Goodnight, Dianne? Colleagues Say CA Senator’s Mental Fitness Is Rapidly Deteriorating

The San Francisco Chronicle has published a story that should mark the death knell for California’s senior US Senator Dianne Feinstein. But it probably won’t.

Here’s the headline: “Colleagues worry Dianne Feinstein is now mentally unfit to serve, citing recent interactions”

The paper’s well-sourced (though mostly anonymously) reporting paints a sad picture of a long-time elected figure who’s unable to keep up with Senate business and sometimes fails to recognize colleagues she’s known for years.

A source described as “a staffer for a California Democrat” told the paper, “There’s a joke on the Hill, we’ve got a great junior senator in Alex Padilla and an experienced staff in Feinstein’s office.”

Speaking to reporters Tal Kopan and Joe Garofoli were four U.S. Senators, including three Democrats, three former Feinstein staffers and a California Democratic member of Congress. All agreed that her memory issues had reached a point where she was incapable of carrying out her duties. 

• “When a California Democrat in Congress recently engaged in an extended conversation with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, they prepared for a rigorous policy discussion like those they’d had with her many times over the last 15 years. Instead, the lawmaker said, they had to reintroduce themselves to Feinstein multiple times during an interaction that lasted several hours.

• “Rather than delve into policy, Feinstein, 88, repeated the same small-talk questions, like asking the lawmaker what mattered to voters in their district, they said, with no apparent recognition the two had already had a similar conversation.

• “The episode was so unnerving that the lawmaker — who spoke to The Chronicle on condition they not be identified because of the sensitivity of the topic — began raising concerns with colleagues to see if some kind of intervention to persuade Feinstein to retire was possible. Feinstein’s term runs through the end of 2024. The conversation occurred several weeks before the death of her husband in February.

• “‘I have worked with her for a long time and long enough to know what she was like just a few years ago: always in command, always in charge, on top of the details, basically couldn’t resist a conversation where she was driving some bill or some idea. All of that is gone,’ the lawmaker said. ‘She was an intellectual and political force not that long ago, and that’s why my encounter with her was so jarring. Because there was just no trace of that.’

While her condition sounds serious, it pays to remember that this is Dianne Feinstein, whose tenacity is undisputed over the 20 years she’s served in the Senate.

It also pays to remember that the US Senate is dominated by old white men, and despite stories about Alzheimer’s medication being routinely delivered to the Capitol, there aren’t people talking about their impaired abilities (although it would be nice if they would).  

The Chronicle’s reporting includes the comment that Feinstein “is nearly as sharp as she used to be” and points to her performance during confirmation hearings for new Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as an example.

Asked for comment, Feinstein’s office issued a statement: 

• “The last year has been extremely painful and distracting for me, flying back and forth to visit my dying husband who passed just a few weeks ago. But there’s no question I’m still serving and delivering for the people of California, and I’ll put my record up against anyone’s.”

This isn’t the first time the California Senator’s cognitive abilities have been questioned. Here’s a snip from a 2020 New Yorker article:

• “Speaking on background, and with respect for her accomplished career, they say her short-term memory has grown so poor that she often forgets she has been briefed on a topic, accusing her staff of failing to do so just after they have. They describe Feinstein as forgetting what she has said and getting upset when she can’t keep up.” 

The Chronicle article will certainly fuel another round of speculation on the possibility of Feinstein stepping down. Capitol Hill sources quoted in the article called it “an emperor's new clothes” situation, implying that her colleagues would avoid an intervention.

The Senator’s term is up in 2024 and, despite the fact that she’s filed paperwork to run again, a quick look at her fundraising suggests she’s on the way out. Despite her prominence, she raised only $5,566 in 2021, passing up the opportunity to use her position to fundraise for the benefit of the party and their colleagues.

***

IF Sen. Feinstein were to step down Gov. Gavin Newsom would name a placeholder, who would then face a special election. He pledged during the recall campaign to name a Black woman to the seat, should circumstances dictate the need.

His current Senatorial placeholder, Alex Padilla will be asking for four –count ‘em, four– votes in the primary and general elections this year.

Thanks to Assembly Bill 1495, the governor is required to call two elections to fill a Senate seat — contests held in conjunction with the next regularly scheduled primary and general elections.

From the Los Angeles Times: 

• “AB 1495 ensures that California law is consistent with the 17th Amendment,” Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto), chairman of the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee, said during a legislative floor debate in May.

• Berman also noted that consolidating Senate vacancy elections with regular election cycles would “ensure the greatest participation in those elections” while avoiding the cost of holding special elections in all 58 counties.

• Even so, there is a chance voters won’t easily understand what’s happening in June’s statewide primary. They will see two races for the same seat on the ballot, potentially with a mix of the same or different candidates. Padilla’s name will appear twice, as he seeks to finish Harris’ term and then begin a new one.

Given that Padilla was the overwhelming choice of the establishment-oriented wing of the Democratic Party, any race for a Feinstein replacement will involve fierce competition from progressives looking to score a win.  

Representatives Ro Khanna and Maxine Waters, who withheld their endorsements for the 2022 Padilla campaign, would be logical choices to show an interest in Feinstein’s seat.

Email me at WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com  

Lead image: United States Senate chamber via Eric Haynes/The New Political