Commentary: California Voices

The California Nurses Association made its political bones, so to speak, in 1999 when it persuaded the Legislature and a newly inaugurated, union-allied Democratic governor, Gray Davis, to impose strict nurse-to-patient ratios on hospitals. The organization, hoping to become a nationwide union, wanted to prove that its aggressive political tactics could deliver with a staffing […]

This letter to the editor is in response to Is California’s investment in needy students paying off? Few signs yet that achievement gap is closing CALmatters reporter Jessica Calefati relies on faulty research, narrow metrics and insufficient data to make sweeping generalizations and unsubstantiated conclusions about the effectiveness of California’s landmark Local Control Funding Formula. Calefati’s […]

Except for one year, two-plus decades ago, Democrats have controlled both houses of the California Legislature for nearly a half-century. Moreover, most members of the Senate are former members of the Assembly, so one might assume that the two houses are in synch and so duplicative that it might as well be a one-house Legislature. […]

Knowledge, it’s been said, is power. And that explains, in a nutshell, why those in public office fundamentally dislike, and often resist, revealing information to the voting and taxpaying public. That’s especially evident in Washington, where information is a commodity to be acquired, hoarded and traded – and only reluctantly shared with the larger public. […]

Los Angeles County has 10 million residents, a quarter of all Californians and more people than all but seven states. Not surprisingly, therefore, control of Los Angeles County’s government is a very big political deal. For decades, the county’s five long-serving male supervisors were known as the “five little kings,” and even though women now occupy four […]

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi wants to reclaim the House of Representatives and return to the speakership she held for the last two years of George W. Bush’s presidency and the first two years of Barack Obama’s. However, for San Franciscan Pelosi and the Democrats to recapture the House, they would have to not only hold […]

One of California’s most enduring conflicts is the one between San Francisco and Los Angeles for economic, cultural and, of course, political dominance. San Francisco was No. 1 during the latter half of the 19th century, its dominance fueled by the gold rush and the banking empires it spawned. But Los Angeles came on strong […]

The recall campaign aimed at forcing Democrat Josh Newman out of the state Senate has become a hot mess that mirrors Washington’s toxic politics. The Republicans who want to oust Newman from his Orange County-centered Senate district and the Capitol’s dominant Democrats who want to save his seat would destabilize California’s politics, with consequences that […]

Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders are patting themselves on the back for what Brown describes as a “balanced and progressive budget” for the 2017-18 fiscal year that begins July 1. The “progressive” description of the $185 billion budget alludes to expanding benefits for the very large number of impoverished Californians – at least a […]

Gov. Jerry Brown and state legislators are on the verge of virtually eliminating the state Board of Equalization, which has been in existence nearly 140 years. It’s about time. The five-member tax agency has been an embarrassment for decades. Four of the five members are directly elected from immense districts and the board, which collects sales […]