Taxpayers: Beware of the Sting
For anyone who saw the Academy Award winning movie the Sting, in which two con artists scheme to trick a gangster out of his money, they would remember that the writer, David Ward, created the screenplay in chapters. Titles were put up on the screen before certain segments of the movie for the audience to […]
FPPC Decision on SBAC-PAC is Wrong
The Fair Political Practices Commission thinks the Small Business Action Committee PAC should disgorge (pay back) $11 million dollars that came our way during last year’s election—obviously already spent. The reason they say that is because other groups—not SBAC PAC—violated the Political Reform Act. SBAC did nothing wrong. In fact, we did everything right and […]
Better to Live in a Red State or Blue State? The Debate
California was the subject of both admiration and derision in the Intelligence Squared sponsored Oxford-style debate on the topic: For a Better Future, Live in a Red State. California’s former governor, Gray Davis, was one of the debaters defending blue states, while Chapman University professor and radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt spoke up for […]
BART Strike and Fiscal Issues Test Unions’ Relationship with Democrats
A weekend article by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Andrew Ross suggests that the Bay Area BART strike could weaken the ties between unions and Democratic politicians most often found in the unions’ corner. As polls show the public’s anger over the strike aimed mostly at the unions, some California Democrats are considering whether to pass […]
A Pension Initiative Could Affect Other Election Issues
Few would disagree with public employee union leaders when they declare their coalition would be out in force to defeat the new pension reform initiative filed by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and others. The question is how such an organized effort to defeat this one measure will play with other candidate and ballot issues […]
Legacy of Prop 8 Court Case Pops up in Pension Reform Initiative
Most ballot initiatives end with a severability clause declaring that if a portion of the new law is invalidated the remainder will remain in effect. Not so the pension reform initiative filed yesterday by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and a number of other mayors from around the state. Thank the action – or lack […]
Charles Munger Jr. Speaks on the Art of Political Reform
In a session dedicated to reforming California politics, one of the chief movers behind recent reforms told an audience at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last week that he won’t proceed with further reforms until he has “an army at his back.” Physicist and philanthropist Charles Munger Jr., who financially supported and campaigned for successful […]
Gov. Brown Spikes Faulty Initiative Change
Governor Jerry Brown refused to go along with a labor unions’ scheme to swing the initiative process in their favor. Brown vetoed AB 857, a bill authored by Assemblyman Paul Fong and sponsored by unions, that would have required ten percent of the signatures gathered on statewide initiative petitions to be collected by non-paid signature […]
Business Shutting Down the GOP
News accounts in a number of media outlets say business leaders and organizations are angry with the Republican Party’s role in bringing about the government shutdown. Some writers have conjectured that the long-term effect of the shutdown effort will sever traditional ties between business and the GOP. Is there a threat that the business community […]
Scoring the Legislature and Governor on Business Related Bills
A mixed record for business in this year’s legislative session got a bit of a boost when the governor signed a slew of bills intended to help business. While the latest flurry of bill signings is good news, big issues still concern the business community. The ballyhooed effort at the beginning of the legislative session […]