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L.A. proposal: That’s a pension tax — not a pothole tax
This proposal — allegedly from Los Angeles bureaucrats but almost certainly from new L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti — got the scorn it deserved on libertarian and conservative websites when it came out Wednesday afternoon: “L.A.’s elected officials should put a half-cent
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Will failed Prop. 209 rollback help GOP with Asian voters? It depends
With Asian-Americans making up 14 percent of the state’s electorate, there is a small but real chance that this past month’s developments in the Legislature could prove the biggest story in California politics in years. I refer to Asian Democratic
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Ruling on Chuck Reed’s pension initiative not end of the world
Editor’s update, 2 p.m.: San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is reportedly suspending the initiative push until 2016 because the court delays related to the ballot language challenge will make it difficult for signature gatherers to meet deadlines — not because
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CA Dems: Are they following the pattern of another one-party state?
After I got out of college in the 1980s, I spend a fun few months working as a reporter for a weekly newspaper in Kauai. The chairman of the County Council was an affable young Democrat in his late 20s
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Buzz builds in TX, FL over privately funded bullet-train projects
Back in 2008, perhaps the single biggest thing that supporters of Proposition 1A had going for them was that a California bullet-train network just sounded cool and futuristic. Critics, however, pointed out correctly that the $9.95 billion bond that went
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Fracking showdown: Will CA media STILL ignore Obama view?
The prospect of rich Dem dilettante Tom Steyer targeting Jerry Brown over fracking is scary in some ways. It could well lead to fracking never coming to California and bringing the jobs and wealth it has to North Dakota, Texas,
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Another reminder of Jerry Brown’s, Mac Taylor’s irresponsibility
This Los Angeles Times story should infuriate anyone familiar with Gov. Jerry Brown’s claims that the state is on firm ground financially — and absolutely appall anyone who knows that alleged watchdog Mac Taylor of the Legislative Anayst’s Office gave
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Contra Costa case a template for Prop. 26 abuse
In recent California history, small-government advocates have no more significant victory than the triumph of Proposition 26 in 2010. Here’s an explanation of its main thrust from an analysis by the League of California Cities: “Prop. 26 is divided into
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Are CA elected officials underpaid?
Just after getting a 5 percent raise, Gov. Jerry Brown, other statewide officials and legislators soon could get another boost, supposedly because they’re “underpaid.” Hey, “California is back,” Brown keeps saying. The CA Dem party is meeting this weekend in Los
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Immigration amnesty not nearly as popular in CA as gay rights
There really has been a genuine change in American views of gay rights. The longer the Republican Party sees its members look at this new world and then act out in the fashion of the Arizona legislature, the harder it
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