Dan Walters

The duplicitous campaigns against Democratic state Sen. Josh Newman and Republican Assemblyman Rocky Chavez are harsh reminders that California politics is not a game of tiddlywinks.

A collection of commentaries by Dan Walters over the past week.

A "trailer" bill for the 2018-2019 state budget would suspend a law requiring voters to be told about the effects of local bond issues on their property taxes. Local officials apparently fear that with more information, voters would be less inclined to vote for the measures.

Gavin Newsom is almost certain to become California's next governor and is promising a vast array of new services. But with Californians' taxes already among nation's highest. how would he pay for them?

The state Senate voted unanimously to increase welfare grants to nearly a million Californians. But it also voted almost unanimously to give welfare of another kind to the movie industry.

National media were drawn to California by its top-two primary election system and its effect on congressional races. Political party leaders hate the system, but voters like it and it's likely to remain in place.

A collection of commentaries by Dan Walters over the past week.

Gavin Newsom, the Democrats' candidate for governor, and Republican President Donald Trump both wanted Republican businessman John Cox to finish second in this weeks's gubernatorial primary and thus gain a spot on the November ballot Both got their wishes. Newsom can now coast to the governorship, and Republicans hope having Cox on the ballot will spur a higher turnout of GOP voters and save several embattled congressional districts.

California voters faced a slew of local tax and bond measures in this week's election and more will be coming in November, but in proposing them, local officials avoid mentioning escalating pension costs as the major reason they need more revenue.

The "tort wars" that raged in the Capitol for decades over who and can sue whom are being reignited by conflicts over legal responsibility for wildfires and the sale of lead-based house paint.