I Marvel That Brown Got Through Berkeley With So Little Vision
You can learn a lot about a man by his insults. And the essential elitism of Gov. Jerry Brown came through when he took a shot at U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican presidential candidate recently. “I tell you – I have not given a lot of thought to Sen. Cruz, but I marvel at […]
What’s a School District Like Without a Teachers’ Union?
What would a California school district be like if it jettisoned its teachers’ union? Up until recently, that question has been mostly hypothetical. For some, it’s a fantasy: Conservative education reformers believe that drumming labor out of the classroom would improve test scores and teaching. For others, it’s a nightmare: Teachers worry they would be […]
Would Someone Wake Loretta?
Did someone cancel the U.S. Senate campaign without making an official announcement? It’s a fair question. The first race in 24 years for an open U.S. Senate seat from California was supposed to provide a rare moment of competition, entertainment and political engagement for the state. Instead, it’s barely being covered. And there’s one person […]
I Want to Stop Trump, But California’s Republicans Won’t Let Me
“It’s our state & if we’re the last line of defense, we’re going to do our part to stop him” –Rob Stutzman I want to help my friend Rob. I want to stop Donald Trump—I think he’d be awful for the country. And I don’t want my state, California, to be seen as supporting him […]
A Small But Important Victory for Flexibility in Direct Democracy
No matter what you think about a $15-per-hour minimum wage, the legislative deal to advance such a wage offered a small but important victory – for the cause of putting more flexibility in California’s direct democracy. California’s versions of ballot initiatives and referenda have long been distinguished by their inflexibility. No other place on earth […]
Rent Control Is a Kludge, Not an Answer, for Affordable Housing
Rent control won’t solve California’s enormous housing problems. But that’s not stopping many Californians from pursuing rent control policies in their hometowns. 2016 threatens to become the Year of Rent Control, with the topic white-hot in the Bay Area, home to California’s most expensive housing. Rent control refers to laws that put limits on how […]
Too Many Measures for the Media?
Here’s a fundamental question about November’s ballot: who is going to cover them all? Not the state’s media. There are simply too many ballot measures – at least a dozen statewide, and as many as 20 – and too few media members with the airtime and space and hours to delve into them all. In […]
Blame Dems and Brown for High Initiative Signature Costs
Don’t blame the victim when it comes to signature gathering. But in a Calmatters piece on the very high costs of signature gathering for statewide initiatives right now, the victim – initiative sponsors – got blamed. And that’s weird—since initiative sponsors are the ones paying the high prices. While gamesmanship among initiative sponsors can boost […]
How California Got Broken to Pieces
Wherever you live in California, your county probably doesn’t fit you. In mountainous and rural areas, your county may be too small to do the big things you need; 24 of the 58 California counties have populations under 140,000, the number of people who live in my hometown of Pasadena. Yet in inland exurbs, your […]
Direct Democracy and Bull
It’s healthy for a journalist to be on the other side of the notebook once in a while. That’s where I found myself on Friday – in San Sebastian, Spain, of all places. This beautiful city in the Basque Country, and on the Atlantic Ocean, is where the 2016 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy […]