Welcome to 2026. It’s a New Year, and as an added gift, it’s an election year!
Yes, invariably the airwaves will be filled with happy, shining politicians and celebrities extolling the virtues of something or someone that will make your life immeasurably better and/or ward off some existential threat to life as we know it.
Historically, none of the political stuff really fires up until after the “dog days of summer,” when we enter the fall, or what my political friends like to call “the silly season.”
But since the 2024 election, it’s as if the historical playbook has been thrown out the window and everything is supercharged.
For example, in 2025 in Encinitas, a newly elected councilman was involved in what was, in reality, nothing more than an unfortunate parking dispute near the beach. But felony charges were actually filed against him, and some called for his immediate resignation, presumably in shame.
Thankfully, a rational judge tossed those charges and brought the mess down to a more logical level; the councilman can continue to serve the city, and the chattering class can move on to other things.
On another front, we have state and federal fraud headlines magically appearing in the press.
Mississippi has a welfare scandal involving about $77 million in federal funds.
That’s pretty bad, but just when that’s warming up, Minnesota says, “Hold my beer,” and a new scandal involving up to $9 billion in federal social services and welfare funds is all over the news…Suddenly, the two-term sitting governor and former vice-presidential candidate has dropped out of the race for re-election, and you guessed it, some are calling for him to resign.
The leading candidate to replace him so far is Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota). Fun fact: the governor appoints a U.S. Senate replacement, so in theory, if she becomes governor, she will also get to appoint her own senatorial replacement.
In the meantime, here in California, the scandals of Mississippi and Minnesota seem quaint.
Not to be outdone, California is facing serious fraud allegations, particularly regarding its welfare system, with claims of up to $250 billion lost.
Homelessness? California has spent approximately $37 billion on homelessness since 2019, but the number of homeless in the state has risen, and there is no cohesive system to assess if any of the myriad programs the state has funded are helping.
During COVID-19, California experienced an estimated $100-$130 billion in fraud, just in unemployment claims.
Plus the amazing bullet train to nowhere, which was to be San Francisco to L.A., but at this time is aiming for Bakersfield to Merced. The project has squandered an astounding 16 years and more than 15 billion dollars and has exactly zero miles of operational track. Wow.
However, despite all these signs of mismanagement and more, rather than resigning, our own Governor Newsom is promoting himself by pushing a proposed new “eat the rich” state tax on the accumulated wealth of billionaires and sending signals that he intends to run in the 2028 Presidential race.
Some say he’s already a frontrunner. Is it the silly season already?
I hope we all have a healthy, happy, and great New Year.
Jerome Stocks is a former mayor and city councilman of Encinitas.
