Weaponizing the Initiative Process
Three ballot initiatives with enough signatures to qualify for the November election were pulled by the proponents when legislative deals were worked out satisfying the initiative sponsors. The initiatives were used as blunt instruments in forcing legislative compromise and in these three instances it worked. Expect to see more of that in the future. An […]
Colluding With California’s Russian
Take my guilty plea, Mr. Mueller. Because this Californian has been colluding with the Russians. To be sure, I didn’t subvert any elections. But one recent week this spring, when my colleagues were out of the office, I snuck away to visit that most alluring of Russians, the Russian River, which seductively winds its way […]
State Agency Should Return to its Roots
When the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) was created in 1975 – Governor Jerry Brown’s first term – its mission was simple: to help low- and moderate-income families buy their first home. More than 40 years later, in the midst of huge gaps between incomes and prevailing home prices, that goal is getting harder and harder […]
A Scandalous Abuse of the Legislative Process
In a startling abuse of the legislative process, a budget clean-up bill has just been used to sneak in radical and never-debated changes in the criminal justice system. It allows a defendant suffering from a mental disorder to be granted pre-trial diversion and the charges later dismissed for any crime if a judge finds the […]