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Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia bucks the ‘inside the beltway’ mentality

Legislators in Sacramento typically fall in line behind party leadership, but freshman Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, appears to have a pronounced independent streak. I had a chance to talk with Garcia about her experiences as a political reformer, and

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What’s being ignored in the Calderon scandals

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

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Gerawan Farming workers win right to vote on union contract

Gerawan Farming workers just won a huge battle against the United Farm Workers — they are finally going to get the chance to vote on whether or not to allow the UFW to represent workers or to send the UFW

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Mr. Arena named to Obama’s new climate change council

Through another executive order, President Barack Obama has created a new environmental council that’s sure to  expand government’s role in how Americans use their own property and land, water and even energy sources. A prominent California mayor is going to be

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Younger Calderon authored movie biz bills

It appears state Sen. Ron Calderon, under investigation by the FBI for allegedly taking bribes, isn’t the only Calderon interested in the movie business. Freshman Assemblyman Ian Calderon, D-Whittier, authored two bills in 2013, AB 344 and AB 533, involving the

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Farm workers win right to vote on UFW decertification… sort of

UPDATE: Nov. 1, 2013: Late yesterday Visalia ALRB Regional Director Silas Shawver announced his decision to block the decertification election at Gerawan Farming. The workers have asked twice for an election. Both times Shawver sided with the UFW and against the workers,

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Obamacare: This is going to hurt

Ouch! That’s the cry of someone trying to sign up for the Affordable Care Act, usually called Obamacare. Health insurance cancellation notices have gone out to millions of  Americans. Many cannot get insurance at all. And for many who can,

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Enviro CA: Green for thee, but not for me

California has gone green: mandatory recycling, plastic bags bans, hybrid and electric cars, wind and solar energy, and the state has gone paperless… well, not entirely paperless. Assemblyman Tim Donnelly said he discovered something this week: the Capitol is not

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FPPC on ‘dark money’ witch hunt

Just in time for Halloween, the Fair Political Practices Commission completed a modern-day witch-hunt last week, looking for “dark money.” Ann Ravel, the outgoing chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission, had accused libertarian philanthropists Charles and David Koch

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Hey Sacramento — publicly-funded arenas are bad for business

While running record deficits, Sacramento’s Mayor Kevin Johnson and city officials approved a $447.7 million arena deal at the Downtown Plaza in March, claiming a public-private partnership – only the private contributions amount to about one-third. Sacramento’s publicly funded arena deal

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