Thomas D. Elias
Fat Gas Prices Bound to Hurt California’s Recovery
The ripple effects of high gasoline prices have been clear for decades, ever since the Arab oil boycott of the mid-1970s temporarily forced a form of gas rationing on California.
Dem Pension Dilemma: Go with the Guv or Their Public Union...
Do the Democrats who dominate the state Legislature side with a governor of their own party or do they go the way of their colleague Republicans, who fought with partymate Arnold Schwarzenegger most of the seven years he spent as governor?
Ethics Commission Plunges from Watchdog to Lapdog
From the moment it was created as part of the 1974 Prop. 9 political reform initiative, California’s Fair Political Practices Commission has operated on the presumption that politicians and their most active campaign aides and backers never should be fully trusted.
A Plainly Justified Outcome ¬ in the Millions – Now Is...
It was a landmark event when the California Public Utilities Commission fined Pacific Gas & Electric Co. $16.8 million in late winter for its documented failure to conduct required surveys of possible gas leaks on about 14 miles of pipelines in Contra Costa County.
Rather Than Bullying, Brown Should Go for a Merger of Tax...
As time goes by and initiative petition circulators buttonhole more Californians outside big box stores and shopping malls, it becomes obvious that all three state tax increase initiatives now in the works cannot pass.
Two Consumer-type Dems Squabble Over Who Is Worthier
A loud hissing contest on California’s left political flank began weeks before the state’s largest health insurance companies announced the other day they plan to raise average rates by 8 percent to 14 percent for thousands of consumers with individual policies – well over twice the 3.6 percent increase in their annual costs.
Brown’s Tactic of Aiding Poor Children Cheats Everybody Else
Just in case anyone doubts that repeated, seemingly perpetual, state budget crises don’t have real-life effects on ordinary citizens, check out what’s already happened and what’s about to happen to education at almost every level in California.
Why It Is Crucial for California Congressmen to Be on Same...
It’s almost impossible to get California’s massive 53-member delegation in the House of Representatives to pull together on anything. They can’t even agree that action is needed to alleviate the housing foreclosure crisis.
Obama Lagging, Badly, in Helping California Out of Housing Crisis
Pinpointing the prime cause of California’s slow recovery from recession is easy: Too little has been done about the crisis in housing construction, values and foreclosures.
Oh, for What Could Have Been – for All of Us
Consider for a moment what this winter season of Republican Presidential candidates lambasting each other while they traversed the countryside of early primary states might have been had California been involved.
