Steven Greenhut, Author at CalWatchdog.com

Posts From Steven Greenhut

Steven Greenhut

Steven Greenhut is CalWatchdog’s contributing editor. Greenhut was deputy editor and columnist for The Orange County Register for 11 years. He is author of the new book, “Plunder! How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives and Bankrupting the Nation.”

Drones a litmus test on trust in government

March 18, 2013 By Steven Greenhut SACRAMENTO -– Don’t you hate it when life starts to resemble one of those bleak, futuristic dystopian movies? I’m thinking of an almost unfathomable reality –- local and state governments are joining the feds

CA GOP needs ideas, not just money

Steven Greenhut March 11, 2013

March 11, 2013 By Steven Greenhut SACRAMENTO — Most of the activists, insiders and lobbyists I talked to during this month’s California Republican Party convention in Sacramento expressed optimism about their party despite blistering election losses and persistently falling voter

Immigration debate over in CA

Steven Greenhut March 3, 2013

March 4, 2013 By Steven Greenhut SACRAMENTO — As the cliché goes, elections have consequences. And the Nov. 6 election results have had dramatic consequences in California. The debate over immigration — legal and otherwise, but, especially, otherwise — is

S. Court splits on defending civil liberties

Steven Greenhut February 24, 2013

Feb. 24, 2013 By Steven Greenhut SACRAMENTO — The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions regarding police powers were mixed, thus offering a reminder to civil libertarians that they cannot depend upon the high court to protect the public from unwarranted

Dorner manhunt raises policing issues

Steven Greenhut February 17, 2013

Feb. 17, 2013 By Steven Greenhut SACRAMENTO — Police typically say that their paramount mission is to protect public safety. But the recently concluded manhunt for former Los Angeles Police Department officer Christopher Dorner, accused of murdering four people after

Democrats now see downside of CEQA

Steven Greenhut February 11, 2013

Feb. 11, 2013 By Steven Greenhut SACRAMENTO — Although many of California’s legislative Democrats are eager to “test drive” the new two-thirds majorities their caucuses hold in the Assembly and Senate — i.e., pushing the limits of their power to

California a model for other states?

Steven Greenhut February 3, 2013

Feb. 3, 2013 By Steven Greenhut SACRAMENTO — California’s modern-day progressive Democrats keep crowing about the huge success they’ve had in taming the state’s budget deficit, thanks to Proposition 30‘s tax increases and other “reforms,” and now are championing the

Affluence police tee off on Mickelson

Steven Greenhut January 28, 2013

Jan. 28, 2013 By Steven Greenhut SACRAMENTO — After hearing the criticism directed toward golfer Phil Mickelson for his modest comments about California’s highest-in-the-nation tax rates giving him cause to consider relocating, I was left wondering: What country do we

Firefighter one of nation’s safest jobs

Steven Greenhut January 23, 2013

The nation’s astoundingly well-paid public firefighters insist that they receive their high salaries and pensions (averaging around $175,000 a year in total compensation in California, with age-50 retirements and schedules that allow them to sleep on the job and work

Brown’s budget is a boon to state’s unions

Steven Greenhut January 20, 2013

Jan. 20, 2013 By Steven Greenhut SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown continues to pose as an iconoclast who is willing to make the tough choices necessary to keep California afloat, but the budget he released recently is more evidence that he remains