Steve Hilton’s Dream Team

As one of his first acts as governor, in 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom sued the Orange County city of Huntington Beach for failing to provide enough additional “affordable housing,” while his own home county of Marin enjoyed a moratorium on affordable housing building requirements until 2028, the Globe reported in 2019.

Newsom vowed that because “some cities are refusing to do their part to address this crisis and willfully stand in violation of California law,”Newsom said. “Those cities will be held to account.”

Only, left-leaning Marin would not be held to account the way conservative Huntington Beach would.

The Huntington Beach Council then voted 4-3 to direct City Attorney Michael Gates to challenge the housing state laws aimed at forcing local cities to allow granny flats, (Accessory Dwelling Units).

As we reported in 2019, the California Department of Housing and Community Development is the state agency charged with overseeing local governments’ housing plans. “Since 1969, California has required that all local governments (cities and counties) adequately plan to meet the housing needs of everyone in the community,” the agency says on its website.

Also on the website of the Housing agency are links to “Status and Copies of All Housing Elements.” Only, “all” cities are not included in the report, “Copies of all housing elements.”

Notably absent at the time were cities in Marin County.

Shortly after our article was published, the website page was taken down.

That same City Attorney Michael Gates, who has been a positive force in Huntington Beach, just announced he is running for California Attorney General.

The Globe reported earlier Thursday, “at his campaign launch event on the Huntington Beach Pier, flanked by supporters including Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton and former state Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, Gates sharply criticized Sacramento’s leadership: ‘California has the highest cost of living and the highest taxes, which are crushing families, and Sacramento elites keep scheming for ways to raise our taxes while leaving our streets unsafe for our families and our businesses.’

He added: ‘When I am your attorney general, it’ll be my charge, my responsibility to protect our families and keep our communities safe.” Gates also referenced a recent California State Auditor report on wasted taxpayer funds, calling it a “scathing indictment of our leadership in Sacramento.'”

In 2024, Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber sued the city of Huntington Beach for their recently passed voter ID law, which requires a valid state ID to be presented before voting. City Attorney Gates stood by the vote of the people of Huntington Beach.

Also in 2024, Huntington Beach sued the State over Gov. Newsom’s new law requiring schools to hide a child’s gender transition from parents.

Two days ago, the Globe reported that “Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton has named former Democratic State Senate Majority Leader Gloria J. Romero as his preferred running mate for lieutenant governor ahead of the June 2, 2026 primary. Romero ended her campaign announcement with ‘Let’s Hold Sacramento accountable. #MakeCAGoldenAgain.’

Hilton, the conservative commentator, author of Califailure, and vocal critic and watchdog of Sacramento’s failed policies, made the announcement highlighting Romero’s dramatic party switch in September 2024. After decades as a prominent Democrat, Romero walked away from the party she once led, citing its abandonment of working families, skyrocketing crime, education failures, and endless wasteful spending.”

What a dream team.

Gloria Romero has been a bold leader on issues important to the people of California – common sense issues–and an outspoken critic of the waste, fraud, abuse and continued failures plaguing one-party rule in Sacramento:

• $24 – $37 billion poured into homelessness programs with nothing to show for it other than 50% more homeless camping on California’s streets
• $32 billion lost to unemployment fraud
•  $18 billion funneled into the high-speed rail disaster that has yet to lay a single mile of track

Romero has been a champion of education reforms and former Majority Leader of the California State Senate; Co-founder of Explore Academy Charter School-Orange County, and author of “Just Not that Likable: the Price All Women Pay for Gender Bias.”

Romero has written numerous op-eds for the Globe, most focusing on why schools named for Cesar Chavez overwhelmingly fail to meet California academic benchmarks, and notes that “schools named for Cesar Chavez have been ceremoniously named but left in silence to languish.” She always makes a compelling case for school choice “to break the chains of a cycle of education failure we have witnessed in California.”

Steve Hilton calls this “California’s Golden Ticket.” He’s right. Add in Michael Gates and it’s a Dream Team – Governor, Lt. Governor and Attorney General.