The Ex-Governors As Initiative Warriors
Old California governors don’t die. They just play initiative politics. Just look at our two most recent ex-governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown. They’ve gone beyond the past ex-governor practice of endorsing the occasional measure to being major players in the system. They are using more than their names or political brands. They are also […]
New CA Task Force on Reparations is a Dangerous Exercise in Virtue-Signaling
Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Michael Ramirez suggests that California should pay reparations — not for slavery, but for subjecting everyone in the state to a lousy political class. He has a point. As the Golden State’s landscape burned, power grid faltered, and social fabric frayed, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill empaneling a nine-member […]
Misusing taxpayers’ money for campaigns
California voters are not only voting on presidential, congressional, legislative and local government offices and a dozen statewide ballot measures but deciding the fate of 234 local tax and bond measures. The California Taxpayers Association estimates that if passed, the local tax measures would raise about $1.5 billion a year in new revenues. The proposed […]
California Initiative Editorial Scorecard
California Strategies and Forward Observer are pleased to present the California Initiative Editorial Scorecard. For this 2020 edition of the scorecard, we track editorials on the 12 ballot measures that California voters will decide on Tuesday, November 3. This year’s editorial scorecard is based on circulation data from the Alliance for Audited Media for 22 […]
Consequences from the Ballot Harvesting Law
Those unofficial “official” ballot boxes that have popped up in a few counties are an outgrowth of the legislative edict to allow for ballot harvesting, a practice fraught with potential mischief or abuse. The boxes marked “official” and set up by state and county Republican organizations may violate state law. The Republicans argue it is […]
Reading the Props: Would 21 Be Better With a Different Sponsor?
Every two years, I read the full text of all statewide ballot propositions—because at least one Californian should. Next is 21 Prop 21 is the one measure I struggle to read objectively, because I know too much about the person behind it. That’s Michael Weinstein, of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. He’s spent years waging weird […]
Prosecutorial Institutionalism
George Gascón has publicly stated that he will refuse to enforce key parts of California’s Penal Code that are mandated by both constitutional and statutory authority. He recently promised certain fringe groups, including one that advocates for the abolishment of prisons, that he would not enforce gang crimes and enhancements, California’s Three Strikes law, or […]
Is This What California Wants?
Germany is the first country to try green energy policies, decarbonize, and works towards zero emissions throughout their entire economy. What’s actually taken place for Germany is they have the highest electricity prices in the world. The international consulting firm McKinsey & Co. has deemed the German government and people’s green energy policies a significant […]
The Happiest Place on Earth is Turning Grumpy—With Good Reason
Disneyland, if personified as a member of the seven dwarfs, has thought of itself as Happy, (The Happiest Place on Earth), but lately it’s been more like another of the seven dwarfs, Grumpy, for reasons tied to the pandemic and California government’s response. With California restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus so tight that […]
Voters Should Reject This Year’s Two Economy-Killing Ballot Measures; No on Props 15 & 21
It’s that time of year when California voters are barraged with political ads trying to persuade them how to vote on California’s many ballot measures. At least two of these measures should be rejected outright by voters. Propositions 15 and 21 threaten our State’s economy and our most vulnerable residents. Let’s start with Prop […]