Piercing the Veil of Opposition to the California WaterFix
While I was walking back to my seat in the Metropolitan Water District Board Room after having made comments in support of the California Water Fix, a stubbly dude in a porkpie hat looked up and sneered loudly at me, “A**hole!” One might think that I had just completed a tirade against Pabst Blue Ribbon […]
Janus: the Beginning of the End of California’s Pension Crisis?
Cities in California are already starting to crash and burn because of an unsustainable pension system for public employees. With CalPERS expected to significantly raise rates cities are paying each year just to keep up with the liabilities, Oroville is just the latest example of a Californian city on the brink. Thanks to the US […]
The Art of the Municipal Deal
Attending the US Conference of Mayors in January, I was struck by one particularly distressing and costly observation. Local governments are great at doing any number of things, from providing public safety to creating and maintaining infrastructure and – in some cases – engaging in urban planning. But there is one pursuit in which cities […]
Voter Fraud: If It Can Happen In Beverly Hills …
In a city in which an election was won four years ago by seven votes, every vote should count. But only the votes that should count should count. And that’s a problem in Beverly Hills. Voter fraud is real. It’s alive. It’s happening. And we have to stop it. Whether or not it happens at […]
Adventures In Corporate Giveaways: The Curious Case Of Anaheim, CA
Inspired by the Dalai Lama, Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait created the “City of Kindness” initiative. The goal is as simple as the initiative’s title: people should be kind to each other, because, as Mayor Tait asks: “Who wouldn’t want to live in a city of kindness?” While for the past 5 ½ years Mayor Tait […]
SCOTUS Showdown: “Sorry, hon, you did it to yourself”
After yesterday’s news that Republican Senate leaders will not even consider any Supreme Court nominee until a new president is in office, current President Obama is taking it to the streets in an effort to get his yet unnamed pick approved. Or at least to make some much-needed political hay. In a guest column on […]