SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In 2007, an idealistic 22-year-old Harvard student named Kevin Kiley wrote in his undergraduate thesis that “politicians are inclined to do the easy thing — cater to the worldviews of their constituents — rather than offer the more challenging task of self-examination.” Fifteen years later, Kiley resembles the kind of politician he once disdained. When the Placer County assemblyman and congressional candidate was first elected, he presented himself as a moderate conservative who could make common cause with the Democrats running the California Legislature. Before he began …
