Why Pull the Trigger in Compton?
Heard about the new "parent trigger" allowing parents to
petition to reconstitute a failing school? Promising idea.
Did you hear that supporters of the
trigger organized to make the first use of the "parent trigger" in Compton?
A very bad idea.
I spent three years reporting in
and around Compton for the LA Times. In many ways, the town is better than its
reputation – it’s more prosperous and less violent than you know. The city’s
real problem is a political and civic culture is as nasty and brutish as you’ll
ever find.
I spent many hours listening to
Compton citizens spin out long, involved and just plain conspiracy theories
about politics, government and, yes, schools. And those conspiracy-minded
Compton citizens were the officials in charge!
12 Wishes for 2011 and Beyond
A new legislature has been sworn in and we are now in the process of shaping our state’s future, which is faced with serious unemployment and deficits and a very unclear future. Even the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke has said this economy might take 4-5 years to straighten out. So what better to do than to put California on a positive legal reform course, which would help economic recovery? If I had 12 wishes for legal reform in California it would probably go something like this:
1. A Governor and legislature who worked to make California a places businesses want to grow and can thrive.
2. For all California residents to serve when called for jury duty.
3. An end to class action lawsuits, at least as the system is designed now. They keep on coming and the consumers lose every time.
4. Leave the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 alone. It has worked.
Rescinding Collective Bargaining?
As Jerry Brown returns to the governor’s office after a nearly 30 year absence, the man who approved collective bargaining for public employees might be facing the question of rescinding the right of government unions to collectively bargain.
Would he make such a move? Highly, highly unlikely. However, as the Wall Street Journal editorialized, a few states have rescinded or are considering rescinding collective bargaining. Indiana and Missouri did it by executive order in 2005. Wisconsin’s newly elected governor has it on his to-do list.
The Journal editorial argues that public sector collective bargaining has “proven to be a catastrophe for taxpayers, as public unions have used their political clout to negotiate rich deals on wages, pensions and health care.”
The editorial goes on to say that Jerry Brown, himself, “greased the wheels” of California’s fiscal decline when he allowed collective bargaining during his first stint as governor.
Hasta La Vista, Failure
Cross-posted at NewGeography.
In his headier and hunkier days, Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke boldly about how “failure is not an option.” This kind of bravado worked well in the gym–and in a remarkable career that saw an inarticulate Austrian body-builder rise to the apex of Hollywood and California politics.
But Schwarzenegger’s soon-to-be-ended seven-year reign as California’s governor can be best described in just that one simple world: failure. It has been so bad that one even looks forward to having a pro, the eccentric Machiavellian master, Jerry Brown, replace him.
Schwarzenegger never grew beyond the role of a clueless political narcissist. As the state sank into an ever deeper fiscal crisis, he continued to expend his energy on the grandiose and beyond the point: establishing a Californian policy for combating climate change, boosting an unaffordable High-Speed Rail system, and even eliminating plastic bags. These may be great issues of import, but they are far less pressing than a state’s descent into insolvency.