Corruption

Attempted $1B cover-up can’t even crack Top 5 of bullet-train outrages

With any big public works project, a report that an independent consultant had been pressured by the responsible government agency to hide a nearly $1 billion increase in project cost is absolutely outrageous. Pathetically enough, when it comes to the

Trash train fiasco illustrates private vs. public double standard

Chris Reed April 21, 2014

This story in the Orange County Register illustrates a common CalWatchdog theme: In the private sector, incompetence leads to companies failing and people getting fired. But in government, all too often incompetence comes without consequence: “The Sanitation Districts of Los

CA media: GOP dysfunction bigger topic than mass poverty

Chris Reed April 10, 2014

The Los Angeles Times’ news analysis about how recent controversies are likely to hurt California Republicans with two constituencies they are trying to woo — Latinos and women — isn’t loaded or biased. It’s likely true. Here’s a bit of

3 senators suspended — WITH pay

John Seiler March 30, 2014

Sens. Leland Yee, Ronald S. Calderon and Roderick Wright have been suspended by the state Senate. So they can’t keep voting on legislation, 99 percent of which is unneeded, expensive and wasteful. But they’ll still get paid themselves, according to

Gangsters in the Facebook Age

John Seiler March 29, 2014

What would Don Corleone say? Organized crime on Facebook? According to the Chronicle: “Raymond ‘Shrimp Boy’ Chow made an appearance in federal court today and remains locked up after his arrest on charges including money laundering, but he also somehow made an appearance

CA Dems caught up in corruption in L.A., Bay Area and San Diego

Chris Reed March 28, 2014

High-profile elected Democrats in all of California’s most populous areas are turning out to be corrupt cretins. The indictment released Wednesday of state Sen. Leland Yee depicts a San Francisco-Oakland-Daly City culture in which gangsters traffic in a long laundry list

Did Leland Yee spill beans on corruption in Philippines?

Chris Reed March 27, 2014

I encourage anyone with 15 or 20 minutes to spare to leaf through the 137-page indictment of state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, and his alleged accomplices in the federal criminal conspiracy case revealed Wednesday. Yee isn’t really the central