J. Neely Johnson
John Neely Johnson was an American lawyer and politician. He was elected as the fourth governor of California from 1856 to 1858, appointed justice to the Nevada Supreme Court from 1867 to 1871; as a member of the American Party, Johnson remains one of only three members of a third party to be elected to the California governorship. Born in rural Gibson County, Johnson never attended University, he apprenticed a printer before moving to Iowa to work with a lawyer, was admitted to the Iowa Bar. In July 1849, Johnson left Iowa for the Gold Rush in California, where he employed himself as a gold prospector, as a mule train driver. Johnson restarted his law career in Sacramento, California by founding a law practice with Ferris Forman, was elected as Sacramento City Attorney in 1850. After two years in the City Attorney's office, Johnson began his political career by running as a Whig in the 1852 election, in which Johnson was elected to the California State Assembly as one of four members representing Sacramento.
During his time in the Assembly, Johnson nearly broke a local editor's nose after accusing the editor of writing an insulting article about him. The editor was tackled by onlookers before he could fire. In 1854, both the state and federal wings of the Whig Party were on the verge on collapse due to party splits over the Kansas–Nebraska Act. In the wake of this split, Johnson joined the nativist American Party, known popularly as the Know Nothings. In the 1855 general election, the American Party hoped to capitalize on the disintegration of the Whig party, internal Democratic divisions, growing anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiment; the party nominated Assemblyman Johnson as its candidate for governor. Johnson ran against incumbent John Bigler, with Johnson securing the governorship by a comfortable margin. Johnson was described as "the most startled man in the state" upon hearing of his election. Along with the governorship, Know Nothings received considerable gains in the California State Legislature, as well as elections to every other major executive post in the state, including the offices of Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General and Controller.
Johnson was sworn in as the fourth governor of California on January 9, 1856. At 30, Johnson is the youngest governor in California history. Johnson inherited a growing state debt from the Bigler administration, planned to reduce government expenditures to cut the debt. Early in his administration, Johnson agreed with legislation authored by San Francisco Assemblyman Horace Hawes to unite the city and county of San Francisco as a single entity to combat widespread corruption and lawlessness; the result of the legislation passed by Johnson was the Consolidation Act of 1856, which unified the municipal and county governments, as well as separated the southern portion of San Francisco to become San Mateo County. Since the early 1850s, tensions within San Francisco political circles had sometimes erupted in open violence. In 1851, armed citizens formed the San Francisco Vigilance Movement to correct wrongs they saw being committed or protected by the municipal government; the vigilantes lynched two criminals being held in city jails.
Governor John McDougall, condemned the actions of the vigilantes, but was not able to stop them because state law enforcement was too weak. Distrust of city authorities again reached the surface on May 14, 1856, when James King of William, editor of the San Francisco Bulletin and a vocal critic of corrupt officials, was mortally wounded by James P. Casey, a purported ballot-box stuffer and city politician; when Casey was in the custody of San Francisco law enforcement, William Tell Coleman, a ringleader in the 1851 Vigilance Committee and another vocal critic of municipal authorities, called for the formation of another Vigilante Committee. Vigilantes erected a barricade along Sacramento Street to repel city officers from removing them. After a week, the Vigilantes marched on the city jail and overpowered its guards to arrest Casey, along with another criminal: Charles Cora, who had fatally shot a U. S. Marshal the previous year. Johnson traveled to San Francisco from Sacramento along with his brother William and the newly commissioned chief of the California Militia, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman to meet the Vigilante Committee ringleaders.
Sherman recalled in his 1875 Memoirs Johnson angrily confronting Coleman and other Vigilante ringleaders in their makeshift headquarters and exclaiming, "Coleman, what the devil is the matter here?" Coleman replied that the San Franciscans "were tired of it, had no faith in the officers of the law." After personal negotiations between Governor Johnson and the Vigilantes over transferring the criminals to state law enforcement failed, Johnson watched helplessly as both Casey and Cora were hanged by the Vigilantes on May 20. Johnson returned to Sacramento with the Vigilantes refusing to disperse, claiming they were San Francisco's rightful law enforcement. With the city's police and sheriff's departments outnumbered and trying to establish an armed presence in the streets, Mayor James Van Ness pleaded to Johnson for military assistance. Johnson responded by instructing General Sherman to call the California Militia to San Francisco on June 2, issued a gubernatorial proclamation declaring San Francisco in a state of insurrection the following day.
Johnson's proclamation, like McDougall's, was difficult to enforce. Johnson had instru
Los Angeles
Los Angeles the City of Los Angeles and known by its initials L. A. is the most populous city in California, the second most populous city in the United States, after New York City, the third most populous city in North America. With an estimated population of four million, Los Angeles is the cultural and commercial center of Southern California; the city is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity and the entertainment industry, its sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles is the largest city on the West Coast of North America. Los Angeles is in a large basin bounded by the Pacific Ocean on one side and by mountains as high as 10,000 feet on the other; the city proper, which covers about 469 square miles, is the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the country. Los Angeles is the principal city of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second largest in the United States after that of New York City, with a population of 13.1 million. It is part of the Los Angeles-Long Beach combined statistical area the nation's second most populous area with a 2015 estimated population of 18.7 million.
