Could the Chargers Join the Ranks of the Homeless?
No one wants the San Diego Chargers. A last-ditch ballot measure to support a new stadium for the NFL team (as part of a convention center next to Petco Park) is all but certain to fail on the November ballot. It would raise the hotel tax to help fund the project, and it would need […]
Hold the Outrage on Politicians’ Ballot Measure Committees
“Candidates are increasingly using these committees as slush funds for unlimited contributions from special interests. They’re paying off lawmakers without technically violating the law. It’s disgusting.” — Kathay Feng, executive director of California Common Cause, a leading good-government advocacy group, as quoted by the Bay Area News Group We are supposed to be outraged by […]
Sherman the Californian
This month, as California celebrates Admission Day—a legal holiday in honor of our officially joining the United States on September 9, 1850—we should give ourselves an overdue present: A founding story of our statehood starring someone we can be proud of, both as Californians and Americans. Even after 166 uneasy years in the American empire, […]
Why CTA Needs to Pull its Anti-Charter Ads Now
Charter schools have their problems—some are high-performing. Some aren’t. Some are models that other schools should be mulating.. Some would be better off shut down. But the idea that charters, which serve a fraction of students, represent a top priority in California is nuts. So it’s maddening to see the California Teachers Association, in an […]
The EU Is Stealing Our Apple Taxes
The European Union is trying to steal taxes that ought to belong, at least in part, to California. The EU made news with its demand that Ireland collect $13 billion from Cupertino-based Apple, which has used its presence in Cork to avoid taxation. But the taxation it’s been avoiding isn’t really European—it’s American and Californian. […]
Your Homework Assignment: Read Goodwin Liu’s Dissent in the Robles Case
It was a good week for the educational status quo in California. Our state’s Supreme Court declined to hear challenges to rules that make it hard to fire teachers and to the state’s low funding for K-12 education. That’s the bad news. The good news is that 3 of the 7 justices on the Supreme […]
Bigfoot Is One Scared Californian
By Bigfoot (as told to Joe Mathews) I’m so famous for keeping a low profile that some people doubt my existence. So I’m here to tell my fellow Californians than I’m proudly one of you. I travel widely in California (Bigfoot sightings have been reported in every county of this state), and as I do, […]
The Election Changes of SB 450 Are Good Ideas – And Miss the Point
I feel sorry for the people who handle our elections in California – our county clerks and the Secretary of State. They have spent years, even decades, making smart changes to make it easier for people to vote. And they’re about to do it again, with the thoughtful legislation known as SB 450. It would […]
Keep the Coastal Commission Rules Simple
Members of state commissions are dumb enough when they talk to people. Keeping them apart from conversations won’t make them any smarter. That basic insight is why efforts to “reform” the Coastal Commission and various other commissions don’t make much sense. The idea should be to encourage more conversation—public conversation—from which commissioners and everyone else […]
I’ll Debate Kamala
The top-two system was supposed to produce new political competition. Its first big test in a statewide race – the U.S. Senate runoff between Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez – has raised questions about that argument. There’s been little competition. Sanchez, in particular, has been scarce, most recently making news for declining to talk to […]