{"id":118292,"date":"2025-08-04T13:37:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T13:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/118292\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T13:37:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T13:37:12","slug":"the-cookies-that-unite-californias-politicians-no-matter-their-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/118292\/","title":{"rendered":"The cookies that unite California’s politicians, no matter their party"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fox 11 anchor Elex Michaelson is one of the nice guys in L.A. media. His tough-but-fair-and-especially-polite lines of questioning made him a natural to help moderate debates<\/a> for the L.A. mayoral and sheriff\u2019s races three years ago. The 38-year-old Agoura Hills native is so nice that he\u2019s known not just for his work but also \u2026 his mom\u2019s cookies and brownies.<\/p>\n

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Michaelson gifts every guest who treks up to Fox 11\u2019s West L.A. studios for his weekly public affairs show \u201cThe Issue Is\u201d a box of the desserts. We\u2019re talking former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, billionaire Rick Caruso, L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman, Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi and dozens of other political heavyweights on both sides of the proverbial aisle. U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla<\/a> (D-Calif.) once brought a bag of Porto\u2019s<\/a> to Michaelson\u2019s team in gratitude for all the cookies and brownies he had received over the years. Former Congress member and current California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter<\/a> sent Elex\u2019s mom, Crystal, a handwritten thank-you note.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single time I see [L.A. County Sheriff] Robert Luna, he brings them up without fail,\u201d Michaelson said with pride in a phone interview.<\/p>\n

One not-so-famous person who has been lucky enough to enjoy them? Me.<\/p>\n

Elex recently gave me a box when I appeared on \u201cThe Issue Is\u201d just after U.S. Border Patrol sector chief Gregory Bovino, who took time off from bloviating about the border<\/a> to accept the goodies because even la migra gets sweets, I guess.<\/p>\n

Crystal Michaelson\u2019s cookies and brownies are worthy of a stall at the Hollywood farmers market, and I\u2019m not saying that just so I can appear on \u201cThe Issue Is\u201d again soon.<\/p>\n

The cookies last time around were blondies studded with chocolate chips and M&Ms. Slightly toasted on the outside, chewy on the inside, thick yet airy and spiked with an extra dash of vanilla, the blondies were beautiful. Just as delicious were the brownies, all about the firm, dark-chocolate-derived fudge that crackled with each bite. Both featured a generous sprinkling of sea salt, the crystals perfectly cutting through all the sugar and butter. <\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t last the drive back to Orange County.<\/p>\n

Cookie diplomacy at the highest level of California politics<\/p>\n

When Elex took his mom to a holiday party hosted by then-Vice President Kamala Harris some years back, most of the movers and shakers greeted her with the same enthusiasm they showed her son because of what she bakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really a baker!\u201d insisted Crystal, an artist by trade. She makes the goodies every Thursday afternoon, the day before \u201cThe Issue Is\u201d tapes, with an occasional assist by Elex. \u201cBut it\u2019s turned into a whole thing!\u201d<\/p>\n

The tradition dates back to elementary school, when Crystal treated Elex\u2019s teachers and classmates to them as \u201ca thank you.\u201d Elex took some to the first and last day of his college internship for Fox 11 to hand out to the newsroom, then repeated the gesture when he worked at XETV in San Diego and ABC 7 in Los Angeles before returning to Fox 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir first and last impression of me,\u201d he said, \u201cwere these cookies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michaelson repeated the move every day for the first week of \u201cThe Issue Is.\u201d The inaugural guests were Newsom, then-Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff (now California\u2019s junior U.S. senator), and commentator Areva Martin.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone loved the cookies so much that they joked, \u2018We won\u2019t return unless we get more cookies,\u2019\u201d Michaelson said.<\/p>\n

The crew insisted they get treated to them one more week, \u201cand my mom just never really stopped since then,\u201d even baking and shipping them to regular guests during the COVID era as a Christmas gift.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the only things that seems to unite Republicans and Democrats [in California] is these cookies and brownies,\u201d Elex said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing like the unifying power of food to bring people together to not just talk, but listen to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crystal gets a shout-out in the show\u2019s closing credits for \u201ccookies, brownies and moral support.\u201d She learned the recipes as a teen, from a family friend. They\u2019re baked in a Pyrex baking dish, sliced into squares, then put in cardboard boxes that she decorates by writing, \u201cThe Issue Is … \u201d<\/p>\n

People have suggested Crystal sell them, but she declines: \u201cI\u2019m not a baker.\u201d <\/p>\n

For now, she\u2019s flattered by all the attention \u2014 Newsom once wrote a letter on his official letterhead raving about them. The only issue she sees with them \u2026is Elex.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe eats them too much,\u201d Crystal said. \u201cI\u2019ve said before that maybe I should make them a little bit healthier. And everyone said, \u2018No, don\u2019t do that!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s top stories \"Lynsi <\/a> <\/p>\n

(Christian Murdock \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

In-N-Out leaves California<\/p>\n