Spot the Pattern in These Wonderfully Progressive Policy Circles, Where Everyone is Warm and Kind

Some remarkable local reporting: The City of Los Angeles was sued, a few years ago, over conditions in homeless encampments, and a settlement required the city to move thousands of people off the street and into shelter. Under the terms of the same settlement, a court-appointed monitor is supposed to review city data on homelessness and homeless services. Because there are ongoing requirements and a federal judge watching how the city complies with the terms of the settlement, the city continues to be represented in the case by a law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. About fifteen lawyers from the firm work on the matter. For the sake of simplicity, the city pays a blended rate to the firm: every lawyer, including first-year associates, bills at $1,295 an hour. In a recent hearing, Judge David Carter offered this observation about the city’s legal fees from the bench: “For one year, we’re potentially at eight to ten million dollars.”

Or consider these recent developments: After the State of California spent $24 billion on homeless services between 2018 and 2023, an audit found that the money and the outcomes from the spending couldn’t be consistently tracked. Billions of dollars out the door, and then…nothing much. Last month, the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles announced the indictments of two real estate developers who used state funding for the homeless to pay for other things:

Some of the Homekey money paid to Shangri-La for homeless housing was used to pay credit card bills for American Express accounts associated with Holmes. In November and December of 2022, more than $2.2 million was transferred from a Shangri-La account to a Holmes-controlled account. Afterwards, from November 2022 to May 2023, more than $2 million was paid towards American Express cards. The charges on those credit card accounts included purchases at well-known luxury retailers. Law enforcement believes these payments were made at least in part for Holmes’s benefit.

Or consider this excellent reporting from the generally awful Arizona Republic: A company that runs group homes for abused and neglected children warned the State of Arizona that it was insolvent and would be forced to stop caring for at least some state child welfare agency clients, so the state gave the company an extra $4 million a year. Also, the company’s financial records don’t support the claim that the company was in the red, and they also show “a seven-figure payout to the company’s shareholders.” Why would the state give a bunch of extra money to a contractor that wasn’t actually in need of the funding? Hard to say for sure, but Sunshine Residential Homes has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Arizona Democratic Party and the inauguration fund of the Democratic governor, the consistently bizarre and horrible Katie Hobbs.

And finally, a series of arrests have shocked California, over the last week, as a bunch of wonderfully progressive former state officials — including a former chief of staff to Governor Patrick Bateman — have allegedly been caught transferring political campaign funds to their personal bank accounts:

Dana Williamson, a longtime Sacramento powerbroker and former chief of staff to Gov. Gavin Newsom, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to 23 counts of bank and wire fraud. The 34-page indictment, which The Sacramento Bee obtained shortly after her arrest, names multiple banks and businesses through which five co-conspirators, including Williamson, stole and funneled money from a dormant campaign account belonging to Xavier Becerra, a former California congressman, Attorney General and Cabinet secretary who is now running for governor in the 2026 election. Becerra is not charged with any wrongdoing.

See also Jennifer van Laar’s thread on Dana Williamson’s very nice real estate. Williamson appears to have made a million-dollar downpayment on a house while making $225,000 a year as a government employee.

The more wonderfully warm and kind and progressive a political player or policy appears to be, the safer the bet that money is trading hands.

Remember these stories when you hear political narratives about the cruelty of mean Republican budget cuts. Compassion is a lucrative business, and that story can be a marketing effort. My guess is that you already knew that, but here are some good examples as a reminder.