With the race for California Attorney General heating up, Republican challenger Michael Gates told GV Wire that state law does not allow legislators to single out the county when it comes to forcing a contested transportation tax onto the ballot.

His assessment of the situation comes as Fresno County has taken the state to court over AB 1923, which compelled supervisors to put the Measure S transportation tax measure onto the November ballot.

In a conversation Gates had with GV Wire earlier this month, the former Huntington Beach city attorney, who had his own experience defending that locality from state law, called the action “unconstitutional.”

In addition to matters of local control, he said as attorney general, he would refocus his office on waste, fraud, and abuse, and criminal cases that county attorney general’s would otherwise ignore.

Questions and an invitation to speak with GV Wire were extended to Attorney General Rob Bonta’s campaign.

“Fresno should be challenging this legislation because the state can only pass laws that apply equally to everyone under the 14th Amendment,” Gates said. “They cannot simply go out and pass laws that are punitive or single out certain jurisdictions like Fresno.”

He said it plays into a larger trend of state control over local matters, especially when it comes to housing and land use.

“Local decision makers know better what their communities need than Sacramento leadership,” Gates said. “I will be coming down on the side of local control, I will not be suing cities left and right to force them into high density housing programs that they do not want for themselves.”

Using Authority Over DAs for Public Safety, 2nd Amendment

Gates said he would use his authority over district attorneys to maintain public safety and prosecute criminal cases ignored by county law enforcement.

Unlike land use decisions, which Gates said the constitution gives control to local governments, Gates said district attorneys answer to the state through the attorney general.

“I am charged under Article 5, Section 13 of the California Constitution to make sure that all laws are enforced consistently,” Gates said. “If they are not, I can set the district attorneys aside and reach down and prosecute those cases myself.”

He said with the 1,200 attorneys in the California Department of Justice, he would have the resources by reducing fights against President Donald Trump’s administration or against business deals such as the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.

Bonta in July successfully delayed a merger between the two California-based movie studios, saying in a news release that the merger would lead to increased costs in the movie industry by reducing competition.

Gates, however, said it diverts resources away from public safety and against investigating corruption. Gates estimates $425 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse that have accumulated over the past five years — a figure often touted by conservative political candidates. For comparison, the most recent California state budget was $351 billion.

He brought up hospice care fraud that has been prevalent in California. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Bonta have said that the state took action by putting a moratorium on new hospice licenses in 2022.

“When we correct course and we actually put the priorities of everyday Californians over politics and we’re fighting to reduce crime, we’re fighting to reduce corruption, we’re gonna reorganize and we are going to reassign these attorneys who are currently on fool’s errands,” Gates said.

California Needs to Align With Federal Law: Gates

The attorney general acts independently of the governor or the Legislature. Gates said that means regardless of how lawmakers act, he would ensure compliance with federal law, especially Title IX, when it comes to trans athletes in sports, election law, immigration law, and the Second Amendment.

He said he would send notices to sheriff’s offices that don’t issue concealed weapons permits within 90 days.

Gates made statewide news when California went after Huntington Beach for not complying with housing density laws. The city argued that its status as a charter city exempted it from state requirements.

Huntington Beach lost its lawsuits.

Clovis was named in similar lawsuits for not meeting its housing density requirements.

Gates said the state still has not demonstrated that high-density housing brings down prices.

“It’s designed to remodel or reshape communities and deprive people of single- family suburban-style home ownership and replace it with identity living for highly transient residents,” Gates said. “So it’s completely counter to promoting home ownership, investment in the community.”

Republicans Have a Better Chance This Year: Gates

Gates said with 65% of Californians saying that the state is headed in the wrong direction, a Republican candidate this year will have a better chance of winning than in recent history.

In 2022, a similar poll showed only 40% of Californians thinking the state is regressing, and Gates said a lot has to do with the attorney general’s office and its priorities around law enforcement.

Gates brought up the nearly $500,000 spent by Bonta’s campaign for legal fees to defend himself against a federal corruption probe involving the former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao and the Duong family. The bribery charges did not name Bonta, but the attorney general returned $155,000 in campaign contributions from the Duong family.

Around that time, Bonta also backed away from a run for California governor despite years of saying that he was interested in the position.

“The waste, fraud, and abuse is higher than ever of taxpayer money, the crime is as high as ever,” Gates said. “We in California live in a world where we’re making negative headlines, shocking negative headlines in national news every single week, it seems. And so, I think voters are fed up.”