Commercial finance pioneer and real estate investor Ethan Penner declared his intentions for the California governor’s mansion late last month, seeking to replace the term-limited Gavin Newsom.
Running as an independent, Penner would be the first non-Democrat to hold the state’s highest office since Arnold Schwarzenegger, who departed in 2011. Penner’s list of priorities would signal a departure from 15 years of left-leaning policymaking, including eliminating the California Environmental Quality Act and building communities in rural areas where the state’s growing population of homeless people would live.
Both CEQA and homelessness are frequent issues discussed among commercial real estate professionals in the state,…