An Illogical Hunger Strike
Let me see if I understand your logic correctly, striking inmates of the California state prison system. You are refusing to eat – and thus risking death, right? And you are doing this to convince Gov. Jerry Brown to end indefinite solitary confinement and improve other conditions that you can claim are humane? Correct? And […]
Bullet Train: Judge Shows Taxpayers Might be Saved by Prop 1A
The Friday ruling by a Sacramento judge that the California High-Speed Rail Authority was violating the 2008 state law providing funds for the bullet-train project was the first good news that the many foes of the project have had in years. But what’s not yet appreciated is that the good news was generated by that […]
A Walk Into California’s Employment Future
Walk with me for a moment into California’s employment future, following a path I took on a recent afternoon. We start at my law firm, Sedgwick LLP, headquartered at 333 Bush, on Bush near Montgomery in the center of San Francisco’s financial district. We walk down Montgomery Street to Market, passing the high rises that […]
Government Insiders Threaten the Initiative Process
Are you and your neighbors fed up with the policies of your local officials? For over one hundred years, disgruntled Californians have had the option of responding to onerous local ordinances or other government decisions by using the initiative to affect change, but a recent appellate court decision may mean the end of the voters’ […]
When it Comes to Pensions, California is not Detroit
Not surprisingly, within moments of news of Detroit’s bankruptcy, pension scare mongers took to their pedestals to place all the blame on pensions. California, Los Angeles, and other governments would surely follow Detroit’s footsteps in short order, they cried. It’s simply not true, like most of the claims made by the anti-pension soldiers who have […]
Is California Reform finished?
California has embodied the new frontier since the Gold Rush. Stag Hunt’s inaugural magazine gets in that pioneering spirit by exploring how we might build a government in California that reflects the globalized and technologically connected world we live in. Below co-founder Patrick Atwater outlines the challenges Stag Hunt aspires to tackle. For the first […]