Tax Raisers Target Businesses—How Long Will Businesses Stay in CA?
Businesses, particularly corporations, are the targets of tax raisers in the legislature, at city hall and on the ballot. Piling on business taxes in a state notorious for its poor attitude toward business, one wonders how long businesses will put up with it before leaving. As Jim Wunderman, the president and CEO of the Bay […]
Manipulating the Election System…Again
The Democratic majority in the Legislature is at it again, attempting to manipulate election rules to favor a desired outcome with voters. It has happened a number of times in the last decade. The current effort is SB 300 by Senator Tom Umberg to place all constitutional amendments passed by the legislature in the coming […]
Unmasking an Opportunity and a Reckoning
Announcements from a number of law enforcement officials that they will not enforce Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mask order comes with both an opportunity and a reckoning. The opportunity arises with the ability to test a theory behind the defund police movement that asserts that non-sworn public officials can mediate and deal with situations that do […]
The Shifting Adam Schiff and the Battle to “Defund or Defend” the Police
Congressman Adam Schiff announced over the weekend that he is pulling his endorsement from Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey in her re-election bid. Schiff joins Los Angles Mayor Eric Garcetti, another early Lacey endorser, who intimated in an interview that, “it may be time” for a change in leadership in the D.A.’s office. […]
On historical figures and statues, where do we draw the line?
Christopher Columbus’ statue is leaving the state capitol. John Sutter’s statue, on whose land the Gold Rush began, has disappeared from Sacramento hospital grounds. Fort Bragg might lose its name. All this is being done in the name of not glorifying undesirable aspects of American history. The appropriate question to ask is where do we […]
Return to the “Thrilling” Days of Budget Delays
Remember more than a decade ago when the state budget was finalized often in August or September, well past the end of the June deadline? Well, as the announcer on the old radio and television show, The Lone Ranger, proclaimed, “Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear.” While the legislature passed a […]
The Politics of “Defunding the Police”
Many activists protesting the treatment of Blacks have expressed a policy to “defund the police.” By that statement, some protestors actually mean it. Cut police funding either drastically or all together and send the funds to build up Black and downtrodden communities. Other protestors use the term as a way of saying re-order how public […]
The Pandemic Disrupts One Sports Betting Effort; May Boost Another
A number of California Native American tribes joined in a lawsuit to get more time to gather signatures to qualify a sports betting measure for the California ballot. The lawsuit charges that the state’s stay-at-home order in wake of the coronavirus pandemic interfered with practicing the state’s cherished right of direct democracy. Initiative qualifications have […]
Defund or Abolish Police? Then What?
The movement to defund police or abolish police departments altogether, issues generally ignored prior to the killing of George Floyd, have gained visibility and momentum with the massive protests against police brutality. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti called for a reduction in the city police budget. In Minneapolis, the site of Floyd’s death, nine city […]
Proposal to prohibit police unions from funding district attorney campaigns doesn’t go far enough
One response to the protests over police treatment of black communities is a proposal by some current and former California district attorneys to prohibit candidates running for prosecutor positions from receiving police unions’ donations and endorsements. The Los Angeles Times editorially backed the idea arguing, “These unions’ power to raise and dispense large amounts of […]