The Final Indignity: How Republicans Lost a Safe Seat
For 26 days, Lancaster council member Ron Smith, a Republican, was an Assemblyman-elect, that is until the very last votes were counted in Los Angeles County on Sunday and by 145 votes Smith lost his seat to Democrat Steve Fox. Smith came out of election night several thousand votes ahead but a huge glut of […]
Sen. Steinberg Answers the Prop 13 Question – Sort of
At his press conference yesterday, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg got the expected Prop 13 question, as in: now that you and the Democrats have legislative supermajorities are you going to mess with Prop 13? Steinberg jokingly responded: remind me what Prop 13 is. Gladly senator. It ‘s that ballot measure that the voters […]
The Mighty Fall in Los Angeles’ Civic Theater of the Absurd
It was a moment of truth. History was being made right before our eyes when the public face of the Los Angeles civic establishment was dressed down by a pipsqueak like City Council President Herb Wesson. Richard Riordan, the popular former mayor who 40 years ago had helped bring down the city’s arch-conservative oligarchy and […]
The Manipulative Political Ads Play On
California government employee unions spent nearly $100 million in the lead up to the November election to convince voters to approve new taxes and reject a measure that would have barred unions and corporations form using legal bribery — campaign contributions — to influence state lawmakers. Now, two of these unions — one representing firefighters […]