Posts From Joseph Perkins
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Joseph Perkins, now assistant editor of the Orange County Register Opinion Pages, started his career as an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal. After serving on the White House Staff of former Vice President Dan Quayle he wrote for the San Diego Union-Tribune where he authored a nationally-syndicated column. Before writing for CalWatchdog.com, Mr. Perkins was also Business Editor for San Diego Magazine.
Government Takes a Bead on Sugar
Feb. 3, 2012 Imagine driving home from a Super Bowl party and being stopped at a police checkpoint. You roll down your window and an officer asks what you’ve had to drink. “Just a couple Red Bulls,” you reply. “I’m
Read MoreWill Enviros Bend on CEQA Reform?
Jan. 28, 2012 CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act, has long been the third rail of politics here in theGoldenState. If a politician dare touch it, he or she is dead to the state’s powerful environmental lobby. Gov. Jerry Brown
Read MoreCourts Undermine State’s Initiative System
Jan. 20, 2012 I voted against Proposition 215, the so-called Compassionate Use Act, which legalized marijuana use here in the nation’s largest pot-growing state for — wink, wink, nod, nod — “medicinal purposes.” That’s why it is rather ironic that
Read MoreCA Credit Rating Nothing to Celebrate
JAN. 17, 2012 They were slapping high fives in the offices of state Treasurer Bill Lockyer this week. Why the celebration? Because California no longer has the nation’s worst credit rating, according to Moody’s Investors Service. “The reason we’ve improved
Read MoreDelta Science Remains in Question
JAN. 6, 2011 A federal judge opened up a can of whoop ass last fall on two government biologists, accusing them of mendacity in making their case for stricter environmental regulations in the Delta. This week, a report by a
Read MoreCalif. Can Lead Commercial Space Age
JULY 27, 2011 The completion of the Space Shuttle’s 135th and final mission reminded many of us here in the Golden State that Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California was the shuttle’s primary landing site in its first decade
Read MoreProtectionism for Union Grocery Workers
JULY 20, 2011 Since it opened its first store in Palo Alto in 1989, Whole Foods Market has grown its market share in California’s highly competitive grocery industry by acquiring such food chains as Mrs. Goocher’s Natural Food Markets of
Read MoreCA Businesses Split for Utah
JULY 13, 2011 What do California-based companies Adobe Systems, eBay, Electronic Arts, Oracle and Twitter have in common? All have expanded over the past two years not in the Golden State, but in neighboring Utah. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert makes
Read More$700K State Salaries Bust Budget
JUNE 6, 2011 He’s not a Nobel Prize-winning physician. He’s not the founder of a life science company. He’s not even a Hollywood plastic surgeon. Yet he earned an enviable $777,423 last year. He’s a doctor at High Desert State
Read MoreCal Biz Climate Ranks Pathetic 32nd
JUNE 30, 2011 By JOSEPH PERKINS The Legislature passed a budget this week that assumes $10.6 billion in higher tax revenues flowing into the state’s coffers next year. That sum includes not only the $6.6 billion Gov. Jerry Brown projected
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