Politics

Mel Levine, left, Henry Waxman, center, and Howard Berman were Democratic allies who served together in Congress. The strategist behind their election, Howard’s brother, Michael, made a habit of avoiding photographers. (UPI) A visit with Michael Berman, the political savant and California kingmaker who died last week, was a throwback to another time. He worked … Read more

Fresh from Austria, a socialist country, Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to become a Republican after listening to “the debates of Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon when they were debating for the presidential race,” or so he told television talk show host Bill O’Reilly in May 2001. ” … Hubert Humphrey spoke about things I heard in … Read more

Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff walk through their L.A. neighborhood last year. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) The protesters lugged the charred couch into the middle of the two-lane street, depositing it directly in front of Vice President Kamala Harris’ Brentwood residence. The activists, from the Sunrise Movement, were there … Read more

When apartment owners met recently with officials in the new City of West Hollywood, a familiar figure from Santa Monica’s rent control wars was at their side. David M. Shell’s appearance on behalf of the landlords was one of the first indications that the conservative Republican attorney was back on the job after waging an … Read more

Polls show the U.S. public stands firmly behind the war on terrorism, but who will stand with Julia Zepeda? It didn’t take an international terrorist to upend her life, just a trio of home-grown ones. Zepeda’s daughter died the day after Christmas as she waited in a pickup truck with a friend outside a Hawthorne … Read more

He was comic relief in a serious era, the irreverent court jester of an administration some saw as sanctimonious. While Jimmy Carter lusted in his heart, brother Billy let his lust for life hang out. He guzzled beer and bourbon. He entered belly-flop contests. In 1979, the self-described “world’s most public drunk,” checked into the … Read more

On a cool afternoon in October, Sandra Friend sits near a patch of green clover outside her small country home near Yuba City, thinking of her late son as the wind rustles through the trees. Friend, 43, says she wants “California voters to know what kind of offenders are on death row,” men like Robert Boyd Rhoades, who … Read more

In 1992, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer pitched themselves to California voters as the dynamic duo, as “Thelma and Louise,” as “Cagney and Lacey.” They were trying to convince voters to do something no state had ever done: Elect two women to represent them in the U.S. Senate. When they got to Washington, reporters followed … Read more

Kamala Harris is being described in starkly different terms by Republican Donald Trump, Democrat Hillary Clinton and fellow members of their parties. (Los Angeles Times photo illustration / Photos via Associated Press) As Kamala Harris swiftly ascended to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket this week, a clear narrative surfaced from her supporters. “I’ve … Read more

Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Big Bear Lake), right, organized a bipartisan dinner party for California House members. He’s seen here with Rep. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana). (Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc / Getty Images) Over homemade tacos at a Capitol Hill row home, several of California’s members of Congress did something unusual last year: they … Read more