Camera Catches a Familiar Story California Controller communications official Bismarck Obando appears in undercover video saying the state has a fraud problem and that audits “are not getting done,” according to the O’Keefe Media Group. He is identified in the report as the acting deputy controller of public affairs and press secretary for State Controller Malia Cohen, who serves as the state’s chief fiscal officer. The clip has the usual Sacramento flavor, which is to say it sounds like a system that found a way to turn basic oversight into a long-term project. Obando also said fraud shows up “everywhere,” naming cities, counties, special districts, hospitals, and insurance companies. Homelessness Dollars, Little Clarity In the same exchange, Obando reportedly said there is no statewide plan to deal with homelessness. That comes as counties and cities are asking for roughly $1 billion this year for the issue, according to the video and the report that came with it. California has spent years promising better coordination, tighter controls, and more results, which is a nice script if anyone ever plans to read it aloud after the check clears. When officials say the audits are not getting done, the public is left with…

Fuller Claims the Race Decision Desk HQ projected that Republican prosecutor Clayton Fuller won Tuesday night's special election runoff in Georgia's 14th Congressional District, defeating Democrat Shawn Harris in a seat that leans hard to the right. The district is deep red, so the political suspense was never about whether the race would matter. It was about whether the final margin would be neat enough for the campaign spin machine to polish without too much effort. Fuller is set to fill the House seat after Marjorie Taylor Greene stepped away, which gave local voters a chance to make their own choice instead of letting the TV panels do it for them. Trump's Endorsement Still Matters President Trump backed Fuller and urged Republicans in the district to get to the polls. That kind of support still matters in GOP politics, even when the official class likes to pretend endorsements are just decorative paper. Trump framed the race as a must-win contest for America First voters and pushed turnout as hard as any modern campaign can, short of issuing a blinking alert from the sky. In Washington, endorsements are often treated like theater. In real elections, they can still move votes, which…