Commentary: California Voices

Rose Elizabeth Bird, the court’s first woman, remains Jerry Brown’s most consequential judicial appointment. It's possible to trace bare-knuckled fights over the judiciary to the ones over her confirmation and retention. Today’s court again is led by a woman, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, and its rulings rarely resonate beyond legal circles. But the war on the judiciary continues.

California will suffer economically if it doesn't do something about its chronic and growing housing shortage, as a new report on Ventura County's economy shows.

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

A new centrist third party movement should look for allies among the Legislature’s moderate Democratic caucus and New Way Republicans to facilitate productive trans-partisan conversation. Political centrists believe a balanced approach is the best path forward for California, but would be foolish to ignore ideas from others who with different ideological perspectives.

Cases pending before the state Supreme Court could have a huge impact on the pensions of public employees. They specifically involve challenges to a mild pension reform sponsored by Gov. Jerry Brown but could result in a broader ruling that would open the door to pension benefit reductions.

Why are California Republicans so misaligned with voter sentiment? They delude themselves into believing there is a silent conservative majority out there somewhere, if only they can put up the right candidates.

One of U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris' top aides resigned after the Sacramento Bee reported the secret settlement on a harassment suit against him, but incredibly, Harris professes ignorance about the suit or the settlement.

Oakland, long synonymous with gun violence, is suddenly emerging as a national leader in the field of violence prevention. Since 2012, shootings are down more than 50 percent and are on pace to reach their lowest levels in decades. California leaders have much to learn from how people in Oakland came together to rewrite the violence reduction playbook.

By Mara W. Elliott Mara W. Elliott is San Diego City Attorney, cityattorney@sandiego.gov. She wrote this commentary for CALmatters. Mass shootings and everyday gun violence have become so commonplace in America that many people are losing hope that we can stop the senseless loss of innocent lives. But in collaboration with the San Diego Police […]

Up to this point, information technology systems have been the province of system administrators.  Now, a digital transformation must be a focus of incoming Gov. Newsom. The choice is simple. California can continue its role as a lighthouse state or let others pass us by.