Politics and Elections

Push to restore CA bilingual education dubious in more than one way

When software tycoon Ron Unz’s Prop. 227 campaign to end bilingual education in California won landslide approval in 1998, one reason was that a lot of Latinos and white liberals shared Unz’s fundamental view that bilingual ed wasn’t working well

Lessons of San Diego mayor’s race: How about ‘none’?

Chris Reed February 20, 2014

The victory of Republican Councilman Kevin Faulconer over Democratic Councilman David Alvarez on Feb. 11 in the special election to finish the term of departed and disgraced San Diego Mayor Bob Filner led to many pronouncements about The Deeper Meaning

‘No Party Preference’ gains in CA voter registrations

John Seiler February 18, 2014

“No Party Preference” continues its gradual rise in voter registrations according to new data released today by California Secretary of State Debra Bowen. As of Dec. 31, 2013, registration was: Democratic: 43.6 percent, down from 46.8 percent in 1997; Republican:

Gov. Brown maintains sizable fundraising lead over GOP opponents

John February 13, 2014

California Governor Jerry Brown begins his re-election campaign with $17 million in the bank. The incumbent Democrat governor, according to state disclosure reports released recently, raised $9.9 million last year — with the overwhelming majority of those funds coming from big corporations,

Will GOP learn from Faulconer’s win in San Diego?

Chris Reed February 12, 2014

San Diego voters elected affable, seemingly moderate Republican Councilman Kevin Faulconer as mayor in a special election Tuesday night, making him the biggest large-city GOP mayor in the United States. But before Republicans tout Faulconer’s unexpectedly decisive 9 percentage point

Reagan grace vs. Clinton revenge

John Seiler February 11, 2014

The news is filled stories on the vindictive nature of Bill And Hillary Clinton. The Daily Mail reported: A new book alleges that former President Bill Clinton and wife Hillary have compiled a so-called “enemies list” of fellow Democrats who

Faulconer election won’t stop ‘Los Angelization’ of San Diego politics

Chris Reed February 10, 2014

On Tuesday, San Diego voters will decide between two City Council members in a special election to fill the remaining 33 months of the mayoral term of disgraced, resigned Bob Filner. The early conventional wisdom was that the clear favorite

Is John Chiang a CTA-spiting kamikaze? Or a slick posturer?

Chris Reed February 7, 2014

California politics tend only to surprise with the extremes to which unions will go in flexing their power. Protect classroom sexual predators? No problem. Openly subvert direct democracy? Sure. Argue that only union nurses should be allowed to administer life-saving

Outside labor $ may cost GOP expected win in San Diego mayor’s race

Chris Reed February 6, 2014

Politico has done an unusually good job for an East Coast news outlet in describing the Tuesday, Feb. 11, special election to replace disgraced Bob Filner as mayor of San Diego. Republican Councilman Kevin Faulconer, an affable moderate-conservative, had been

Same-day voter registration law delayed until 2016

John February 5, 2014

Californians can expect to wait at least two more years for the state’s same-day voter registration law to take effect. Secretary of State Debra Bowen, the state’s chief elections officer, says that the state won’t meet the legal requirements to implement