CHEN AND CAGOP DIRECTION — NEWSOM CLOCK TICKING — POWER PROBLEMS — LA FIREWORK DRAMA

That’s the prospect, some suggest, with the announcement today from Lanhee Chen, 42, a rising star in the Republican Party who has been called the GOP’s “most courted ideas adviser.” Chen is launching a bid in the 2022 race for California state controller. REACHING ACROSS THE AISLE: Chen, a fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, is the rare Republican who has worked both sides of the aisle — as a former policy director to the Mitt Romney presidential campaign, as a Senate-confirmed appointee of President Barack Obama and in a seat on the bipartisan U.