POLITICO Nightly: The writers’ strike is over — and California pols are exhaling

 

BY MELANIE MASON Presented by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joins members of the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild as they walk the picket line outside of Netflix in Los Angeles on July 17. | Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images SIGH OF RELIEF — The show, at last, will go on, with Hollywood writers and studios hammering out a tentative deal on a new contract on Sunday after a 146-day long strike. The agreement still has to be approved by the Writers’ Guild of America’s board and members, but that could happen as soon as this week. And while the full details of the contract remain unclear, the WGA negotiating committee is confident they came out with a win, telling members, “we can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional.” The breakthrough will help a big chunk of the industry get back to work immediately, and also paves the way for the actors’ union to resolve their own labor standoff. The end of the strike — which had major implications beyond the entertainment industry while it was going on — also has California’s major political players breathing a big sigh of relief. Aside from the economic impact of the work stoppage, the strike’s impact radiated throughout state politics, putting pressure on some of California’s best-known elected officials to take sides — or not take sides — and reducing the flow of campaign dollars to state and national candidates. For California Governor Gavin Newsom, the strike was a major headache. Anything that takes a multi-billion dollar chunk out of the state’s economy is a problem for the governor. And it’s especially hard when the fight is between your friends — Newsom’s painstakingly neutral public posture on the negotiations were a stark contrast from his unequivocal support for strikers outside his state, like the United Auto Workers. The de-escalation in Hollywood could also cool off some pressure for him to sign a bill giving unemployment insurance to striking workers. Newsom has already voiced concern about the effect the measure — a top labor priority but strongly opposed by the business community — would have on the state’s already struggling UI fund. Linking the writers’ and actors’ guilds dispute into the push for this bill was, in the governor’s view, a false narrative. He’s been quick to point out that the measure would go into place in January, having no immediate effect on writers and actors on the picket line. Now the agreement may put an end to appeals for the bill from his writer and actor friends. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass set out her first year as mayor with a single-minded mission: get a grip on the spiraling homelessness crisis. A protracted freeze of the city’s signature industry was not helping matters. With all the other local businesses threatened to become collateral damage, Bass couldn’t afford to appear in the dark about the state of negotiations. But visibly entering the fray had its downsides too. She declared in early August she was ready to “personally engage” to find resolution, which did lead to calls with the major negotiating players — but no big breakthrough. Hollywood money is the engine that powers California — and national — campaigns. But it’s been hard to ask for cash when those donors have been months out of work. Campaign consultants say the strikes were having a quantifiable impact on campaign coffers, especially among the mid-tier of donors who could usually be counted on for $500 or $1,000 checks. Those may not be the contributors that host multi-million dollar fundraisers, but they’re the vast majority of industry givers and they’re essential sources of dough, especially for Southern California races. The deal also makes life easier for the Democrats who did pick a side, loudly declaring their solidarity with the unions. The picket lines were practically a required campaign stop for U.S. Senate candidates Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff. With the showdown drawing to a close, it will be less fraught for Democrats to tap the deep pockets of the studio executives. President Joe Biden is among them. The president, who publicly supported the strike, has notably avoided the lucrative fundraising circuit in the Los Angeles area . Some of his biggest donors are Hollywood titans and executives — the optics of raising cash from them and well-heeled celebrities during the walkout would have been problematic. California politicians are now set to pray that the actors quickly follow the writers in resolving their issues. Hollywood still powers much of the state’s economy, and if many productions remain delayed without actors, the cascading effects will continue to burn a hole in the middle of the state’s economic prospects. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at mmason@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @melmason .   A message from Meta: Trained in the metaverse. Serving real patients. Across the world, millions go blind due to lack of access to eye care. To help, FundamentalVR and Orbis International deploy cataract surgery training in the metaverse. With this virtual reality tool, surgeons everywhere can practice as many times as needed before working with real patients. Explore the impact.   