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How California Became a New Center of Political Corruption
- mitchbob 2y agohttps://archive.ph/AOrW6 https://archive.ph/AOrW6
- pfdietz 2y agoWhen you have laws that effectively incentivize corruption, you get corruption. The laws here are a maze of obstacles to development. While ostensibly for more or less benign purposes, the effect is "you will bribe the gatekeepers or they won't let you build."
- vonnik 2y agoI'm not sure California is "new" as a center of political corruption. Willie Brown added many layers of intentional complexity to San Francisco's city government while he was mayor (1996-2004). The only way for a citizen or business to navigate that complexity is by paying people, both legally and illegally. SF's Mohammed Nuru (mentioned in the article) learned at Willie's feet. So did current mayor London Breed, who worked as a nanny for Willie, and dated Mohammed. If you throw in his other acolytes, Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris (and the late Ed Lee), it is clear that we are living in Willie Brown's world. And that world is one of transactional politics.