California’s Empty Chair
Do you feel lucky? Jerry Brown should. He’s lucky that Clint Eastwood wasn’t talking to him. President Obama isn’t the only politician who can be accused of being an empty chair. California and its governor have a similar problem, and we all know it. No one is in charge. No one can get anything big […]
Give John Burton a Permanent Free Pass
Surprise, surprise. California Democratic Party chief John Burton isn’t going to pay any real price for comparing the GOP to Goebbels. He’s even gone back to California for a root canal – which is far better than a week in Charlotte. So let’s just turn off the outrage meters and the media coverage. And try […]
Let the European Commission Supervise California Direct Democracy
Back in April, the European Union launched the first transnational initiative process – a process open to anyone in the world who could get one million signatures from a combination of petitions in at least 7 of the 27 EU countries. There was one big snafu. The legislation enabling this new initiative process provided for […]
Could Pension Savings Fund High-Speed Rail?
Before this week, California had a $60 billion-or-so problem. It was called the high-speed rail, Phase 1. That’s a rough estimate of the money California would need to complete the project that it now wants to start – and doesn’t currently have. Where would it come from? The feds don’t have it. Private investors aren’t […]
Pension Reform Is Already Dead
It doesn’t matter what happens in these next few days. If this new pension deal, released Tuesday with little in the way of hard financial numbers or projections, falls apart. Or if it lives. Or if labor sues or files a referendum. Or because it will be undermined by future collective bargaining, or by any […]
My Goodness! Fleischman Is Right!
I think Jon Fleischman might be a California Crackup-style reformer, even if he doesn’t know it yet. The FlashReport publisher had a piece in the Orange County Register last week that was a Yosemite Falls of beautiful, wet, flowing truth. The headline said it all: “Don’t Do Deals With Democrats.” And Fleischman offered two reasons […]
Is That Proposition 30? Or Proposition –30–?
I’m still not sure about what I’m going to do on Prop 30, if I vote on it at all. On one hand, it’s terrible policy (temporary taxes, constitutional changes in spending and revenue flows) from a governor who has simply refused to grapple with the broken governing system. On the other, boy it would […]
Other Verses From Luke
In kicking off the formal campaign for Prop 30, Gov. Jerry Brown drew upon one of the most famous lines in the Bible, from Luke 12:48: “Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required.” Translation to the 2012 California political context: the rich should pay more. That’s a strong point, […]
Letter from Salem: Unions Boycott an Initiative Reform
I showed up to the Oregon capital of Salem to observe the most significant attempt at initiative reform in the United States. A public employee union-backed political committee that’s sponsoring an initiative here didn’t show. Therein lies an interesting story that Californians should know. Since the reform in question could be coming our way. The […]
The Real Problem with Initiative Hearing wasn’t Censorship
The only thing more dispiriting than last week’s three-hour legislative hearing on four November ballot initiatives was the debate over it. Dan Walters, Joel Fox and others accused the senate Democrats — and specifically Darrell Steinberg — of censoring the hearing, because he blocked broadcast of the hearing on the California Channel and the Internets. […]