The Hard Sell for LA’s Measure M
Sacramento insiders are carefully watching the results of Tuesday’s local elections dealing with transportation issues. Resounding support for local transportation tax increases could embolden state legislators to push even harder for a state transportation fix. Rumors hint at a post-election try to get transportation funding before the new legislature is sworn in. Perhaps a discouraging […]
CA Election Lifts New Media, Dumps Old Media
Younger readers will find this as unbelievable as the plot for the last “Star Wars” flick. But it wasn’t too long ago that voters got their election information from: one local printed newspaper, with AP stories on national contests; just three commercial broadcast TV networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, plus the government’s PBS; a couple […]
What Transparency? Prop 54 Exempts A Huge Part of the Legislative Process
Prop 54 has been backed almost universally by media and good government groups. Only a few dead-end Democrats and brain-dead bloggers provide any opposition. It’s been called motherhood and apple pie. Apply transparency to the legislative process! Don’t let lawmakers make deals and debate without the lights and cameras on. Every bill must be published […]
Local Taxpayers Shouldn’t Foot The Bill For Years of City Hall Mistakes
Facing tough budget situations stemming from over-spending, mismanagement and economic downturns, several Orange County cities are trying to solve their problems through the expedient of higher taxes. While this is standard operating procedure in California’s fiscally irresponsible state government and liberal urban centers like Los Angeles, it’s imperative we stop this trend in its tracks […]
Will Your Vote November 8 Cost Dodgers the 2017 World Series?
The Dodgers had a very good year, especially when you consider that they set a record for placing players on the disabled list, including a number of highly paid starting pitchers. The Bums won the National League West with 91 wins, eliminated the Washington Nationals in a nail biting five game series, and gave the […]
Five Days Out: Can Republicans Survive?
Can California Republicans avoid the disaster that the Donald Trump candidacy and their own collapsing party registration suggest is in store for them next week? The latest statewide polling suggests that maybe they just might, but it is a very uncertain maybe. Since California has very little ticket splitting, GOP candidates must depend on the […]
Unconventional Wisdom: Election Pre-mortem
It certainly seems appropriate that disgraced former Congressmember Anthony Weiner is surfacing in the middle of the latest Presidential campaign kerfuffle. After all, the dominant themes of this fracas have been sex and emails. Will this latest soap opera episode qualify as an October surprise that will completely upend the race? Probably not, although it […]
Betting Elections & Consequences of Overlapping Taxes
Betting the Election Polls are fine in trying to determine potential election results but the smart money may be a better barometer of election outcomes. Smart money is a term used in professional sports betting for the bettors who do better research and supposedly have better knowledge of the field in which they bet on the outcomes. And, yes, […]
Raising the White Flag to the “Tax and Spend” Interests Behind Prop. 55
There are some who believe that the passage of Prop. 55 is inevitable, the measure can’t be beat. Maybe these folks have been right all along. But maybe they have really been just too afraid to take a strong stand against Prop. 55, for fear of fighting a losing battle. However, I would argue that […]