Pop quiz: Who is the California controller, and what does the office do?
Many voters may not know much about the controller, but the job could be one of the most important in the state.
Among the controller’s duties is serving as California’s accountant and handling payroll for state employees. More importantly, the controller is California’s internal auditor and investigates state agencies and local governments if they are not spending their money properly.
With the Trump administration and Republicans hyper-focused on waste and fraud in blue states, California must show that it is on the up and up, and the state controller plays a key role in that. (Remember, the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis was the result of fraud allegations against Somali immigrants in a Minnesota child care program.)
Democrat Malia Cohen is up for reelection as California’s state controller. She is a former member of the state Board of Equalization and was a San Francisco supervisor.
Some of our reservations from four years ago still stand, but Cohen now has a track record to scrutinize, and the editorial board has interviewed her about her performance for our endorsement.
“The state controller job is a critically important one,” editorial board member Emily Hoeven, who wrote our endorsement, told me. “In her first term, Cohen had a mixed record. She improved California’s financial reporting, but there were also significant errors uncovered by the state auditor and there were also payroll snafus, which raised red flags.”
We in the news media know more than anybody that the revenue generated by our industry has been dropping for years. A primary reason: Major tech companies like Google are using our content without compensation while reaping the financial benefits.
In 2024, the governor’s office made a deal with Google to address the problem and support local journalism in California. The state would contribute $20 million and Google would provide $15 million in the first year of a new five-year program that would distribute money to news organizations directly on a per-journalist basis.
If you haven’t filled out your ballot, the Chronicle Voter Guide can help you decide. The guide offers a comprehensive look at the June primary election with links to our news coverage, candidate interviews and issue explainers.
If you want to see how the editorial board stands on a candidate or an issue, check out our endorsements in key contests.