Short Countdown Begins for State Budget
While there are plenty of huge numbers flying around in the California’s latest budget debate, the most important figure is a lot smaller: 29. That’s how many days legislators have to stop making their partisan political points, take a deep whiff of reality and put together a plan to close that $16 billion or so […]
In Losing, Lugar Has Message for Legislature
To channel Jerry Brown, “En ira veritas.” For those who lack the governor’s Jesuit education, that means, more or less, “In anger, there is truth.” It’s a fair description of the fiery statement Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar issued Tuesday night after losing the GOP primary. It’s also a message that should be required reading for […]
Nothing But Bad Choices With Prop. 29
There are some ballot measures where you need more than the usual two choices. Take Prop. 29 on the June ballot, for example. That’s the one that would put a new $1-a-pack tax on cigarettes, raising about $735 million a year for cancer research and anti-smoking programs. Vote yes, says the American Cancer Society, the […]
Surprise, Surprise, 18-year-olds Are Adults
An Assembly committee saved California from some national embarrassment last week when they reminded a grandstanding legislator that, yes, 18-year-olds really are adults in this country. Now if only someone could pass that message on to Washington. It was Modesto Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen who decided that a case in the national headlines was just the […]
Anti-Rail Forces Are No Friends of the Central Valley
Why does the Legislative Analyst’s Office hate the Central Valley? If you read Mac Taylor’s latest screed against the proposed high-speed rail system, you’d think that the only way its construction would make sense is if it connected the Bay Area and Los Angeles without touching down in any those inconveniently rustic spots between the […]
Oregon GOP Has a Lesson for California
Republican Chris Dudley, who barely lost the 2010 Oregon governor’s race, is packing up to leave the state – and likely politics – and there’s a lesson here for California’s GOP. If you want to build a political team, you’ve got to give the folks on your bench something to hope for. Or they won’t […]
Fairness Key to Split Roll Tax Fight
The anti-tax folks are back in their “woe is us” mode, complaining loudly that the state and its minions (i.e., Democrats, labor unions and poor people) are plotting to grab their hard-earned money in a desperate and dangerous ploy to keep the lights on in the Capitol and see that California’s bills get paid. Along […]
Losing Fletcher is Bad News for State GOP
Note to California Republicans: When your candidates start running for the lifeboats, maybe it’s time to reassess your strategy. Nathan Fletcher, a GOP assemblyman who’s running for mayor of San Diego, jumped ship Wednesday, leaving the party and re-registering as a decline-to-state voter. It’s a decision, he said in a six-minute-long, YouTube video, that he’s […]
UC Can Be Key to Brown’s Ballot Tax Effort
If Gov. Jerry Brown wants to convince California voters to take a deep breath, grit their teeth and vote for a tax hike this November, he should spend some time talking about the University of California and the state college system. A couple of years ago, I interviewed then-Lt. Gov. John Garamendi for a story […]
Brown Surrenders on Ballot Tax Measure
If there was ever any doubt that Gov. Jerry Brown is mighty worried about the chances of passing his tax initiative come November, he eliminated it Wednesday when surrendered to the “something for nothing” wing of the Democratic Party. Brown let himself get rolled by the soak-the-rich crowd, giving up his long-running mantra of “shared […]