School Funding Proposals Face Pitfalls
While Governor Jerry Brown’s school funding plan doesn’t include provisions to increase local school revenue with new taxation, the proposal to make it easier to raise parcel taxes for schools is seen by some connected to the plan. Brown has called for dividing state generated school dollars on a needs basis. While all schools across […]
Water Bond Politics: “Frankly, My Dear, I Don’t Give a Dam!”
There’s enough pork in the proposed water bond to send it off to the slaughterhouse. But just how much carving will be done when Senator Darrell Steinberg takes out his knife to refashion the bond before it goes to the voters in 2014? Steinberg said last week that he wants a smaller bond and he […]
Wendy on a Tightrope
Phones rang off the hook at the Wendy Greuel for L.A. mayor campaign when the candidate declared that she was for sitting down with the public employee unions to reconsider the pension reforms recently passed by the city council. Greuel, who has made an effort to court both the unions and the business community, got […]
A Look at the Tax Future without a Crystal Ball
One should never look years ahead when doing political analysis but here goes one anyway after reading a couple of items last week about California’s tax situation. One article had to do with the current status of the state’s revenue collection; the second contained a paragraph about a building effort to tax commercial property. It […]
Some Hopeful Signs for Business Under the Capitol Dome
California’s notoriously bad reputation for business seems to be making an impact with the leaders of the state’s government. Proposals have been floated and corrections offered to help improve California’s poor business environment. We’ll see how far these measures get in a legislature not known as business friendly. Governor Jerry Brown and Senate president pro […]
Business “Wolves,” Business “Horses”
According to one report at the capitol rally put on by a coalition of environmentalists and unions opposing California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) reforms, Robbie Hunter, president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California charged that the effort to reform CEQA was run by the “wolves of business.” An interesting expression from […]
Overcoming Government Gridlock has to Hurdle Many Obstacles
What causes the lack of bipartisanship that has brought gridlock to government? The Bipartisan Policy Center explored a number of possibilities as it kicked off a countrywide tour of “National Conversations on American Unity” at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley last week. Former Congressman Dan Glickman placed the blame on […]
L.A. Budget Deficit Magically Cut in Half—After the Election
The Los Angeles City budget deficit magically shrunk by more than half after the voters turned down a half-cent sales tax increase in Tuesday’s election. At least, that is what Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told the press when asked how the city would deal with the budget shortfall after the voters’ rejection of the $200 million […]
L.A. Mayor Runoff – Where Will the Defeated Candidates’ Voters Go?
With the top two candidates in the LA mayor’s race coming within a few percentage points of each other, a close race is anticipated for the May runoff. The campaigns of City Councilman Eric Garcetti and City Controller Wendy Greuel will focus on two groups of voters – those who voted for the other candidates […]
Scoring the L.A. Election
With preliminary counts in from the Los Angeles election, it appears that about 84% of the registered voters in the city don’t care who becomes the city’s next mayor. The voter turnout was a paltry 16% (just under 321,000 votes out of 1.8 million registered voters), slightly down from the last mayoral election when Antonio […]