As Lawmakers Vow to Protect ‘California Values,’ New Los Angeles County Chair Calls for Bipartisan Approach

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger in Pasadena, Calif., on Nov. 2, 2024. Courtesy of Supervisor Kathryn Barger's office

LOS ANGELES—As California lawmakers in Sacramento held an emergency session to “Trump-proof” their state against a perceived threat to “California values”—namely with a proposed $25 million litigation fund to fend off federal overreach—Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger urged a different approach to a second Trump term.

Barger, a Republican who nonetheless frequently votes in agreement with her four Democrat counterparts, was newly sworn in on Dec. 3 as chair of the Board of Supervisors. She has served on the board since 2016.

Last month, she cast a lone dissenting vote against a motion to support California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s efforts to defend the state’s progressive gains on civil rights, climate policy, immigration, and abortion access against changes anticipated under the Trump administration.

“For me, it’s frustrating because we’re assuming the worst,” Barger said on Dec. 4 in an interview with The Epoch Times. “And yet we are writing a letter to the Trump administration asking them to release $3.2 billion for the Olympics. My mom always said you get more bees with honey than you do with vinegar.”

Los Angeles transit officials recently asked the president-elect for funds to bolster the city’s transportation infrastructure in preparation for the 2028 summer games.

Barger said she’s looking for common ground with the new administration, on which the county will depend for billions of dollars in discretionary funds—money that goes toward things such as food assistance benefits, transportation, and mental health infrastructure.

“By isolating ourselves and assuming the worst, we’re setting ourselves up for failure,” Barger said, worrying that such an approach risks disenfranchising county residents.

The board’s motion supports the governor’s agenda to resist Trump’s policies and reiterates its own similar efforts, noting that the county will need to work with the state to “continue making progress” on its priorities.

Newsom called the state Legislature’s emergency session, convened on Dec. 2, following a weeks-long media volley with the president-elect. Looking toward what he called “litigation preparation,” he asked lawmakers for an additional $25 million in funding.

During a podcast last month—he launched the “Politickin'” podcast with co-host Marshawn Lynch in July—the governor pointed to a “shockingly good” relationship with Trump during his first administration but said that recent efforts to contact the president-elect were unanswered.

Newsom also said in a video message days after the election that he was “not naïve” about Trump’s “playbook,” which he suggested would be vengeful and optimized in a second term.

Trump has taken aim at the governor for “insane policy decisions”—everything from how California manages water issues to illegal immigration, electric cars, and homelessness policy.

However, Newsom has since tempered his tone slightly, telling the Los Angeles Times that “it’s not a resistance brand” but rather a pragmatic response.

Barger said the governor’s softened approach is a sign that state officials recognize that no one knows exactly what the new Trump administration will do.

“What we saw in 2016, it may not be what we’re going to see in 2024. The only way you can find out is by communicating and working together,” she said.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger. Courtesy of Supervisor Kathryn Barger's office

‘California Values’

The state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, who oversaw 122 lawsuits against the first Trump administration, has vowed to defend illegal immigrants and abortion access.

“We will not be caught flat-footed if the President-elect follows through on his threats of mass deportation—and we will not allow safe spaces like libraries, hospitals and courthouses to be co-opted and commandeered for his inhumane immigration agenda,” Bonta said in a Dec. 4 statement announcing updated guidelines for public institutions to follow.

Days earlier, Bonta said in a statement, “As a father of two incredible young women, who have fewer rights than their mother and grandmother, I see the concern in their eyes as they navigate a world that is chipping away at their reproductive rights.”

The right to abortion and contraception is already enshrined in California’s constitution.

However, there is a question whether Californians still prioritize the fights outlined by Bonta, Newsom, and local Democrats.

The November general election revealed increasing political diversity among California’s electorate, with Trump gaining support generally and with key demographics, including Latinos, relative to 2020. Republicans flipped several key legislative seats, and voters reinstated harsher criminal penalties for retail and drug crimes and ousted two progressive, reformist district attorneys.

Economic issues and illegal immigration helped deliver Trump’s sweeping victory, and they resonate especially in California, which shoulders a disproportionate burden of the illegal immigration crisis and is home to some of the highest living costs in the country.

“The outcome of this election—it was about the economy. It was about immigration,“ Barger said. ”And people are sick and tired of working hard and not being able to afford a home and not being able to live the American Dream.”

In a Dec. 4 interview, the Los Angeles Police Department’s new chief, Jim McDonnell, outlined a plan to protect illegal immigrants ahead of Trump’s plans for mass deportations, reiterating that the LAPD does not enforce immigration laws.

Barger said it’s not up to local governments to fix the country’s “broken” immigration system—“that’s up to Congress.” However, she said there’s a need to communicate with federal officials and address the effects on Los Angeles County residents.

For example, she suggested that officials could reach out to Tom Homan, Trump’s pick for border czar, and “have a dialogue, maybe educate him about how [California goes] about providing services.”

Barger pointed to a recent trip down to Skid Row—one of the densest concentrations of homeless encampments in the country and just blocks from the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, where the Board of Supervisors meets. She talked to people who had come up through San Diego.

“There are going to be things that are blamed on this [new] administration that quite frankly have been occurring for years,” she said. “We are the ones that are holding the bag as it relates to the impact this is having on L.A. County, but also on the individuals that are living on the street.”

She also made the distinction between immigrants who go through a legal process to gain citizenship and those who come here illegally.

Regarding the incoming administration’s focus on illegal immigrants who commit crimes once in the country, she said: “I have yet to talk to anyone that has a concern with that. Because at the end of the day, if you’re coming into this country and not following the laws and are arrested, especially for a violent crime, [you] should be held accountable and be deported.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has signaled a willingness to work with the Trump administration on homelessness, which has consumed her tenure and will likely define her legacy, despite disagreements over policy direction.

Bass told the Los Angeles Times last month that she thinks that she can find common ground with Trump on housing the city’s homeless population.

Barger, similarly, said: “I think what I’m hearing is a different tone coming out of this president. More thoughtful and more strategic in terms of how he wants to go about the next four years.

“And I’m hoping reasonable minds will take a step back and realize people are sick and tired of the partisan politics. They pay their taxes, whether they’re Democrat or Republican.”