Los Angeles Enhances its Anti-Business Reputation
On Tuesday the Los Angeles City Council voted 14 to 1 to pass a resolution supporting increased property taxes on business on a regular basis. Little surprise as the city continues to build an anti-business reputation. For years the city has held on to a gross receipts tax system for business that neighboring communities use […]
Reform the Pension System? “Nuts!”
Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters zeroed in on the problem with the CalPERS Board coming up with many end runs to increase or “spike” pension benefits, labeling the add-ons for pension purposes “nuts.” Trouble is the unions and their allies use the same expression when it comes to suggestions about reforming the pension system. The […]
Keep Hint of Prosecutorial Action Out of Legitimate Political Debates
In the war of words over an attempt to stall the extension of AB 32’s cap-and-trade to transportation fuels, liberal groups sent a public letter to Attorney General Kamala Harris asking her to keep an eye out for collusion by oil companies in price fixing. This premature advisory (the law doesn’t take effect until January) […]
A Brown-Kashkari Debate – If Only
It may not exactly be the Lincoln-Douglas debates, but a Brown-Kashkari debate would be worth watching. The Kashkari campaign issued a press release last week saying that candidate Kashkari has agreed to five debate invitations yet Governor Brown has not accepted any. Debates have come a long way since the legendary confrontation between Abraham Lincoln […]
My Turn on C-SPAN Book TV
After a week of writing about water bonds, ballot manipulation and cap-and-trade/high-speed-rail, a little self expression on Friday: my 15-minute interview that aired this week on C-SPAN Book TV. It was recorded in April and covered the background of my modern day mystery novels based on historical events, with a little California politics, my class […]
GOP “Party of Yes” as Compromise Water Bond Heads for the Ballot
Lots of pats-on-the-back for legislators and the governor as they reached an agreement to put a $7.5 billion water bond on November’s ballot. One thing that should be noted, when Republican votes were needed to achieve a two-thirds support necessary to pass the bond, they did not respond as painted by many, particularly in the […]
Water Bond Beats Towing Icebergs
By the end of the day we should know how California’s governor and legislators decided to deal with the state’s suffocating drought. The choices range from keeping the expensive $11 billion water bond already qualified for the ballot; substituting the $7 billion bond fashioned by the governor and Democratic legislators; adding or subtracting to that […]
Manipulating the Ballot
The California Supreme Court’s decision to hold off ruling on an advisory measure that called for overturning the United States Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision on campaign finance stalled a bad habit the legislative majority has engaged in to manipulate the ballot for political purposes. Although the legislature already passed a resolution supporting a constitutional […]
Big Winner if AB 69 Fails: High-Speed-Rail
Much has been made of the potential losers if AB 69, the bill authored by Assemblyman Henry Perea to delay applying cap-and-trade regulations to transportation fuels, fails to become law – but there is also a potential big winner: high-speed-rail. It has been pointed out that a predicted increase of anywhere from 15-cents to 70-cents […]
Water Bond Realities
There are two realities with the current $11.1 billion water bond currently scheduled to appear on the November ballot as Proposition 43. One, the bond is too big and filled with pork. Two, even so, if it appeared on the ballot as is, it likely would pass. Legislators are debating the size and content of […]