Rob Bonta was less than a year into the job of California attorney general when he found himself at odds with one of the state’s most affluent communities. To get around a requirement to build more housing, Woodside had declared that the entire town was a mountain lion habitat.
Bonta fired off a letter accusing the Silicon Valley enclave of breaking the law.
“Woodside was playing games, and we called those out and got them to stop immediately,” Bonta said. “We have no patience for it.”
That episode was emblematic of Bonta’s approach to the job — more confrontational than compromising, especially when he is challenging powerful interests. “The law isn’t a suggestion,” he wrote at the time. “From big corporations to small towns, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you do — the law needs to be followed.”
Bonta is now engaged in perhaps the biggest battle of his career, as he seeks to block Paramount Skydance from acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery. The son of two lefty activists from a Sacramento suburb, Bonta is facing off against Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, a billionaire’s son who grew up in Woodside.
