Inside Government

San Diego mayor’s race: Shape-shifter to ‘leave public life’; GOP candidate favored

CalWatchdog has paid close attention to Nathan Fletcher over the past year, detailing the former union-trashing Republican assemblyman’s odyssey across the ideological spectrum. When the local GOP wouldn’t endorse him over libertarian crusader Carl DeMaio in the 2012 San Diego

Immigration reform all but dead for 2013 and 2014

Adam O'Neal November 19, 2013

Shocked by their poor showing in the 2012 presidential election, Republicans looked for ways to change their brand. The first idea: Embrace immigration reform. A slew of Republican lawmakers and influential conservative intellectuals came out in favor of granting citizenship

Obamacare: National media finally turn on Obama — and Nancy Pelosi

Chris Reed November 19, 2013

The national media are finally done with covering up the incompetence of Barack Obama. Savor this amazing lead from Ron Fournier of National Journal, the former AP Washington bureau chief who still helps set conventional wisdom about national politics: “Incompetence,

San Diego mayoral election Tuesday; party-switcher Fletcher on ropes

Chris Reed November 17, 2013

San Diego has a special mayoral election Tuesday to fill the seat vacated by serial perv Bob Filner. The conventional wisdom has always been that it would be Republican Councilman Kevin Faulconer versus the versatile Nathan Fletcher, a Republican assemblyman

AG Kamala Harris’ blatant-but-legal corruption

Chris Reed November 15, 2013

California Attorney General Kamala Harris isn’t exactly alone in abusing her powers as the state’s top law-enforcement official when it comes to ballot measures. When they had the post, Gov. Jerry Brown and Treasurer Bill Lockyer reveled in using the

Attorney General’s Office: Bullet-train law not binding on Legislature

Chris Reed November 12, 2013

The bullet-train project doesn’t have a legal financing plan or adequate environmental rules, according to an Aug. 16 decision by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny. The state Attorney General’s Office doesn’t dispute that part of Kenny’s ruling. Instead, it

How would BART’s dishonesty, profligacy play in private sector?

Chris Reed November 11, 2013

Two classic California outrages are captured perfectly in Dan Borenstein’s appalling Conra Costa Times commentary over the weekend about how Bay Area Rapid Transit officials grossly misled the media on terms of their recent strike-ending labor deal. The first is

Miracle: Sacramento MSM laments California’s mass poverty

Chris Reed November 10, 2013

For months, Cal Watchdog, U-T San Diego columnist Steven Greenhut and the U-T editorial page have drawn attention to the fact that under a new measure of poverty introduced by the Census Bureau in November 2012, California has the worst

CA lawmakers hold hearings on Military Sexual Trauma

Katy Grimes November 7, 2013

SACRAMENTO — California legislators are looking into Military Sexual Trauma, commonly called MST, among troops based in California. So far, no bills have been introduced. The military, including the California National Guard, largely is governed by laws passed by the

Friday hearing: Will judge ‘have the [guts]’ to shut down bullet train?

Chris Reed November 7, 2013

On Aug. 16, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny handed down a landmark ruling against the $68 billion California bullet-train project. Kenny held that the state High-Speed Rail Authority’s plan to begin construction in the Central Valley in coming months