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Why did Brown take high road and pass on fixing GOP race?
In the summer of 2001, Gov. Gray Davis was in trouble for a trillion reasons, only starting with his feckless response to the winter 2000-01 rolling blackouts and energy crisis. He was facing a formidable 2002 re-election challenge from Los
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Why Swearengin’s finish in controller’s race is deceptive
The fact that Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin finished first in the state controller’s primary and that another Republican — David Evans — was running a strong third surprised just about all California GOPers and may lead them to unrealistic confidence
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CA Dems may finally have CTA vs. Latino showdown
As I’ve written many times over the years — here’s one example — the stability and durability of the California Democratic coalition is downright peculiar. Why? Because the interests of its richest, most powerful faction — the California Teachers Association
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Tim Donnelly is no Tom McClintock. He’s the village idiot.
I understand why my CWD colleague and friend John Seiler sees the Neel Kashkari vs. Tim Donnelly fight through the prism of past fights between relatively liberal establishment GOP types and some conservative grassroots candidates. The idea that a 2008
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Phil Mickelson: Our libertarian martyr
Rancho Santa Fe resident Phil Mickelson was, as they say, trending Friday night for once again behaving in libertarian fashion. The San Diego native has made news for years with his gambling, showing his contempt for societal norms attempting to
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How rich: CTA parent group struggles with pension costs
The following news nugget almost has an Onion feel to it, it’s such a perfect commentary on the aggressively dishonest Maviglian/union narrative about pension affordability. But it’s legit. The California Teachers Association has spent years depicting complaints about the costs
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CalSTRS bailout will be CA version of budget sequester
On April 10, 2012, I wrote an op-ed for the L.A. Daily News with an unusual take on what ultimately would kill the bullet train. My theory was that the teachers unions would fight to keep a new mouth from
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GM vs. Toyota disparity: Our gangster government
In February, I wrote about the Obama administration imposing a $1.2 billion fine on Toyota for a pseudo-scandal involving the alleged “sudden acceleration” of the company’s vehicles — a media-abetted debacle that began in San Diego because a floor mat
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Texas shale history provides key context on downbeat CA report
The new federal report sharply reducing the amount of oil believed to be “technically recoverable” in California’s Monterey Shale triggered glee among the greens who hate fossil fuels. But as the Bakersfield Californian reported, oil companies hardly saw the report
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Typical Sacramento: Weak CalSTRS fix made even weaker
So Gov. Jerry Brown is finally forced by events to come up with a CalSTRS pension rescue plan. And as Dan Borenstein points out, it’s so cautious that it doesn’t prevent CalSTRS’ underfunding from getting worse for some time to
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