Gavin Newsom’s Citizenville
California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom asks an interesting question at the beginning of his book Citizenville: “Why is it that people are more engaged than ever with each other – through Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, text messaging – but less engaged with their government? Newsom’s goal with his book is not so much to answer the […]
Brown in China—Building California and One Party Rule
Did you catch the interesting comment at the end of David Siders’ report in the Sacramento Bee on Governor Brown’s China visit? “At the dinner Tuesday night, Brown marveled at the pace of construction in China, a feat made possible at least in part by the country’s one-party rule. Brown suggested – however wistfully – […]
Notes from the Prop 13 Informational Hearing
Proposition 13, the iconic property tax measure passed in 1978 has received a lot of attention recently, no doubt because the new make-up of the legislature allows a two-thirds majority to put changes to Prop 13 on the ballot. Eight bills have been introduced to lower the vote requirement to pass local, special taxes and […]
Margaret Thatcher—A Memory
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who passed away today, had a California connection which I was aware of beyond the obvious – her teaming on so many fronts with California’s former governor and U. S. President, Ronald Reagan. Around the time Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979 she met in England with Howard Jarvis, […]
Politics is Show Business for Ugly People – Except in CA
California, the fabled land of “beautiful people,” apparently has pretty good-looking politicians as well. President Barack Obama kicked up a storm when he praised California Attorney General, Kamala Harris, among having other positive attributes, as being “by far the best looking attorney general in the country.” Gaining less attention but in the same vein, the […]
Gubernatorial Election Heats up for Republicans
Former Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado is interested in seeking the Republican nomination for Governor. He becomes the second recognized Republican to express interest in the job. Assemblyman Tim Donnelly also said he is thinking about running. The two potential candidates come from different wings of the Republican Party potentially setting up a lively and entertaining […]
Made in California
Our friends at Small Business California sponsored a bill carried by Senator Corbett to create a Made in California label to encourage consumer product awareness and the purchasing of goods made in the state. The bill, SB 12, passed its Senate committee unanimously and why not? Anyone promoting business in this state should be proud […]
Pension Issue Still Alive Despite Stockton Bankruptcy Decision
A decision by a U.S. Bankruptcy judge in the Stockton bankruptcy case does not mean the issue of public pensions’ burden on local government finances can be ignored. While the bondholders attempt to bring pension reductions into the bankruptcy talks failed because the judge said the bondholders acted in bad faith, the pension issue will […]
Riding the Rails to the ‘Great Train Robbery’
The United States Government Accounting Office backed up California’s High-Speed Rail Authority by leaking a report last week that claimed the ridership projections for the new bullet train were “reasonable” – that’s the new ridership projections, which have dropped considerably from earlier reports. Still, those new projections, at somewhere between 16.1 and 26.8 million passengers […]
Ballot Proponents Should Have Standing in Court
One way the United States Supreme Court can decide the Proposition 8 case is to determine that the proponents of the measure defending the law should not have standing to appear in the court. That would be wrong. The proponents stepped in when state officials refused to defend the law passed by the voters. If […]