It’s California government. It has almost always been corrupt. The former Legislative leader Jesse Unruh was famous for his quip that “California has the best damned government money can buy!”....
and going way back almost to the state’s beginning,
Governor Leland Stanford (in the 1860’s when he was both governor AND President/part owner of the Central Pacific Railroad corporation at the same time), called the California State government’ geologist into the governor’ office and had him prepare a report the RR then submitted to the fedral government seeking more federal connstruction subsidies for the RR company. (The subsidy for each mile of track built in or through mountains was triple the regular amount for tracks on flat land, the report Stanford had prepared claimed that the Sierra Nevada mountains included territory as far west as Arcade Creek just north a few miles from the governor’s office in the nice, flat Sacramento flood zone. It is from this event that Stanford acquired the reputation of being a “man who can move mountains,” incidentally.)
Ultimately, Governor Reagan became a small footnote in CA state government: had more real impact as the host of ‘’Death Valley Days’’ until he bowed out of that gig to run for governor. And they dumped poor Stanley Andrews (”The Old Ranger”) to find a place for Reagan.