Prison Compromise, Working or Not, Is Good Politics
The absolute best political compromise is one where even if everything goes wrong, there’s someone else out there to blame. Which brings us to the prison deal Gov. Jerry Brown cut with state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg this week. For those who haven’t been following, judges all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court have […]
Dividing California
(Editor’s Note: In 1993, then state legislator Stan Statham offered a bill to divide California into different states, which passed the Assembly. In view of Siskiyou County supervisors’ vote to support the county seceding from California, we asked him to reflect on that effort. Twenty years ago on June 10, 1993, I was able to […]
Governor Should Veto Minimum Wage Increase
Late yesterday, the Governor and legislative leaders announced that a $2.00 increase to the minimum wage in California is in order and needs to happen. Really? A 25% minimum wage hike when nearly two million Californians are out of work – and small businesses in every community are dying on the vine? When huge uncertainties […]
California Job Search: Doing Everything Right, But…
In these times of job scarcity, a job seeker in California can do everything right and still be unable to find a job. So too, a local Workforce Investment Board (WIB) can do everything right in a job placement or replacement program, and not be able to place participants. These truths come through in two […]
Will City Hall Torpedo the Port of Los Angeles
The Port of Los Angeles is a major economic component of the Southern California economy, responsible, along with Port of Long Beach, for economic activity that supports over 900,000 jobs. However, the Port has run into strong headwinds as the volume of imported containers has slipped 6% over the last twelve months. Even exports of […]