Toni Atkins campaigned for governor during a two-day stop in Fresno on Thursday and Friday.

The San Diego Democrat met with the Central Valley Community Foundation, a group of women entrepreneurs, and spoke at the Eccles Family Rural West Conference at Fresno State.

Atkins also attended a fundraiser hosted by State Center Chancellor Carole Goldsmith, and met with a group of Realtors on Friday morning.

She heard about water, including issues of storage.

“We talked about water in the Valley, but it really is the infrastructure throughout the state that needs to be focused on,” Atkins said in an interview with Politics 101.

She said she would continue Gov. Gavin Newsom’s support for the proposed Sites Reservoir in Colusa County.

“What’s unfortunate is, it took us a friggin’ decade to move on Sites,” Atkins said.

Atkins On DEI, Progressive Politics, Harris

Atkins called attacks on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion a “smokescreen.”

“I don’t know that we need to beat that horse to death. We just need to be engaged at work,” Atkins said. “I think it’s about equity in terms of the services government provides to communities.”

The 2024 election showed a shift away from progressive politics. She still labels herself a progressive, but said there needs to be a focus on affordability for California residents.

She was the leader in the Assembly as Speaker, and President Pro Tem in the state Senate. She recognizes that the governor has different leadership responsibilities.

“If you’re the governor, you’re an executive, you have a different role and you have a responsibility to 39-plus million people. You don’t necessarily have to be responsive to a caucus. And have my positions changed? I’ve always been aware that we need to be careful when we make these policies, that there is a cost to it. I think the big discussions right now are around regulations,” Atkins said.

Atkins said the Women in Manufacturing group told her regulations from the California Air Resources Board are compounding challenges for small businesses.

“I think people are asking for little bit of relief, a little bit of customer service as it turns towards how they meet those requirements and goals. Maybe, you know, it’s going to take us longer to meet some of those audacious goals that we have,” Atkins said.

Political pundits are speculating whether former Vice President Kamala Harris will jump into the governor’s race. Atkins isn’t concerned.

“I’m going to stay focused on the race that I’m running right now, meeting people up and down the state, working on the issues I care about that I hear from them. That’s a question for another day, not today,” Atkins said.

Orange Cove City Manager on Administrative Leave

Daniel Parra is on the sidelines as Orange Cove city manager. The city council placed Parra — also an elected Fowler city councilmember — on administrative leave at its Jan. 8 meeting.

No one is officially saying why Parra is on leave. Sources with knowledge of the situation tell Politics 101 it is political — the new city council has issues with Parra, but does not have enough to fire him with cause.

Some of the claims against Parra include absenteeism, voter interference, and lack of transparency.

Two new members — Cassy Ortiz and Jacob Del Bosque — were elected to the city council last year.

Public Works Director/Assistant City Manager Dario Dominguez is serving as interim city manager.

Parra declined to comment.

Fresno Assistant City Manager Leaves Town

Michael Rogers left his assistant city manager position in Fresno for a similar role in Austin, Texas.

Rogers came to Fresno in November 2023 after serving as city manager in Tracy.

“I loved it. I worked with great people in Fresno,” Rogers said.

A Michigan native, Rogers worked in city government previously in Texas. His wife is from the Lone Star state, and still has several family members living there.

How Much is This Man Worth?

City of Fresno Retirement System manager Robert Theller announced he is leaving as of Jan. 2, 2026. One reason is the lack of transparency about his salary range from the city.

Theller made the announcement at the CFRS board meeting on Tuesday. The board helps set financial policy for the city’s pension system. He said the city is not setting his salary range fairly. Theller earns approximately $217,000 a year.

“The icing on the cake for me, however, was that I’d been misled since I got here in 2016,” Theller said. “I felt rather taken advantage of.”

Theller said the past three City Hall administrations told him his salary was based on comparison to other Central Valley cities. By city law, such comparisons are supposed to be made with several other cities in the state: Anaheim, Bakersfield, Long Beach, Oakland, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose, Santa Ana and Stockton.

When Theller joined Fresno in 2016, the retirement fund was at $2.4 billion. It is now at $4.2 billion, according to the CFRS.

Theller said he is considering his next move — a return to law, working with a university, or enjoying being a grandfather.

City Manager Responds to Theller’s Allegations

City Manager Georgeanne White addressed Theller’s salary and announced retirement in a statement to GV Wire.

“The Transparency Act was initially passed in 2010 and the current version is on the City’s website. It requires the disclosure of salaries of the City Manager, Assistant City Manager, City Attorney, City Clerk, City Controller, Police Chief and Fire Chief in comparison to benchmark cities. There is no requirement for the salary of the Retirement Administrator to be disclosed and compared to the benchmark cities,” White said.

“However, we use the same benchmark cities when completing salary surveys for other management positions. Since the Retirement Administrator does not report to the Administration, we are not involved in discussions regarding his salary. However, on November 1, 2023 a copy of the Transparency Act was provided to Counsel for the Retirement System. If the Retirement Board wanted to use the benchmark cities for comparison purposes, that would have been within their purview.

“I can’t speak to Mr. Theller’s reason for leaving his position; however, I wish him well.”

Board Wants to Keep Theller

The board said it prefers that Theller stay.

“I have seen this system improve dramatically under your leadership, and I really appreciate you,” board chair Phillip Hardcastle said.

In a related item, the board discussed increasing the compensation level for the next retirement administrator.

A comparison study conducted by Hardcastle found the retirement administrator salary is below the $353,402 average.

Theller also serves as the chief investment officer. Only one other agency has the same person performing both the retirement manager and CIO job — San Francisco — which pays more than $600,000.

Hardcastle said the retirement system may have to hire two people to do Theller’s work.

The board discussed hiring an expert to provide a more formal comparison study, and formed a committee to hire a professional firm.