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Changing CA politics: What’s the biggest potential shift?
The open-primary success of relatively moderate GOP candidates in statewide races has prompted lots of thumbsucker punditry lately. For example, Dan Walters sees Tuesday’s results as suggesting a mild GOP comeback. There’s also the evidence that the Legislature isn’t as
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Fewer statewide offices would help
How embarrassing. State Sen. Leland Yee, D-Sacramento, came in third in the race for controller, with almost 300,000 votes, even though earlier this year he was indicted on federal corruption charges and dropped out of the race. In the L.A.
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GOP poised to reclaim 1/3 control in State Senate
In recent years, California Senate Democrats have been their own worst enemy. In 2012, the Senate Democratic Caucus ran the tables, winning every contested race. With Fran Pavley, Richard Roth and Cathleen Galgiani added to his caucus, Senate President President Pro Tem Darrell
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Why did Brown take high road and pass on fixing GOP race?
In the summer of 2001, Gov. Gray Davis was in trouble for a trillion reasons, only starting with his feckless response to the winter 2000-01 rolling blackouts and energy crisis. He was facing a formidable 2002 re-election challenge from Los
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More dams or regulations to alleviate drought?
American diplomat Dwight Morrow wrote, “Any party which takes credit for the rain must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the drought.” Likewise any policymakers that take credit for restoring rivers for fish and not building dams
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CA utilities outfoxing Cap and Trade law
This is Part 2 of a two-part series on Cap and Trade. Part 1 is here. Recent news about California’s cap-and-trade emissions program is like reading a Spy vs. Spy comic strip in an old Mad Magazine, where spies
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Feds funnel money to CA hydrogen cars
The hype surrounding electric cars is running out of gas — and the Department of Energy is directing funds toward hydrogen. Nearly $7 million in federal financial support is headed to five California developers working on hydrogen fuel cells, which emit only
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Can Kashkari win?
No question Neel Kashkari has a tough road ahead in his battle to defeat Gov. Jerry Brown in the November gubernatorial election. Brown is running what I have called his “Morning in California” campaign. It emphasize how he ended the
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Why Swearengin’s finish in controller’s race is deceptive
The fact that Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin finished first in the state controller’s primary and that another Republican — David Evans — was running a strong third surprised just about all California GOPers and may lead them to unrealistic confidence
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