Use the Surplus the Earl Warren Way
I was digging around in some old files for a story and came upon something I wasn’t looking for. A small file of Gov. Earl Warren’s papers from 1949, during a year-long national recession that saw a big spike in California unemployment. I started reading a speech he gave in Los Angeles on August 29 […]
Is Happy Talk About California Fraud?
Memo to public officials in California: if you try to put an optimistic spin on a sticky fiscal situation, you could get yourself in trouble with the feds. Two years ago, it might have seemed like a nutty question, but now the question is real: Is any of this recent happy talk about California – […]
What the Heck Is Abel Doing?
It’s not just that Abel Maldonado’s gubernatorial campaign has started with mistakes. Or that it’s started by taking on an issue – crime – that isn’t high on the agenda of Californians, or even that small subset of Californians known as California voters. It’s that he seems to be making his campaign about someone we […]
The Thank God We Didn’t Buy That Drug Cheat’s Ballot Box Budgeting Measure Tax
Last year, we were presented with a tempting proposal, the ballot initiative known as Prop 29. It was a cigarette tax that had everything: high-profile, white-hat backers in disease charities (like that of Lance Armstrong), proper bad guys in the tobacco companies, a good tax policy (a higher cigarette tax), and the promises of money […]
How Dare You Call Californians Flaky?
As a rule, Californians shouldn’t have too many East Coast friends, and we should never listen too closely to the ones we do have. East Coasters know little about California but fancy they know a lot. In their eyes, we are sun-bathing, Kardashian-marrying airheads. Above all—and this slur has been popular for almost 50 years—we […]
My 2013 High School Commencement Speech
To the distinguished California Public High School Class of 2013. I’m sorry James Franco canceled at the last minute. I’m even sorrier that you wound up getting me as your substitute commencement speaker, but I was offered gas money plus a free lunch. I believe Franco planned to talk about your potential—to say that you […]
Department of Ideas: A Retired Legislators’ Legislature
I’ve been on the road around the state quite a bit recently, and I keep bumping into former state legislators. With few exceptions, the former legislators talk about how much more they know now than when they were in – and say they could do better if they could go back. So why not let […]
Californians, Please Visit Your Water
There’s consensus that California needs a big new deal to govern water. There’s no consensus on what should be in it. Habitat restoration? Rebuilt levees to withstand earthquakes? Or new tunnels to divert water from the Sacramento River to farmers and cities in Southern California? These are all possibilities for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, […]
“Believe in Something Bigger”
Finally, a major California institution has offered Californians the kind of advertising campaign we need to hear: “Believe in Something Bigger,” it asks us, and we should. Instead of the stale, small debate about California’s future, evidenced again this month with the release of the revised budget, we should be thinking about a bigger, better […]
But Can Our Governor Handle a Mule?
Last week, I watched a Zócalo/KCRW debate between Los Angeles mayoral candidates Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel, and a clear winner emerged: Warren Olney, the moderator. I’m not saying that Olney’s fine grilling made the experience worthwhile, though, because nothing could. The California political debate is dead. When was the last time you heard one […]