Lessons From Across The Pond
Last Thursday, Great Britain had its big parliamentary election, and the results astonished every single observer: a Tory (Conservative) landslide that no one saw coming. But there are important lessons for America in the UK election, as many of the politics, and the issues, are the same on both sides of the Atlantic. Lesson one: […]
Budget Negotiators Should Recognize Higher Education Needs
It’s that time of year again in Sacramento as the temperature begins to heat up along with the business of putting together the 2015-16 State Budget. This week, Governor Brown will lay out his revised Budget blueprint based on up-dated revenue results and projections. That’s when the real deliberations can begin. The Budget plan unveiled […]
California Is Not Disneyland
At the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA), we have seen Proposition 13 blamed for just about everything. A national publication blamed the tax limiting measure for the not guilty verdict in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, while a high school physical education coach wrote in a community paper that the loss of shots by his […]
This Is A Boom, And It Should Be Treated As A Boom
Editor’s Note: Part 2 of the ‘Boom, Bust, Repeat?’ Series, which explores how the state can smartly manage recent revenue gains to strengthen public programs for the long-term. A few weeks after Tax Day—and only a week before the governor releases his revised May budget—California finds itself in an enviable position. After years of […]
The Best Revenge Is Giving the Press Your Calendars
Many in the press and the government accountability world see the right to read politicians’ calendars as an example of democracy and free information. I see it as punishment. While covering Governor Schwarzenegger (and writing a book about him), one of my tasks was to read and make copies of his calendars, which were public […]