High-Speed Rail Faces Inevitable Complaints
Here’s the first rule all new council members learn: The sewer plant has to go somewhere. And the neighbors are never going to be happy about it. Substitute “high-speed rail line” for “sewer plant” and you see one of the main problems the $68 billion construction project is facing. A lot of folks who should […]
Five Other Powers We Could Give Initiative Proponents
As noted here previously, the pension initiative seeks to give its proponents the power to defend that measure in court. This is misguided and unnecessary, for reasons I’ve explained here before. But since we are in the totally unreal world known as California Political Reality, people across the political spectrum have naturally agreed that initiative […]
Grow Elect Must Challenge the GOP
At the recent CAGOP convention, GrowElect– the new Republican political action committee to elect GOP Latinos– held a successful panel discussion workshop featuring GOP Latino electeds from all over the state. As former Congressman Ernie Konnyu describes it in the San Jose Mercury News: “Sitting around a quadrangle set of tables in a Hispanic leadership […]
Opt-out Campaigns Log Incremental Gains, But Two Court Cases Could Change the Rules
Whenever anyone suggests that public sector unions are forcing their members to make political contributions, the unions retort that the contributions are strictly voluntary. Technically speaking, this is true, but the tedious process of opting out of making political contributions is a powerful deterrent. The California Teachers Association, for example, allow their members to become […]