Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

AG Kamala Harris’ blatant-but-legal corruption

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

Gov. Brown’s ambitious school reform morphs into union payoff

Chris Reed November 13, 2013

In 2013, maybe more than ever, the key to figuring out how California works is understanding that by far the most powerful forces in state politics are the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers and the 500,000

Special interest contributions dwarf alleged FBI bribes to Ron Calderon

John Hrabe November 12, 2013

Undercover FBI agents, posing as Hollywood producers in search of a tax credit, allegedly set up a $50,000 “special fund” with Ron Calderon’s name on it. The state Senator, according to an affidavit obtained by Al Jazeera America, allegedly spent

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

U.S. unfunded liabilities really more than $200 trillion

John Seiler November 11, 2013

In the past I’ve written here about the U.S. federal budget not being $17 trillion in the red, but more than $200 trillion (with a “t”). The calculations come not from some right-wing activist, but from Prof. Laurence Kotlikoff, a

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

Bonus babies: $516 million to state workers

John Seiler November 8, 2013

How is the state government working for you this year? Is that Covered California/Obamacare rollout going smoothly? Well, then you should be happy at this AP report on bonuses paid to state workers: “The total cost reached $516 million in

High tech may save CA, but it will definitely doom privacy

Chris Reed November 8, 2013

I’m all for technological advances. In fact, I’ve slowly come around to the wild-sounding idea that scientific breakthroughs just might save California from decline by creating so much wealth and free stuff that eventually we will live in what Slate

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

What’s being ignored in the Calderon scandals

Katy Grimes November 5, 2013

It’s interesting to see what stories the big newspapers choose to run, and more interesting to see what they ignore. Rather than never letting a good scandal go to waste, big media is part of making the news, or keeping