The Presidential Race: But Seriously…
When George Wallace ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972, his slogan was “Send Them a Message!” Last night’s winners might as well have used the same catchphrase. The New Hampshire primary was a political Festivus, in which Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders performed feats of strength while the electorate undertook the airing of […]
Hillary’s Tin Ear for Politics
An article by Politico Magazine chief correspondent Glenn Thrush on Monday titled “Clinton Weighs Staff Shakeup” jogged my ancient memory. As I recall this happened in the 2008 Hillary Clinton campaign. This year her complaints are that she is dissatisfied with the messaging and digital operations, which are two of the three main components of a campaign, the other […]
Did Rocky Just Sink Loretta?
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez’s best chance in the U.S. Senate race – the theory goes – is to grab the second spot in the June first round of the top two contest, and then rally against the frontrunner, Attorney General Kamala Harris, in the November runoff. This Sanchez path to victory looked viable when there were […]
More Truthiness From CalSTRS’s CEO
In 2005 Stephen Colbert coined the word “truthiness” to describe “truths we want to exist.” His invention was timely because at that moment I was contending with truthiness as practiced by the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), to whose board I had been appointed that year. I discovered the organization was understating pension liabilities […]
Parking Up the Wrong Tree
You may have heard that Assemblyman Mike Gatto of Los Angeles recently proposed what he called a “Parking Bill of Rights” to bring some relief to long-abused motorists. When I read that, my heart started racing. I was a little unsure of what to do since it’s been more than 200 years since we last […]