Two more state legislators that participated in a spring break trip to Cuba with an influential Sacramento lobbyist have been identified. Assembly Majority Leader Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, and Assembly member Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, have confirmed through their offices that they spent the spring holiday out of the country with registered lobbyist Darius Anderson. [...]

Last Friday, my CalWatchDog colleague Katy Grimes and I first broke the story that at least two legislators traveled to Cuba with Darius Anderson, one of Sacramento’s most influential lobbyists.  Our first report was only able to identify State Sen. Cathleen Galgiani, D-Livingston, and Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian, R-San Luis Obispo, as two legislators that joined [...]

California’s cap and trade regulators can’t seem to do anything right. Taxpayers, businesses and even some environmentalists are exposing the serious flaws with the state’s carbon auction. Small businesses have criticized the landmark greenhouse gas emissions law for being “the greatest threat to the growth of our business in California.” On the eve of the [...]

Everyone has an explanation for why the California Republican Party was dominated in the last election. Immigration, demographics, social issues, taxes, etc. But, all the blathering has ignored the elephant in the room: money. Big business and big labor teamed up and spent big money to elect Democrats. And they used party central committees to [...]

Crossposted on CalWatchDog For the past two decades, California Republicans have perfected one thing, the circular firing squad. No political party, organization or institution has been better at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The Republican monopoly on this self-destructive habit is about to end, thanks to Gov. Jerry Brown and civil rights attorney [...]

Crossposted on CalWatchdog Congratulations or condolences? It’s hard to say which is more appropriate for Timothy P. White, the newly appointed Chancellor of the California State University system. White takes over the top job at the country’s largest and perhaps most beleaguered public university system. Over recent years, Cal State has been fraught with controversies [...]

Crossposted on CalWatchDog California’s chief political watchdog sent the blogosphere into a collective tizzy earlier this year. In April, Ann Ravel, chairwoman of the Fair Political Practices Commission, floated the idea that California become the first government body in the country to regulate political blogs and websites. Bloggers all over the country reacted with outrage, [...]

Labor unions rarely agree with their archenemies, the proponents of paycheck protection. Proposition 32, the “Stop Special Interest Money Now Act,” has only hardened those battle lines. The measure would substantially change the way political campaigns are financed in California. It would prohibit government contractors from contributing to candidates, ban unions and corporations from imposing [...]

Crossposted on CalWatchDog Anti-tax groups face a tall order this November. There’s priority one: defeating the competing multi-billion-dollar tax-increase plans of Gov. Jerry Brown and liberal activist Molly Munger. Both propositions will receive tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions from unions and special interest groups. Even if both measures fail, Democrats have a backup plan [...]

Crossposted on Flash Report California’s chief political watchdog, Ann Ravel, recently announced plans to regulate political websites that accept payments from campaigns. California bloggers right, left and center quickly criticized the proposal for quashing free speech and putting them at a disadvantage to out-of-state competitors. “The Internet is global,” wrote Mark Paul on his blog, the [...]