See Tax Increases, Think Pensions
Despite the ridicule heaped on bonuses offered public workers for simply doing their jobs – just one prime example: a librarian earning a bonus for helping members of the public find books – the California Retirement System (CalPERS) board last week made sure the bonuses added to salaries will be part of pension calculations. While […]
Seeking More Voters Spurs Probable Change in L.A. Elections
It’s about the numbers, or shall we say the lack of numbers, when Los Angeles voters come out to vote in city elections. The 23% turnout this last city election meant that few registered voters put the new mayor, Eric Garcetti, into office. With the current trend lines in voting in the city election, the […]
Curious Numbers in PPIC Poll
What to make of some of the findings in the most recent Public Policy Institute of California poll? In a state in which Governor Jerry Brown has positive poll numbers and Independent voters historically lean Democratic, why are the Independents barely breaking for Brown over Republican Neel Kashkari? Brown leads Kashkari 44% to 40%, while […]
The Enigmatic Jerry Brown and a Fourth Term
Hard to argue with many of the sentiments that Jerry Brown expressed in his interview published over the weekend by the Los Angeles Times about his vision for a fourth term. He talked about ending the “gold rush for new programs and spending” that legislators would seek giving an uptick in revenues. This page has […]
Prop 45 Debate by Insurance Commissioner Candidates is Good Idea
Debates between political candidates are being debated in California this election cycle. Despite an effort to get numerous debates, Neel Kashkari got his one debate with Governor Jerry Brown at a time of Brown’s choosing well before the election. Republican Lt. Governor candidate Ron Nehring got some attention from the media by making incumbent Gavin […]
Prop 1 Roots Go Back to Water Bonds that Built California
You might say that Proposition 1, the water bond, carries the DNA of bonds that promoted a growing and prosperous California. Water bonds helped build the Los Angeles Aqueduct in the early 1900s to make possible the growth of one of the world’s great cities. Another bond helped build the State Water Project half-a-century later, […]
Kashkari’s Attention-Getting Ad has a Point
Neel Kashkari’s campaign for governor sought to gain attention with its first statewide television commercial and succeeded. The ad titled Betrayal depicts a boy drowning before being pulled to safety by Kashkari. The boy is symbolic of the school children Kashkari asserts have been abandoned by Governor Jerry Brown when he appealed the Vergara vs. […]
Minimum Wage Truth and Consequences: Who’s Listening?
Let’s hope that voters become more engaged in the minimum wage debate than some elected officials. Voters will be subject to counterarguments in the minimum wage debate. Raising the minimum wage will undoubtedly make things better for minimum wage workers – more to spend, raising some out of poverty. At the same time it likely […]
Show ‘Em the Money
Where have all the Republican donors gone? The Republican Party is in the doldrums in California. Like the Oakland Raiders, the Republicans need one win to give them confidence. A win in a statewide race would not turn political fortunes around immediately but it would be a stepping stone. Pundits and academics advise it would […]
California Redistricting Commission in Jeopardy at US Supreme Court
The key question the United States Supreme Court must address in deciding if state voters can create redistricting commissions for congressional districts is whether the people can be considered legislators when they create laws through the initiative process. It goes to the heart of the initiative power, which voters in both California and Arizona used […]