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CalWatchdog Staff
Legislators' pure self interest
Steven Greenhut: Senate President Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, told a group of media gathered outside the Senate chambers that, yes, the state will have a budget by the deadline tomorrow. That possibility became more likely after the governor admitted that he
Read MoreTime to Split California East/West
John Seiler: As I noted earlier, the redistricting essentially splits California in two: about two-thirds of the populace lives in predominantly Democratic coastal areas from the Bay Area down through Los Angeles County. The rest live in predominantly Republican areas,
Read MoreBrown Debt Gimmicks 'Balance' Budget
JUNE 14, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Most knowledgeable people realize that California’s debt emperor has no clothes. Even if the mainstream newspaper media continue to clothe the emperor in the robes of an all-wise Buddhist monk who has taken a
Read MoreBudget For A Paycheck?
JUNE 14, 2011 By KATY GRIMES Commentary If you were presented with doing your job or having your paycheck withheld, what would you do? Oh wait – that is how it works for private sector employment. Fortunately, legislators are also
Read MoreRedevelopment Makeover
Katy Grimes: When Gov. Jerry Brown first called for eliminating the state’s 425 redevelopment agencies, on the surface it appeared a sincere effort. But his proposal was surprisingly not supported by Republicans. And since it was proposed by Brown, a Democrat,
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Budget Tax Rhetoric Ignores Jobs
JUNE 13, 2011 By JOHN SEILER The NBA season is over. But a full-court press is on by Gov. Jerry Brown and the tax-increase forces in the Legislature and government-employee unions to increase taxes $9 billion. In his video address
Read MoreJim Rogers: Chainsaw Spending
John Seiler: Famed investor Jim Rogers has been warning for years that federal, state and local governments have been wasting way too much of the taxpayers’ money. The result: massive deficits at all levels of government, especially California, and pleas
Read MoreAB 32 Turning Into Pollution Pork
JUNE 13, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Call it “pollution pork.” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been gone only five months and his most beloved legacy, AB 32, already is being cut up like an Austrian wiener schnitzel. AB 32 is the
Read MoreBridge Tax Fails; Local Tax Passes
JUNE 13, 2011 By KATY GRIMES In the California Senate Friday, after a week of budget talks and hearings, the “bridge” tax extensions failed — for now. If passed, the tax extensions theoretically would balance the state budget until voters
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