I thought I might nominate Donald J. Trump for this year’s Black Bart Award. But it’s time to retire our lame-duck President’s number. Instead, I nominate California’s Governor Gavin Newsom–for his often good, sometimes bad and, once-in-a-while really stupid impact on the Golden State. On the plus side, or the negative–depending on where you stand […]

We came to London for a respite from the lunacy of American politics, only to have underscored how like the U.S. model British politics have become. And I’m not talking parliamentary sex scandals here! Observing media coverage of the annual Labour Party Conference revealed a party torn by ideology and a campaign process that relies […]

Crossposted on Prop Zero Editor’s Note: In the 1990s, I served with Carmen Warschaw on the Los Angeles County Blue Ribbon Budget Task Force working to improve the County’s financial condition. Despite political differences, we worked well together toward that goal. Long before “feminism” became a potent political movement in the U.S., Carmen Warschaw cracked […]

Crossposted on Prop Zero During the GOP national convention, actor Jon Voight was spotted meandering, virtually undisturbed, through the Media Center. Then L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, soon to preside over the Democratic National Convention, sidled in and was instantly surrounded by a swarm of reporters. In his role as a major Obama campaign surrogate and […]

Crossposted on Prop Zero If politics is a matter of luck and timing, a look back at Proposition 13 (also on his watch) might be instructive as Gov. Jerry Brown tries to save his proposed tax initiative. In terms of luck, Brown appears to have had a run of the bad kind lately, just as […]

Cross-posted at Prop Zero Prospects for resolving California’s budget mess rest squarely on Governor Jerry Brown’s relationship with the state’s voters. He’s got to personally convince a public skeptical of government and loath to trust politicians to approve new taxes to help fill a cavernous budget hole. Californians have got to feel comfortable with his […]

Crossposted at Prop Zero California has gone from having a Master Plan for Higher Education to having no plan for higher education. In 1959, the Legislature mandated the preparation of “a Master Plan for the development, expansion, and integration of the facilities, curriculum, and standards of higher education, in junior colleges [now Community Colleges], state […]