A Tale of Two Conventions
The decision as to which Party holds the first nominating convention is determined by the current White House occupant? Advantage Hillary Clinton and the Democrats who have the benefit of knowing what was said and can now polish the rebuttals. The over-riding theme of the GOP conclave was easy enough to identify. It was attack […]
Hysteria Over Trump Hits California Media
The possibility that Donald Trump might win the presidency has set off high decibels of hysteria among the political establishment, and no more so than in blue California. Despite an historic level of unpopularity in California, it is quite possible Trump could be elected. The media and political establishment are already musing about what it […]
Direct Democracy Strategy Questions Raised by Gun Referendums
Californian’s embrace of direct democracy continues to entrance those who want to legislate from the outside or to undo legislative actions. As explained in Laurel Rosenhall’s column Friday a bill intended to limit direct democracy has not reduced the number of measures that will appear on November’s ballot. Perhaps this is a result of circumstance—the […]
Collaborative Leadership Needed on Climate Policy
When the Legislature returns in next Monday, our Senators and Assemblymembers should think carefully when considering another climate change bill, namely SB 32. They rejected the bill last year and many organizations continue to oppose the bill this year, for good reason. There has been no meaningful engagement with stakeholders to develop legislation that would […]
The Pension Monster and How Much It’s Costing You to Keep It Fed
Why haven’t Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Council President Herb Wesson followed up on the recommendation by the LA 2020 Commission to “establish a Commission on Retirement Security to review the City’s retirement obligations in order to promote an accurate understanding of the facts” and make “concrete recommendations on how to achieve equilibrium on retirement […]
Unconventional Wisdom after Cleveland
* While the Republicans have been doing their best to paint the darkest possible picture of Hillary Clinton, the back-to-back party conventions give the Democrats an edge, as they can have the last word—if anybody is still listening. Counterpunching can be an extremely effective political tactic. * The red-meat prosecutors Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie […]
Wrapping up the RNC–Trump is on His Way
Donald J. Trump delivered such a stunning, direct and visionary speech as he accepted his nomination for President of the USA that reached out to every single American. His common sense approach, his words, his family, his work ethic, his direct talk are taking us back to our roots as a country. Bringing us back […]
CNBC: CA Last in Business Friendliness
Measuring a state’s business competitiveness is challenging. It’s not always clear-cut. In this light, CNBC’s business analysis shows some interesting findings. Overall, CA ranked 32 out of 50. In some categories such as technology and access to capital, California ranked high (number two overall in both); however, California ranked last in overall business friendliness. In addition, California was […]
Ballot of the Bulge: Why a new law isn’t shrinking the ballot much – yet
Protracted policy questions. Big-money battles. Contradictory proposals that are difficult to discern. It’s shaping up to be an all-too-typical fall election—once again confronting California voters with an unwieldy ballot. This wasn’t supposed to happen. After polls confirmed that California voters were frustrated by ballot overload, lawmakers two years ago made changes aimed at pre-empting at […]