But Novasel said the event was little more than a stunt.

“This letter is so incendiary,” Novasel said of the lawmakers’ invitation. “This is nothing but political fanfare.”

Read more about the flap in today’s story by Vincent Moleski.

CORONAVIRUS PLATEAU

Coronavirus hospitalizations in California are plateauing.

So are intensive care unit admissions.

Texas, the second most populous state after California, has 10 million fewer people. Yet as of mid-October, it had recorded more COVID-19 deaths.

As coronavirus cases rise across the country, California – at least for now – has managed to stabilize its infection rate.

“We have done better than other states,” Gov. Newsom said last week. “But we’ve had to be tough, and we’ve had to be vigilant, and we’ve had to be mindful.”

The state’s improving COVID-19 rates, however, come at a cost to the state’s economic prosperity, said Sanjay Varshney, a finance professor at California State University, Sacramento.

California has the 10th lowest state positivity rate in the country, but the third highest unemployment rate, according to Johns Hopkins University and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“There’s always a trade-off between lives and livelihoods,” Varshney said. “We have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, so we paid the price.”

California’s coronavirus success came after a summer spike in infections, when the rate of positive tests over a two-week period often exceeded 7%, well above the World Health Organization’s recommended 5% threshold for governments to consider reopening.

Now, while individual counties vary, the state’s positive test rate has dropped to about 3%, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Read more about how we’re doing in today’s story by Sophia Bollag.

DON’T MISS: What do you want your Capitol Annex to look like in five years after its $755 million renovation? A square? A circle? A pair of T’s? The Sacramento Bee’s Hannah Wiley breaks down the options in this story today. We’re offering this story to subscribers first. If you’re waiting for a deal on a digital subscription to The Bee, we have one for you here and the first two months are free.

NEW PROP. 16 AD DROPS AMID ELECTION UNCERTAINTY

With just days to go before Election Day, the Yes on Prop. 16 campaign has unveiled a new seven-figure ad buy for the ballot measure.

The ad, titled “Picking Sides,” touts some of the high profile supporters of Proposition 16, including vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris, Gov. Gavin Newsom, the American Civil Liberties Union and the co-founders of Black Lives Matter.

“We know that in recent days, voters are moving in our direction — and among people who have already voted, we’re ahead. We’re confident that with this positive, unifying message and an expanded ad buy across the state, California voters will continue to say Yes to Proposition 16,” said Yes on Prop. 16 consultant Courtni Pugh in a statement.

You can watch the ad here.

The ad buy comes as Proposition 16 struggles in the polls.

While David Binder Research finds Prop. 16 to be even odds (45% for and 45% against), the Public Policy Institute of California finds that the ballot measure is still running behind, with 37% in favor and 50% against.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“One of my kids just said ‘you’re the most beautiful mom in the world’.And now I have to hunt for whatever it is of mine they broke.”

- Sen. Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, via Twitter.

Best of the Bee:

• Fact check: Uber and Lyft in Prop. 22 ads say they reduce DUIs, but what do studies show? via Jeong Park

• Most people who leave California do it for economic reasons. The cost of living, particularly housing, is now far higher in California than almost anywhere else in the United States. But a turbulent 2020 has added new motivations for migration. Amid coronavirus shutdowns, wildfires, street protests and a tense election-year political environment, some say California’s “charm” has finally worn too thin, via Tony Bizjak.

• It was a hug and a sound bite that prompted groans among Democrats around the country, with even moderates complaining that Sen. Dianne Feinstein undercut her party’s argument against Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, via Kate Irby.

• California’s air-pollution agency, stung by allegations of racism within its ranks, pledged Thursday to establish a “zero-tolerance racism policy” and increase diversity in its staff and leadership, via Dale Kasler.