WHAT'D I MISS? — McCarthy is trying to move 8 funding bills. None would stop a shutdown: House Republicans are plowing forward this week with a time-intensive plan to pass a dozen individual spending bills on the floor. But that exercise would technically do nothing to thwart a shutdown at midnight on Saturday . The measures would enact severe funding cuts, dooming their chances of passage in the Senate. Nevertheless, Speaker Kevin McCarthy is bowing to conservatives who refuse to support a temporary funding bill to stop a shutdown without finishing all 12 of the appropriations bills, an ambitious task even during times of lesser time crunch. — Defiant Menendez doubles down against resignation calls: Sen. Bob Menendez today said that he will not resign under the cloud of a damning federal bribery indictment and a state party apparatus that has largely abandoned him. The remarks were made in Union City, Menendez’s hometown where he started his political career as a school board member in the 1970s and eventually became mayor. Menendez said “this will be the biggest fight yet” for him, although he doubled down on his innocence. He did not take questions. “The allegations leveled against me are just that — allegations,” he said from Hudson County College. He added, “I firmly believe that when all the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I will still be New Jersey’s senior senator.” — The earmarks Adam Schiff delivered for donors: Adam Schiff is unapologetically touting his commitment to earmarks for local causes — like homelessness and drug treatment programs — as he seeks the Senate seat long held by Dianne Feinstein. The 12-term House Democrat and darling of the anti-Trump left is even calling out his closest rival in the race, Rep. Katie Porter, for her opposition to pork-barrel spending. But a POLITICO review of congressional earmarks and political contributions found that in addition to the money for homelessness and drug treatment, Schiff also steered millions to for-profit companies and raised tens of thousands for his House reelection campaigns from corporate executives and people connected to them.   DON’T MISS POLITICO’S TECH & AI SUMMIT:  America’s ability to lead and champion emerging innovations in technology like generative AI will shape our industries, manufacturing base and future economy. Do we have the right policies in place to secure that future? How will the U.S. retain its status as the global tech leader? Join POLITICO on Sept. 27 for our Tech & AI Summit to hear what the public and private sectors need to do to sharpen our competitive edge amidst rising global competitors and rapidly evolving disruptive technologies. REGISTER HERE .     NIGHTLY ROAD TO 2024 CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS — Following months of taunting challenges between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over a head-to-head debate , a date has officially been set, POLITICO reports. The two governors will debate in-person on Nov. 30 in Georgia, the network said today. Fox News anchor Sean Hannity will moderate, as the 90-minute-long show will air during the 9 p.m. ET time slot of his show, “Hannity.” A Fox News spokesperson declined to say whether Hannity agreed to Newsom’s terms of no live audience and said that more details on the debate will be available later on. MIXED FEELINGS — Suresh Reddy, a centrist Democrat and city councilman, is watching the Republican presidential primary with a mix of pride and disappointment , writes the New York Times. When Mr. Reddy and his wife, Chandra Gangareddy, immigrants from southern India, settled in the Des Moines suburbs in September 2004, they could count the number of Indian American families on one hand. Now, for the first time in the nation’s history, two Indian Americans — Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy — are serious presidential contenders who regularly invoke their parents’ immigrant roots. But their deeply conservative views, on display as they seek the Republican nomination, make it difficult for Mr. Reddy to fully celebrate the moment, he said. “I’m really proud,” he said. “I just wish they had a better message.” That disconnect, reflected in interviews with two dozen Indian American voters, donors and elected officials from across the political spectrum — in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and across the country — may complicate the G.O.P.’s efforts to appeal to the small but influential Indian American electorate.   A message from Meta:     AROUND THE WORLD Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez and Russian President Vladimir Putin leave after the inauguration of a monument to late Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Moscow on November 22, 2022. | Sergei Guneyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images TRANSNATIONAL FRONT — Earlier this month, news of Cuban fighters in Ukraine splashed across global headlines when Havana announced it had arrested 17 people for involvement in a human trafficking ring recruiting young men to fight for Russia. Now, Eva Hartog , through conversations with Cubans in Russia and Cuba , reports on the Cubans on the front in Ukraine. One recruit in his late 40s in the Russian city of Tula said he was promised a job as a driver “for workers and construction material” but