Rogue Agency’s 30-Year Dodge

Down deep in the Marianas Trench of state government, buried in California’s administrative law, is a mechanism by which private industry standards can be made enforceable. It’s a curious feature called “incorporation by reference.” It isn’t used much, but if a state agency wants to enforce, say, some organization’s copyrighted technical standards, it can do […]

Aerojet And Toyota: A Look At Two Exits From Golden State

Sacramento’s longtime golden goose Aerojet Rocketdyne was a feted fowl. But in April, the bird became the payload as the rocket-maker’s executives, after taking a gander at the state’s business environment, fitted the bird with one of its RS-25 engines and began the countdown to jettison her jobs out of state. The tale of a […]

Nepotism Wave At UC Merced Fits A Wider Pattern

It’s hard to say what’s more troubling: an audit showing systematic nepotism, sham recruitments and falsifying of records among mid-level managers at the University of California’s newest campus or top administrators choosing to release the findings long after the fact and buried in an innocuous-sounding webinar. The discovery of years of nepotism, abuse and dishonesty […]

Recycling Program’s Untruth And Consequences

It’s an old story. A problem arises and government steps in to fix it. A bureaucracy forms, and long after the problem is fixed, disappears or changes, the bureaucracy – unable to adapt or phase itself out – continues to grapple with the fiction of the original problem, creating distortions and waste in the process. […]