Los Angeles is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States, with a diverse economy in a broad range of professional and cultural fields. Los Angeles is famous as the home of Hollywood, a major center of the world entertainment industry. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index and 9th in the Global Economic Power Index; the Los Angeles metropolitan area has a gross metropolitan product of $1.044 trillion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. Los Angeles hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics and will host the event for a third time in 2028; the city hosted the Miss Universe pageant twice, in 1990 and 2006, was one of 9 American cities to host the 1994 FIFA men's soccer World Cup and one of 8 to host the 1999 FIFA women's soccer World Cup, hosting the final match for both tournaments. Home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California.
The city was founded on September 4, 1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood; the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California assured the city's continued rapid growth; the Los Angeles coastal area was settled by the Chumash tribes. A Gabrieleño settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning "poison oak place". Maritime explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area of southern California for the Spanish Empire in 1542 while on an official military exploring expedition moving north along the Pacific coast from earlier colonizing bases of New Spain in Central and South America.
Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2, 1769. In 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. On September 4, 1781, a group of forty-four settlers known as "Los Pobladores" founded the pueblo they called El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles,'The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels'; the present-day city has the largest Roman Catholic Archdiocese in the United States. Two-thirds of the Mexican or settlers were mestizo or mulatto, a mixture of African and European ancestry; the settlement remained a small ranch town for decades, but by 1820, the population had increased to about 650 residents. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the historic district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street, the oldest part of Los Angeles. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, the pueblo continued as a part of Mexico.
During Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta California's regional capital. Mexican rule ended during the Mexican–American War: Americans took control from the Californios after a series of battles, culminating with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847. Railroads arrived with the completion of the transcontinental Southern Pacific line to Los Angeles in 1876 and the Santa Fe Railroad in 1885. Petroleum was discovered in the city and surrounding area in 1892, by 1923, the discoveries had helped California become the country's largest oil producer, accounting for about one-quarter of the world's petroleum output. By 1900, the population had grown to more than 102,000; the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, under the supervision of William Mulholland, assured the continued growth of the city. Due to clauses in the city's charter that prevented the City of Los Angeles from selling or providing water from the aqueduct to any area outside its borders, many adjacent city and communities became compelled to annex themselves into Los Angeles.
Los Angeles created the first municipal zoning ordinance in the United States. On September 14, 1908, the Los Angeles City Council promulgated residential and industrial land use zones; the new ordinance established three residential zones of a single type, where industrial uses were
Head of government
Head of government is a generic term used for either the highest or second highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, who presides over a cabinet, a group of ministers or secretaries who lead executive departments. The term "head of government" is differentiated from the term "head of state", as they may be separate positions, individuals, or roles depending on the country; the authority of a head of government, such as a president, chancellor, or prime minister and the relationship between that position and other state institutions, such as the relation between the head of state and of the legislature, varies among sovereign states, depending on the particular system of the government, chosen, won, or evolved over time. In parliamentary systems, including constitutional monarchies, the head of government is the de facto political leader of the government, is answerable to one chamber or the entire legislature. Although there is a formal reporting relationship to a head of state, the latter acts as a figurehead who may take the role of chief executive on limited occasions, either when receiving constitutional advice from the head of government or under specific provisions in a constitution.
In presidential republics or in absolute monarchies, the head of state is usually the head of government. The relationship between that leader and the government, can vary ranging from separation of powers to autocracy, according to the constitution of the particular state. In semi-presidential systems, the head of government may answer to both the head of state and the legislature, with the specifics provided by each country's constitution. A modern example is the present French government, which originated as the French Fifth Republic in 1958. In France, the president, the head of state, appoints the prime minister, the head of government. However, the president must choose someone who can act as an executive, but who enjoys the support of the France's legislature, the National Assembly, in order to be able to pass legislation. In some cases, the head of state may represent one political party but the majority in the National Assembly is of a different party. Given that the majority party has greater control over state funding and primary legislation, the president is in effect forced to choose a prime minister from the opposition party in order to ensure an effective, functioning legislature.
In this case, known as cohabitation, the prime minister, along with the cabinet, controls domestic policy, with the president's influence restricted to foreign affairs. In directorial systems, the executive responsibilities of the head of government are spread among a group of people. A prominent example is the Swiss Federal Council, where each member of the council heads a department and votes on proposals relating to all departments. A common title for many heads of government is prime minister; this is used as a formal title in many states, but informally a generic term to describe whichever office is considered the principal minister under an otherwise styled head of state, as minister — Latin for servants or subordinates — is a common title for members of a government. Formally the head of state can be the head of government as well but otherwise has formal precedence over the Head of Government and other ministers, whether he is their actual political superior or rather theoretical or ceremonial in character.
