Politics and Elections

Backdrop to CalPERS’ many debacles: Agency thinks it’s great

The giant California Public Employees’ Retirement System, as one might suspect from its massive and self-important Sacramento headquarters, thinks it is the bomb — a flawless organization that should inspire awe in onlookers. Yes, of course, the phenomenon of government

Fresno water rate referendum headed for ballot

John July 10, 2014

Fresno residents will have the final say on the city’s controversial plan to double water rates in the coming years. On Tuesday, election officials certified that the petition drive spearheaded by former Fresno County Supervisor Doug Vagim has enough valid

Feeble CalPERS reform shows Brown who runs Sacramento

Chris Reed July 8, 2014

Taken at face value, the pension reforms touted by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011 and 2012 were genuinely far-reaching for a California Democrat, even one as allegedly independent as Brown. But from the 2014 perspective, two of the key provisions

CA protests derail migrant transfers

James Poulos July 7, 2014

Recent days have seen the immigration issue intensify. At Murrieta’s Border Patrol station, protestors repelled a convoy of Department of Homeland Security buses carrying detained migrants who illegally crossed the U.S. border into Texas. Instead of dropping off 140 detainees every 72

Perez requests recount in controller’s race

John July 7, 2014

California’s never-ending race for state controller entered a new phase Monday, as election officials are expected to begin recounting ballots in at least two counties. On Sunday afternoon, Democratic Assemblyman John A. Perez, who finished just 481 votes behind Board

Betty Yee declares victory in controller race

John July 1, 2014

It isn’t over till it’s over, as Yoga Berra famously said. A recount still is possible. But Betty Yee has declared victory in her race for state controller over Assemblyman John Perez, D-Los Angeles. Entering the California Democratic Party’s spring

High court ruling a blow to California SEIU

Chris Reed June 30, 2014

In a fresh demonstration that the Roberts court is incrementalist and not the wild-eyed bunch that some on the left assert, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 in favor of an appeal that argued that in-home care workers in Illinois

Wretched teacher discipline law: CTA shows it’s still in charge

Chris Reed June 27, 2014

More than three years after appalling evidence emerged that a teacher at a school in an impoverished neighborhood in south Los Angeles had been feeding semen-laced food to his students, California finally has a law on the books that makes

Controller 2014: Why the cost of a recount favors Betty Yee

John June 27, 2014

The too-close-to-call race for state controller remained unchanged Friday morning — as Lake County has yet to count its 6,053 unprocessed ballots. San Mateo County, the only other county in the state with unprocessed ballots, has just four provisional ballots

Fresno taxpayers submit signatures for water rate referendum

John June 25, 2014

A group of Fresno taxpayers, who’ve been thwarted at every turn by city leaders, is expected today to submit thousands of signatures to qualify a water rate referendum for the November ballot. This morning, shortly after 10:30 a.m., the group Citizens