Piercing the Veil of Opposition to the California WaterFix
While I was walking back to my seat in the Metropolitan Water District Board Room after having made comments in support of the California Water Fix, a stubbly dude in a porkpie hat looked up and sneered loudly at me, “A**hole!” One might think that I had just completed a tirade against Pabst Blue Ribbon […]
Natural & Other Disasters
As many of California’s bone-dry North Coast counties near where I live are being ravaged by the worst fires ever in a state that has become all to accustomed to these conflagrations with people dying and homes and businesses reduced to a pile of cinders we need to take stock of the preciousness of life. […]
A Tale Of Two Headlines
Rolling Stone just ran a hagiographic interview with California governor Jerry Brown accompanied by this headline: Jerry Brown’s California Dream: is this the blueprint for a more progressive America? But the very same week CALMatters ran a column with a very different headline: Latest academic tests underscore California’s education crisis. How could Rolling Stone conduct a lengthy interview […]
Oil Biz pulls Democratic Lawmakers through the revolving door
Inside the California Assembly chamber on the night of June 1, the presiding officer urged lawmakers to recognize former members in their midst, “the honorable Henry Perea and Felipe Fuentes.” In a familiar Capitol ritual, the former assemblymen waved from the balcony as applause rang out from their one-time colleagues. But the two weren’t just […]
Pensions vs. Split Roll
I guess I should use the old vaudeville line: Stop me if you’ve heard this one: the push to increase commercial property taxes is about government pension costs. Returning to this subject at this time (I wrote on the same subject for the Sacramento Bee last April) is prompted by the coming together of a couple […]
Electoral Math Favors Feinstein
For those who have been waiting for a clear-cut example of how California’s top-two primary system could make a difference in the electoral landscape, the case in point is here: Dianne Feinstein’s re-election campaign. Senator Feinstein’s announcement via Twitter that she will seek another term in Washington came as no surprise. Neither did the predictable […]
GOP alliances rip over gas tax repeal: Anti-taxers vs. business establishment
Business groups are threatening to wage a pricey campaign to stop California’s Republican officials from trying to repeal a new state gas tax—warning them not to “create new political adversaries.” But the politicians aren’t flinching. Eleven GOP members of the state’s congressional delegation, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, responded that they aren’t as worried […]
Let’s Tip Our Hats to the Hard Hats During “Careers in Construction Month”
The Legislature has adjourned for the year and Governor Brown has until this Fridayto decide on the remaining stack of bills that have arrived on his desk. If last year, policy-wise, was considered the “Year of the Highway” with marked transportation reforms, 2017 has clearly been regarded as the “Year of Hammer to Nail,” with great […]
Democrats Discover Gerrymandering
One should not criticize wisdom when it comes late because too often wisdom does not come at all. So we should be happy that after 35 years, liberal politicians and their academic supporters have suddenly discovered the evils of gerrymandering, and brought a case challenging its constitutionality before the US Supreme Court. I was present […]