U.S. Senate race starts the games of musical chairs

Remember the game of musical chairs?

A group of chairs is assembled and the players — one more than the number of chairs — march around them as music plays. When the music stops, the players scramble to sit in the chairs and the player who can’t find one is out of the game. One chair is removed and the game continues until there’s just one chair and one winner.

It’s an amusing game when played by children. It can be downright violent, essentially a brawl, when adults play, particularly after they’ve been drinking.

A multi-level political version of the game is emerging in California as at least three members of the state’s congressional delegation launch 2024 campaigns for Dianne Feinstein’s seat in the U.S. Senate, on the probably accurate assumption that she will retire after occupying it for three decades.

Two Democrats from Southern California, Orange County’s Katie Porter and Adam Schi of Los Angeles, have announced and Oakland’s Barbara Lee hasn’t made it o cial yet but has told supporters she’s planning to run.

Summary

Three members of California’s congressional delegation are running for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Dianne Feinstein, which touches off political scrambles for their congressional seats.

Other ambitious politicians could join the field once the 89-year-old Feinstein announces, as expected, that she’ll retire. Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Attorney General Rob Bonta and Health and Welfare Secretary Xavier Becerra are among the less likely possibilities, as is Gov. Gavin Newsom.

However, Kounalakis, Bonta and Becerra are also potential candidates for the governorship in 2026, when Newsom will be forced out by term limits — assuming he hasn’t already segued into some other o ce by then.

■ See WALTERS page A5

Kiley’s Corner

Letters to the Editor

Elections have consequences

EDITOR:

It has been reported that an East Coast politician lied to the voters regarding his college education, work history and ethnic origin. The media is holding his political party accountable for hiding this information from the public, thus rigging the election.

I say elections have consequences; the voters decide and will be able to make a decision two years now with another election.

Meanwhile, Biden will have to remain our president.

KEN STEERS Cameron Park

Excellent letter

EDITOR:

Colton Meyer wrote an extremely wellresearched and cogent letter on the futility of gun control in fighting crime. The only things I might add are a couple of points that the media has censored and kept out of public view.

The first is the media’s complicity in getting people to vote to release “nonviolent” inmates from prison to lower prison populations. That sounded good. The problem is what they hid from you. That nonviolent determination was based solely on the inmate’s last conviction. They could have dozens of violent felonies on their record but as long as the last conviction was for a nonviolent felony, that’s how they were classified and released to prey on the public.

The other and even lesser known promotion of crime by the left is the scandal of parole. Most parolees were transferred from California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation supervision to Probation under Post Release Community Supervision. Under PRCS, what happened when a parolee was arrested with guns and ammunition will shock you. Serve more time for the fresh felonies of being felon in possession

■ See LETTERS page A5