Various constitutions use different titles, the same title can have various multiple meanings, depending on the constitutional order and political system of the state in question. In addition to prime minister, titles used for the democratic model, where there is an elected legislative body checking the Head of government, include the following; some of these titles relate to governments below the national level. Chancellor Chairman of the Executive Council Chief Minister Chief Executive First Minister Minister-President Premier President of the Council of Ministers President of the Council of State President of the Executive Council President of the Government Prime Minister State Counsellor State President Albanian: Kryeministër Bengali: For the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Pradan Mantri.
Lynn Frazier
Lynn Joseph Frazier was a politician from North Dakota, serving as a U. S. Senator from 1923 to 1941 and the 12th Governor of North Dakota from 1917 until being recalled in 1921, he was the first American governor successfully recalled from office. The only other time a gubernatorial recall has been successful was in 2003 to California Governor Gray Davis. Frazier was born in Minnesota, his family moved to North Dakota. Prior to his career in state and national politics, Frazier was a school teacher, he graduated from Grafton High School in 1892 and Mayville Normal School in 1895. He completed his bachelor's degree at the University of North Dakota, graduating with honors in 1902, he was twice married – to Lottie J. Stafford, with whom he had five children, from November 26, 1903 until her death on January 14, 1935, his second wife, Catherine Paulson, a widow whom he married in 1937. After running in the Republican primary as the Non-Partisan League candidate, Frazier was elected Governor in 1916 with 79% of the vote.
Frazier was popular and implemented several reforms such as the establishment of the Bank of North Dakota and the North Dakota Mill and Elevator. He was re-elected twice, in 1918 and 1920, but an economic depression hit the agricultural sector during his third term and resulted in a private-business-led grassroots movement to press for his recall; the movement succeeded, in 1921 Frazier was the first governor to be removed from office. Independent Voters Association member Ragnvald A. Nestos was elected in his place. After the recall, Frazier was elected in 1922 to the United States Senate, again as the NPL candidate on the Republican ticket, he served until losing a bid for re-election in 1940, being unseated in the Republican primary by William Langer. During the 1919 national coal strike Governor Frazier took a unique approach to the strike, he declared martial law, took over the mines with United Mine Workers of America contracts and ran them in cooperation with the union. Governor Frazier is portrayed in the 1984 Nebraska Public TV documentary Plowing up a Storm.
Frazier died in Riverdale, Maryland, on January 11, 1947, at the age of 72. He is buried in Hoople Cemetery, North Dakota. North Dakota recall 1921 United States Congress. "Lynn Frazier". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Soylent Communications Lynn Frazier at Find a Grave National Governors Association
California State Senate
The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. Due to a combination of the state's large population and small legislature, the State Senate has the largest population per state senator ratio of any state legislative house. In the United States House of Representatives, California is apportioned 53 U. S. Representatives, each representing 704,566 people, while in the California State Senate, each of the 40 State Senators represents 931,349 people; this means that California State Senators each represent more people than California's members of the House of Representatives. In the current legislative session, Democrats hold a two-thirds supermajority of 28 seats, while Republicans hold 10 seats. There are two vacancies. Prior to 1967, state legislative districts were drawn according to the "Little Federal Model" by which Assembly seats were drawn to according to population and Senate seats were drawn according to county lines.
The guidelines were that no Senate district would include more than three counties and none would include less than one complete county. This led to the situation of a populous county such as Los Angeles County being accorded the same number of state senators as less populous counties such as Alpine County. In Reynolds v. Sims, the United States Supreme Court compelled all states to draw up districts with equal population; as such, boundaries were changed to comply with the ruling. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate, may only cast a vote to break a tie; the President pro tempore is elected by the majority party caucus, followed by confirmation of the full Senate. Other leaders, such as the majority and minority leaders, are elected by their respective party caucuses according to each party's strength in the chamber; the current President pro tem is Democrat Toni Atkins of San Diego. The Minority Leader is Republican Shannon Grove of Bakersfield; each state senator represents a population equivalent to the State of Delaware.
As a result of Proposition 140 in 1990 and Proposition 28 in 2012, members elected to the legislature prior to 2012 are restricted by term limits to two four-year terms, while those elected in or after 2012 are allowed to serve 12 years in the legislature in any combination of four-year State Senate or two-year State Assembly terms. Members of the State Senate serve four-year terms; every two years, half of the Senate's 40 seats are subject to election. This is in contrast to the State Assembly, in which all 80 seats in the Assembly are subject to election every two years; the red tones of the California State Senate Chamber are based on the British House of Lords, outfitted in a similar color. The dais rests along a wall shaped like an "E", with its central projection housing the rostrum; the Lower tier dais runs across the entire chamber, there are several chairs and computers used by the senate officers, the most prominent seat is reserved for the secretary who calls the roll. The higher tier is smaller, with three chairs, the two largest and most ornate chairs are used by the President Pro Tempore and the Lieutenant Governor.
