Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

Scam exposed: UTLA wants $ for troubled students to fund 17.6% raise

When Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Local Control Funding Formula for state schools into law in the summer of 2013, it was billed as the biggest education reform in California in decades. The premise of the law — and the

Consumer Watchdog criticized for ‘misleading’ report

John July 29, 2014

The shoe’s on the other foot for Consumer Watchdog (no connection to CalWatchdog.com). Routinely critical of state regulators for failing to protect consumers, the consumer advocacy group has been criticized by an independent oversight panel for presenting “incorrect” and “misleading” information to the public.

State peddles idea that bullet train contractors are investors

Chris Reed July 23, 2014

On Jan. 11, 2010, the Legislative Analyst’s Office issued a report on the latest iteration of the business plan for the California High-Speed Rail Authority. It contained a game-changing conclusion — a predictable conclusion but still a crucial one. Here’s

Port of San Diego turns permit process into profit center

Chris Reed July 19, 2014

The Port of San Diego is breaking crazy new ground. The agency — which has 500-plus employees and a $97 million annual budget to oversee maritime cargo and cruise ship facilities in a coastal area covering San Diego and four smaller

FTB spends 5 years, fails to collect $392

Dave Roberts July 16, 2014

California’s Franchise Tax Board spent thousands of dollars over five years in the futile pursuit of a Redondo Beach septuagenarian for $392. For more than half of that time, FTB staff lost the taxpayer’s records and didn’t inform him

Cartoon: CalPERS and Stockton

John Seiler July 14, 2014

Profiting from stem-cell public-private partnership

John Seiler July 12, 2014

While governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger loved to tout “public-private partnerships”; another phrase for which is “crony capitalism.” One such partnership he backed was Proposition 71 back in 2004, which allocated $3 billion to fund stem-cell research. Except that, with interest, the

Uber nabs Apple exec

John Seiler July 10, 2014

On July 4 on our site, James Poulos wrote about Uber and other ride-sharing companies’ battles with some existing taxi companies over insurance. Steven Greenhut also wrote about it in the U-T San Diego. However that turns out, Uber almost certainly is

Arnold still driving Hummer

John Seiler July 9, 2014

Despite its motto, “Advancing Policy, Not Politics” — as if the two could be separated — the USC Schwarzenegger Institute still promotes the former governor’s policies on global warming/climate change. A recent press release reads: Arnold Schwarzenegger Issues Statement on

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