on arrival in Russia was being prepared for combat, weapon in hand. “We signed a contract with the devil,” he said, recalling the moment he enlisted. “And the devil does not hand out sweets.” Another, who is 19 years old, said about his attempt to go to Russia to fight, “If this is the sacrifice I have to make for my family to get ahead, I’ll do it.” He was paid by a Russian recruiter but intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard. Until recently, Havana — though formally neutral on Ukraine — made no secret of siding with Moscow in what it called its clash with the “Yankee empire.” The Castro regime is dependent on Russia for cheap fuel and other aid. But unlike, say, North Korea, it has little to offer in return other than diplomatic loyalty. There has been no sign of direct involvement, and there’s been a crackdown on Cubans leaving to fight in Russia. Havana’s crackdown on the recruitment network followed the publication of an interview on YouTube in late August, in which two 19-year-old Cubans claimed they had been lured to Russia for lucrative construction jobs, only to be sent to the trenches in Ukraine. They said they had suffered beatings, been scammed out of their money and were being kept captive. Cuba’s foreign ministry vowed to act “energetically” against efforts to entice Cubans to join Russia’s war effort, adding: “Cuba is not part of the conflict in Ukraine.” SHAPE UP — Europe’s top brass warned social media giants Alphabet, TikTok and Meta they must do more to protect Slovakia’s election from foreign interference — or face potential hefty fines, writes Mark Scott . In a series of meetings in Bratislava, the European Commission and the Slovakian government told the companies to throw extra resources at stamping out hate speech , disinformation and pro-Russia propaganda in the run-up to the September 30 vote. There are growing concerns among European and Slovak regulators that disinformation and pro-Kremlin ideology are spreading among local social media users, including supporters of Robert Fico, the country’s controversial former prime minister. Fico has called for ending military support to Ukraine and his party is currently ahead in the polls. The Eastern European country’s upcoming vote marks a critical first test for the EU’s new digital rules. Under the bloc’s Digital Services Act, social media platforms must show how they are actively removing illegal content and taking down foreign propaganda. If they do not, they can face fines of up to 6 percent of their annual global revenue. Executives from Elon Musk’s Twitter — now known as X — were also invited to the discussions but failed to attend.   HAPPENING 9/28 — INSIDE THE CANCER MOONSHOT: Join POLITICO on Thursday, Sept. 28 for an in-depth discussion on the future of cancer treatment and innovation. Hear from experts including scientists, government officials and industry leaders as we explore the critical roles played by private industry, nonprofits, the National Cancer Institute and the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health in achieving the Biden administration's goal of cutting the cancer death rate in half over the next 25 years. Don't miss this opportunity to dive into the progress of cancer treatments and learn about the challenges patients encounter in accessing care. REGISTER HERE .     NIGHTLY NUMBER 66 The number of individual donors who made contributions to Republican PACs of $250,000 or more through the end of June — the latest period covered by federal filing deadlines. That marks a 24 percent drop from this time in 2016, when the party last had a competitive primary. At this point in that cycle, 87 donors had given at least $250,000 to one of the candidates’ super PACs. The drop speaks to an unwillingness among big donors to spend in a primary many of them believe is already all but over, with Trump maintaining big leads in early state and national polls. RADAR SWEEP CAREER MOVES — Where do you turn after getting laid off from your job after 25 years? Former journalist John Koopman did everything from covering the Iraq War on the ground to writing about an infestation of woodpeckers at a retirement village. But suddenly, with his job gone, he moved first into becoming a manager of a strip club and then illegally running marijuana across the country. For Rolling Stone, Koopman explores how becoming a weed dealer changed his understanding of his life and place in the world , and some of the incentives and downsides of working in the “underworld” of America. PARTING IMAGE On this date in 1982: A demonstrator is arrested by police at a rally in Tel Aviv, Israel. An estimated crowd of 350,000 people protested the massacre of at least hundreds of civilians in a Beirut camp by a Lebanese militia group in a camp controlled by the Israeli Defense Forces. | Nash/AP Photo Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   A message from Meta: "I can practice cataract surgeries over and over in the metaverse.” Today, doctors like Renee Badroe are training in the metaverse to help treat patients with limited access to eye care. They sharpen their skills with FundamentalVR and Orbis International's immersive cataract training program. Discover other stories.     Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   FOLLOW US

POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA