Proposition 2, An Insurance Policy for the Budget
When The Sacramento Bee asked Gov. Jerry Brown Friday whether, if re-elected, he would continue his pledge to only raise taxes approved by voters, he appeared to duck the question. He said he was focusing on passing Propositions 1 (water bond) and 2 (rainy day budget fund). As Brown hinted in his response, any question […]
Surprising Follow-up to my Washington Post Article (It’s not about California Politics)
No California politics or business today. Rather this is the story of what happened after the Washington Post put up my article last week about my family’s travels almost two decades ago to a place in Luxembourg where my father saw action during World War II. The article, which I wrote for a Smithsonian and […]
The Plastic Bag Referendum and the Connection to the Sec. of State Race
If the referendum filed to overturn SB 270, the plastic bag ban law signed by Governor Brown yesterday, makes the ballot arguments against the ban will deal with lost manufacturing jobs and charging consumers 10-cents for paper bags that grocers’ pocket. Those arguments should be highlighted during the signature drive and later in the campaign […]
School Superintendent Race is Referendum on Teachers Unions
While the battle for Superintendent of Public Instruction between two Democrats is drawing attention because it is the most hotly contested statewide political race, in the end the contest may not so much depend on voters feelings about the candidates as how they feel about the power wielded by teachers unions. The California Teachers Association […]
Initiative Reform — One Bridge Short
As someone who participated in the working group on initiative reform package that ended up as Sen. Darrell Steinberg’s SB 1253 signed by Governor Brown over the weekend, I can say the bill is, well, okay as far as it goes. But to invert a title used for a World War II book and movie, […]
Why Are Supposed “Greedy” Oil Companies Lowering Gas Prices During Cap and Trade Debate?
Oil companies have been part of the campaign to make voters aware that gas prices will increase in January once fuels are put under the cap-and-trade provisions of AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act. Yet, a strange thing is occurring. The campaign to delay the application of cap and trade rules for fuels goes […]
If Harris Becomes US AG a Likely Replacement is…
California Attorney General Kamala Harris has been mentioned as a possible replacement for retiring United States Attorney General Eric Holder. Harris said she is staying put. However, persuasive arguments from a president have been known to cause people to change their minds. Should Harris get the job, it is too late to take her name […]
Rewarding Voters An Old American Tradition
The proposal from the Los Angeles Ethics Commission last month that voters in the city’s municipal elections be entered into a lottery for a cash prize has been heaped with criticism. Washington Post columnist George Will, for one, called the proposal “a perfectly awful idea…so loopy it could only be conceived by governments.” His reasoning […]
Kashkari’s Challenges
Neel Kashkari is attempting a difficult task – and I’m not talking about his attempt to unseat a sitting governor and California political legend in Jerry Brown. Kashkari is attempting to steer the Republican ship toward center waters –where Brown rows his famous canoe – because he believes that is how the Republican Party becomes […]
Amid Disunity Talk GOP Re-Building
Given the headline generating internal arguments with top of the ticket candidates and party officials about party unity, it’s probably good that the real work of re-establishing the GOP as a political force is to try and build from the ground up. The key phrase emphasized by organizers of the state Republican convention in Los […]