The common assumption in California politics is that labor unions always will be a major force because they have been for the last 30-plus years. Change may be coming, even though organized labor since 1996 has beaten back three ballot initiatives aiming to end its influence. The issue here is union dues paid by public employees. Rules are different for … Read More

For many years before formal investigations by both state and federal authorities began, it was clear the California Public Utilities Commission consistently favored big utility companies over consumers at every opportunity. Until a court order produced tens of thousands of emails between utility commissioners and executives of the companies they regulate, no one could prove either the cronyism that has long … Read More

Back in June, the president of the University of California promised on national radio that the Board of Regents would vote at its next meeting – in July – on whether to adopt the U.S. State Dept.’s definition of anti-Semitism. It didn’t happen. No vote, no discussion, not even an agenda item. No regent, including Gov. Brown, Lt. Gov. Gavin … Read More

Almost no one seemed to notice last month, when California’s new budget took effect, that yet another distinction between citizens and non-citizens was breached. Voting now is about the only area left with a clear line between legal immigrants and citizens. Even for the undocumented, there are few privileges or rights they can’t now enjoy. The state budget signed by … Read More

Fear and anxiety have been in the air around California’s Latino political leaders in the weeks since the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will hear arguments next fall in a Texas case challenging the 51-year-old legal and political doctrine of one-person, one-vote. These fears may be far more valid than other recent scares. The Texas case challenges the notion that … Read More

On June 25, just one week before many California motorists began paying upwards of $4.30 per gallon for gasoline, the Bahamian-flagged tanker Teesta Spirit left Los Angeles, headed for ports on the west coast of Mexico carrying more 300,000 barrels of gasoline refined in California. The Teesta Spirit was one of nine large tankers that left California ports carrying gasoline … Read More

There is no need – not yet – for total abandonment of the humane aspects of the immigration sanctuary laws on the books in 276 American cities, counties and states. In the wake of the random murder of a 32-year-old woman on San Francisco’s touristy Pier 14, not far from the landmark Ferry Building, there is surely a need for … Read More

It is time once more to roll out the lyrics of The Who’s classic 1971 song, Won’t Get Fooled Again when examining the California Public Utilities Commission. It nominally exists to make sure monopoly utility companies don’t overcharge their captive-audience customers. “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss,” went the words written by Peter Townshend, and with the … Read More

“A foolish consistency,” the philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once noted, “is the hobgoblin of little minds.” No one has accused Gov. Brown of being small minded. Why be surprised when he completely reverses himself as he did the other day on vaccinations? Less than three years ago, Mr. Brown signed into law a plan allowing parents to place in public … Read More

Firm Republican opposition to tinkering of any kind with the 1978 Prop. 13 is one reason voters may get no chance next year to decide whether to tax commercial and industrial land and buildings more than residential property. “Very remote,” was how the state Senate’s GOP leader, Bob Huff of Glendora, described the chances of even one Republican voting for … Read More