Commentary

A group of five people, dressed in professional attire, sit on chairs on a stage in front of a crowd, with a banner behind them reading “Governor Candidate Forum.” Four of the five people sitting on stage have their hands up to answer the question while a crowd of people watches in the dark.

No clear frontrunner for governor, but new poll names five with the best shot

A poll shows three Democrats and two Republicans have voter support percentages in the teens. The top two vote-getters in June will face off in November.

Dan Walters

A person in medical protective clothing, wearing a face mask and a hair net, pushes a hospital gurney through a hallway inside a hospital, viewed from an open door.

She spent six of her last years in arbitration with her HMO. Her husband’s still fighting the system

Arbitrators in medical disputes are supposed to be unbiased, but this couple suspected there is an incentive to favor HMO’s in arbitration.

By Stephen Martinez

Two people face each other as they speak: the person on the left has a happy expression and her arm to her chest, while the person on the right wears a grey suit jacket and glasses. Both people are standing in a park area on a sunny day. In the background is a fence to a baseball field.

A former political ally tests LA liberals’ allegiance to Mayor Karen Bass

Mayor Karen Bass isn't vulnerable on her right, but she may be on her left, as City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a Democratic Socialist and ex-supporter, runs against her.

Jim Newton

A close-up view of a person's hand holding a sign that reads "We wants answers! No more deaths!" and they stand at the front steps of a building surrounded by other people holding signs.

California promised accountability for inmate deaths in jails. A year later, no results.

Lawmakers passed a law creating a state department to review inmate deaths, but it hasn’t completed a single death review in its first year.

By David Myers

Commentary

Commentary: Brown relents a little on school accountability

For years, Gov. Jerry Brown has preached a secular version of a religious principle called “subsidiarity,” asserting that local officials should have flexibility to act without micromanagement from Sacramento. In practice, he’s not always adhered to the principle, but has been particularly stubborn about applying it to the state’s six-million-student public education system, rejecting demands […]

Dan Walters

• January 18, 2018

Commentary

Commentary: Brown’s worries about killing California’s golden geese

To intertwine cliches, Gov. Jerry Brown let the cat out of the bag last week and acknowledged that he’s concerned about killing the golden geese. Those geese are the few thousand Californians with the highest incomes whose taxes allow Brown and other California politicians to spend tens of billions of dollars a year and the […]

Dan Walters

• January 17, 2018

Commentary

Commentary: Setting the record straight on two politicians

Notwithstanding the maxim about not speaking ill of the dead, sometimes it’s necessary, as historians often do, to complete the record and teach a lesson about human behavior. That brings us to two major figures in the California Legislature three decades ago, both since deceased, John Vasconcellos and Lou Papan. Both were Democratic legislators from […]

Dan Walters

• January 15, 2018

Commentary

Commentary: Forensic report confirms Oroville Dam lapses

The verdict is in and California stands convicted of gross negligence in the construction and maintenance of the nation’s highest dam, Oroville. The dam on the Feather River came very close to failing last year, forcing the evacuation of a quarter-million people living downstream. Heavy outflows revealed structural flaws in the dam’s concrete spillway and […]

Dan Walters

• January 14, 2018

Commentary

Commentary: Brown’s final budget reflects cautious approach

Roy Bell, who was Jerry Brown’s first budget director 43 years ago, called it a “dog-and-pony show” and it’s one of the Capitol’s longest-running rituals. Each January, usually on the 10th, journalists who cover the Capitol file into a first-floor room dedicated to news conferences and settle into fiberglass swivel chairs that would command high […]

Dan Walters

• January 11, 2018

Commentary

Commentary: In-and-out moves make Dem vs. Dem contests more likely

Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer and former Republican Congressman Doug Ose are polar opposites politically, but have jointly altered dynamics of this year’s California elections. Late last week, Ose, who represented a suburban Sacramento district for several terms, declared that he will run for governor. “Simply put, I’m running to rebuild the California dream.” Ose told […]

Dan Walters

• January 10, 2018

Commentary

Commentary: Senator’s creative tax plan faces many pitfalls

State legislators are floating some creative schemes to blunt the impact of the new federal tax law on California taxpayers. Several are in the air, but the main one, proposed by Kevin de León, the outgoing state Senate president pro tem, more than slightly resembles phony tax avoidance scams that entice the unwary and often […]

Dan Walters

• January 8, 2018

Commentary

Commentary: Minimum wage hike, other acts have consequences

Outwardly, the McDonalds restaurant just off Highway 101 in Pismo Beach doesn’t look any different from the 1,500 or so others in California. But when you walk into this one, you immediately encounter a robotic kiosk that allows you to order your hamburger or other fast food on a touch screen, rather than verbally with […]

Dan Walters

• January 7, 2018

Commentary

Commentary: Long-running judicial feud has a new battleground

The size and cultural complexity of California spawns many unique political conflicts, and none more so than a years-long, multi-party squabble within the nation’s largest judicial system. The new year will doubtless see renewal of the power struggle, which grew out of the 2002 decision by the Legislature and then-Gov. Gray Davis to consolidate what […]

Dan Walters

• January 4, 2018

Commentary

Commentary: Uncle Sam gives school reformers a gift

A new year brings renewal of hope, it’s said, but it also means renewed political and legal hostilities over the direction of California’s public school system. For years, an “Equity Coalition” of civil rights and education reform groups has battled the state’s education establishment – state schools Supt. Tom Torlakson, the state Board of Education […]

Dan Walters

• January 3, 2018

California Voices

Viewpoints from across California