The third and smallest chair, placed in the center, is used by the presiding officer and is sat in as the president is expected to stand. There are four other chairs flanking the dais used by the highest non-member officials attending the senate, a foreign dignitary or state officer for example; each of the 40 senators is provided a desk and two chairs, one for the senator, another for guests or legislative aides. Every decorating element is identical to the Assembly Chamber. Along the cornice appears a portrait of George Washington and the Latin quotation: senatoris est civitatis libertatem tueri; the Secretary, the Sergeant-at-Arms, the Chaplain are not members of the Legislature.: elected in a special election: elected in a recall election Current committees include: Senate Committee on Agriculture Senate Committee on Appropriations Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Fiscal Oversight and Bonded Indebtedness Senate Committee on Banking and Financial Institutions Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Education Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Resources Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Health and Human Services Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on State Administration and General Government Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on Corrections Senate Committee on Business and Economic Development Senate Committee on Education Senate Education Subcommittee on Sustainable School Facilities Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments Senate Committee on Energy and Communications Senate Committee on Environmental Quality Senate Committee on Governmental Organizations Senate Committee on Governance and Finance Senate Committee on Health Senate Committee on Human Services Senate Committee on Insurance Senate Committee on Judiciary Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations Senate Committee on Legislative Ethics Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water Senate Natural Resources and Water Subcommittee on Urban Rivers Senate Committee on Public Employment and Retirement Senate Committee on Public Safety Senate Committee on Rules Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs Joint Committee on Arts Joint Committee on Fairs and Classification Joint Committee on Fisher
Governor's Mansion State Historic Park
Governor's Mansion State Historic Park is the location of the Historic Governor's Mansion of California, the official residence of the Governor of California, located at 1526 H Street in Sacramento. The mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; the mansion was home to thirteen governors and their families, from George Pardee in 1903 to Ronald Reagan for four months in 1967. After nearly fifty years as a public museum, the mansion resumed its role as an official residence in 2015, when then-Governor Jerry Brown moved into the property with his wife; the thirty-room, three story Second Empire-Italianate Victorian mansion was built in 1877 for local hardware merchant Albert Gallatin, who sold it to businessman Joseph Steffens, the father of journalist Lincoln Steffens, in 1887. The State of California purchased the house in 1903 to serve as the governor's mansion. Many furnishings remain from former governors, including Pardee's 1902 Steinway piano, velvet chairs and sofas belonging to Governor Hiram Johnson, Persian rugs bought by the wife of Earl Warren.
The structure has been renovated a number of times over the years. In 1967 after the Reagans moved out, the mansion was opened to the public; the third floor of the mansion has been closed to the public since the 1990s. The Governor's Mansion was not occupied by state governors between 1967 and 2015. In 1974, an alternative governor's residence was constructed in the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael and was completed just as Reagan left office. Jerry Brown, who succeeded Reagan, refused to live in the large residence, it was sold by the state in 1982. Instead, Brown lived in a sparsely furnished apartment during his first two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983; when Brown became governor again in 2011, he opted to live in a 1,450-square-foot downtown loft. George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson, Gray Davis all lived in different Carmichael residences. Arnold Schwarzenegger stayed in a hotel suite at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento near the Capitol when he was in Sacramento but ordinarily commuted each day by private plane from his home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles.
The former Carmichael house is now in a gated community called La Casa de los Gobernadores in Carmichael. It is located next to Ancil Hoffman Golf Course; the home overlooks the American River. The Governor's Mansion was one of 70 California state parks proposed for closure by July 2012 as part of a deficit reduction program, it was one of several state parks threatened with closure in 2008. Those closures were avoided by cutting hours and maintenance system-wide. After extensive renovations, Governor Brown moved into the Governor's Mansion during his fourth term, the first governor to reside there since Ronald Reagan in 1967, his successor, Governor Gavin Newsom, his family moved temporarily into the mansion before taking up residence in a house they bought following his election in the Sacramento suburb of Fair Oaks. A spokesman for the governor said. History of Sacramento, California National Register of Historic Places listings in Sacramento County, California California Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County, California "California Landmark 823: Governor's Mansion".
Noehill. 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2010. Joan Didion.. "Many Mansions" in The White Album. New York: Simon and Schuster. "National Register #70000139: Governor's Mansion". Noehill. 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2010. Official Governor's Mansion State Historic Park website Parks.ca.gov: Online tour of the Historic Governor's Mansion
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California statewide elected officials