SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Legislature’s first week culminated with a fight between two Republicans that became rather personal — and played out in public.
The back story: On Wednesday, the session’s first day, Assemblymember Bill Essayli, a Riverside Republican, introduced a bill to roll back the expansion of Medi-Cal to low-income undocumented immigrants, saying the state can’t afford it.
On Friday, Assemblymember Devon Mathis, published a commentary in The Sacramento Bee, arguing that the Medi-Cal expansion would actually save money because undocumented immigrants end up in the emergency room for health care. The Visalia Republican also criticized the “combative and harmful rhetoric of those who choose to incite rage and anger against our friends and neighbors.”
Then the fireworks started: Essayli, in a Friday afternoon post on X (formerly Twitter), accused Mathis of exemplifying “corruption” at the Capitol and asked if he was interviewing for his next job, a “Sacramento Swamp Lobbyist.”
- Essayli, on X: “It’s obvious he’s already sold out and changed his position for financial gain. What a loser.”
Within nine minutes, Mathis replied in kind, calling Essayli a “noob” and lecturing him to learn how the healthcare system works.
- Mathis, on X: “Before you try to launch red meat. Do your homework. Looks like you’re just being a #HeadlineWhore.”
Essayli didn’t back down: In a post six minutes later, he called his colleague “an embarrassment to your district and the legislature.”
Two minutes later, Mathis told Essayli again to learn healthcare, “and if you have a brain in that hard head of yours you too can learn economics.”
On Sunday, Essayli had a commentary on the issue published by the Orange County Register, so stay tuned.
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