Dan Walters

California officials are straddling a fine legal line as they use public funds to persuade voters to approve billions of dollars in taxes, fees and bonds.

Tying political contributions to legislation is illegal bribery that could land dealmakers in prison, but such pay-to-play tactics are perfectly legal when it comes to ballot measures.

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

Kevin de León needed to get aggressive in his only joint appearance with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who he wants to defeat on Nov. 6. But de León was very subdued and didn't change the campaign's dynamics.

Despite very strong growth in property taxes, hundreds of local governments are asking voters to approve additional taxes. They are reluctant, however, to tell voters that rising pension costs are the major reason.

Jerry Brown has never been interested in management of the state bureaucracy and as he prepares to retire from the governorship he probably will leave behind a managerial debacle in the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

Four measures on the November ballot purport to address California's housing crisis, but they are minimalist at best, and one would make it worse.

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

Two ballot propositions dealing with union-management conflicts in medical services indicate that it's two easy to place measures before voters. Raising the signature threshold could discourage misuse.

The sensational confirmation battle over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will have political fallout this year, but what is still unknown.