Misusing taxpayer dollars for campaigns
Four of the 12 measures on California’s November ballot were placed there by the Legislature. Let’s assume that legislators had also appropriated $100 million in taxpayers’ money for campaigns to...
View ArticleCalifornia’s crisis of competence
Year by year and article by article, Ralph Vartabedian has revealed to Californians the woeful shortcomings of the state’s largest public works project, a north-south bullet train. Vartabedian, a...
View ArticleLegislature leaves much undone
When the Legislature reconvened in January, the stage was seemingly set for a year of sweeping action on California’s most vexing political issues, such as a chronic housing shortage, homelessness and...
View ArticleMost ‘job killer’ bills bite the dust again
As COVID-19 slammed into California a half-year ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered a partial shutdown of what had been a high-flying economy to combat the deadly virus, plunging the state into its worst...
View ArticleMisusing taxpayers’ money for campaigns
California voters are not only voting on presidential, congressional, legislative and local government offices and a dozen statewide ballot measures but deciding the fate of 234 local tax and bond...
View ArticleDoes more money mean better schools?
It’s by no means certain that California voters will pass Proposition 15, but if they do, it would be the largest tax increase in the state’s history. That said, it would provide a relatively small...
View ArticleHow long will Newsom have one-man rule?
California has been a one-party state for the last decade, with Democratic governors and supermajorities in both legislative houses doing pretty much as they pleased without paying any attention to the...
View ArticleWhat will tax increase advocates do now?
Proposition 15, which would have boosted property taxes on commercial real estate by billions of dollars a year, finally bit the dust last week. It wasn’t a surprise. Although its advocates — unions,...
View ArticleRevenue windfall creates political dilemma
As Gov. Gavin Newsom makes the final decisions on writing a 2021-22 budget, he’s receiving some good revenue news from his beancounters. During the first four months of the 2020-21 budget cycle, which...
View ArticlePoll confirms Californians’ sour mood on higher taxes
Proposition 15 would have been the largest tax increase in California history and its defeat this month was, by any definition, a huge setback for its sponsors, primarily public employee unions. They...
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