Needed: a Lilith Fair for the California Punditocracy
The brilliant Jennifer Fearing and a number of California’s best known political thinkers and operators have been making an undeniable point for quite a while: big public events about California, particularly those around Sacramento, often include few or no women. This isn’t news, and it isn’t defensible. But it persists. (And women aren’t the only […]
I Hope the Kochs Buy the LA Times
As you read this, I am surely reading e-mails from my former Los Angeles Times colleagues angry about the following sentence: I’m rooting for the Koch brothers to buy the L.A. Times. For the record, I am no fan of Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers who own various polluting companies and have spent […]
Brown Is Vulnerable
Gov. Jerry Brown looks like a shoo-in for re-election. But when you look at California and its political fundamentals, the reason for Brown’s standing has less to do with Brown than the lack of alternatives. The governor is a tree standing in the desert. The Republican Party seems incapable of producing a winning candidate. And […]
Who Needs a Rainy Day Fund Where It Never Rains
The LA Times just reported, again, on the demise of the idea of a rainy day fund. Yes, we have a reserve fund (actually multiple reserve funds) on the books, but they never have any real money in them. The Times story offers a detailed accounting of the reasons we don’t have a fund, including […]
The Most Important Statewide Political Candidacy of 2014
It’s still the first half of 2013, and we already have a pretty good idea who the most important political candidate of next year’s California statewide elections will be. It’s not Governor Brown. Or any of the other bigger names on down-ballot races running for re-election. Indeed, it’s a pretty safe bet that the most […]
An Education Funding Fight Over Crumbs
After more than two years of this governorship, there’s a clear pattern with Jerry Brown: he likes to pick big fights about small things. His latest big-over-small fight is the battle over his proposal to change how school funding dollars are allocated. Brown has puffed this up big time – as a “civil rights” issue, […]
Should California Recruit more Military Veterans to Move Here?
If that question seems ridiculous, it’s only because we have some mistaken ideas about both California and veterans. The first common but incorrect belief is that California is the national capital of veterans. Yes, the state is home to 1.9 million veterans— more than any other state. And yes, California has been known as a […]
The Weakness of the Democrats
The collapse of the California Republican Party has obscured just how weak the California Democratic Party is. That weakness was evident from news reports about the party’s state convention, and efforts by party leaders and elected officials to freeze out those with contrary views on key issues, particularly on education. The news focused attention on […]
Gray Davis for UC President?
It’s clear from stories about the search for a new president of the University of California that there’s a strong possibility we’ll see a non-traditional choice. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom wants someone who understands politics and non-academic leadership – in an LA Times story, he mentioned President Clinton and former governors in states such as […]
A Proposed Amendment to the Three Days In Print Bill
The idea is back. The requirement that a bill be in print and online for 72 hours before final passage is moving forward in the legislature. This was part of legislation, and a ballot initiative, thwarted last year. And it’s a good idea. People ought to know what they’re voting on. But there’s one big […]