Business vs. Taxpayer Groups and the Soda Tax
You would think that large taxpayer advocacy groups would rush to oppose a tax on soda as proposed by a couple of California cities. Success with these taxes could ignite a trend of targeting taxes on products. However, that may not be the case this year because of the many tax measures that on California […]
Villaraigosa’s Ready for His Close Up
Crossposted on Prop Zero During the GOP national convention, actor Jon Voight was spotted meandering, virtually undisturbed, through the Media Center. Then L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, soon to preside over the Democratic National Convention, sidled in and was instantly surrounded by a swarm of reporters. In his role as a major Obama campaign surrogate and […]
Let the European Commission Supervise California Direct Democracy
Back in April, the European Union launched the first transnational initiative process – a process open to anyone in the world who could get one million signatures from a combination of petitions in at least 7 of the 27 EU countries. There was one big snafu. The legislation enabling this new initiative process provided for […]
Stop Bashing California
Enough. I’m tired of out-of-state politicians bashing California again and again. I’m not naïve to the challenges we face: crumbling infrastructure, a massive state deficit, a stressed education system, underfunded pensions, unemployment, water shortages and a number of other issues that dumbfound us all. But here’s what I’d like to tell the California bashers: That […]