Chris Reed, Author at CalWatchdog.com

Posts From Chris Reed

Chris Reed

Chris Reed is a regular contributor to Cal Watchdog. Reed is an editorial writer for U-T San Diego. Before joining the U-T in July 2005, he was the opinion-page columns editor and wrote the featured weekly Unspin column for The Orange County Register. Reed was on the national board of the Association of Opinion Page Editors from 2003-2005. From 2000 to 2005, Reed made more than 100 appearances as a featured news analyst on Los Angeles-area National Public Radio affiliate KPCC-FM. From 1990 to 1998, Reed was an editor, metro columnist and film critic at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in Ontario. Reed has a political science degree from the University of Hawaii (Hilo campus), where he edited the student newspaper, the Vulcan News, his senior year. He is on Twitter: @chrisreed99.

HJTA initiative could focus affordable housing debate

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association on May 1 filed paperwork with the state Attorney General’s Office as a first step toward qualifying an affordable-housing measure — the California Homeowners and Renters Tax Relief Act of 2016 — for next year’s

Dem lawmaker breaks with party over teacher tenure

Chris Reed May 6, 2015

Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, is a former San Diego school board president and a longtime San Diego State professor. In an April 24 op-ed, she called for tenure reform — breaking with Democrats in the Legislature who have long

Ruling on pension bonuses shows obstacles to CA reform

Chris Reed May 2, 2015

Providing bonus checks to government retirees when pension funds have good years has long been common and controversial around California. Now an appellate court has ruled this policy is a vested benefit that can’t be ended by formal action of

Seattle’s advantage in tech rivalry with Silicon Valley

Chris Reed May 1, 2015

Silicon Valley has an increasingly aggressive rival for tech talent and entrepreneurs: the Seattle area. Once known primarily for Microsoft and Amazon, the region now hosts hundreds of tech firms big and small. Hadi Partovi has a good overview on

Occupy-style rhetoric used to frame CA drought

Chris Reed April 30, 2015

Gov. Jerry Brown’s announcement of mandatory water cutbacks led to news coverage of the disparities in water usage between very rich neighborhoods and everywhere else. In San Diego, this instantly prompted angry comments on social media about Rancho Santa Fe,

Giant desal plant planned for Camp Pendleton

Chris Reed April 26, 2015

The dramatic announcement by Gov. Jerry Brown earlier this month of a 25 percent cut in water use across much of California triggered harsh commentary in the state and across the nation over the lack of preparation by government agencies

CA will struggle to meet key energy goal of governor

Chris Reed April 25, 2015

A Hoover Institution scholar continues to provide a fresh take on the state of California’s energy policies, highlighting their hidden agendas and examining their feasibility. Previously, a CalWatchdog.com story covered Carson Bruno’s research showing that the state of California has far

Credibility crisis comes as PUC faces tough decisions

Chris Reed April 23, 2015

The recent series of scandals involving the California Public Utiities Commission hang like a pall over the regulatory agency. Recently deposed PUC President Michael Peevey’s swapping of favors with Pacific Gas & Electric and his surreptitious work with Southern California

Did use of school bonds for iPads deceive bond buyers?

Chris Reed April 21, 2015

When California voters passed Proposition 39 in 2000, they thought they were simply making it easier to pass school bonds for construction of facilities by lowering the approval threshold from two-thirds of the vote to 55 percent. But a provision

Hardball pays off with 2-year, 10% hike for L.A. teachers

Chris Reed April 20, 2015

Hardball paid off for the United Teachers Los Angeles late Friday when negotiators reached tentative agreement on a three-year deal that provides L.A. Unified teachers with a 10 percent pay raise in the first two years. That’s far more than