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Dan Walters

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Commentary and analysis from veteran journalist Dan Walters, who has covered the state of California for more than six decades. Sign up for his Weekly Walters newsletter.

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Dan Walters
Opinion Columnist
Commentary
Genteel extortion cancels three ballot measures
Three initiatives that had qualified for the November ballot were dropped last week after their sponsors negotiated deals with the Legislature. Was it extortion? Not in the criminal sense, perhaps, but it was the adroit use of leverage.
By • July 4, 2018
The nine justices of the United States Supreme Court are shown.
Commentary
Supreme Court decision could hit unions hard
The U.S. Supreme Court has declared that compelling non-members of public employee unions to pay dues is unconstitutional. California's unions are now scrambling to avoid an erosion of their memberships, their revenues and their political clout.
By • July 2, 2018
Commentary
GOP’s long slide into irrelevance in California
California once had a strong and successful Republican Party but over the last few decades, it has shrunken to a small minority of voters and if ti loses several congressional races this year, Democrats will have achieved total domination.
By • July 1, 2018
George Soros is shown in this Wikimedia Commons photo from June 2012.
Commentary
Billionaire Soros was a big loser in California vote
International financier George Soros has had some success in his dabbling in California politics. But he "hit a brick wall," as he terms it, in trying to unseat three California district attorneys this year, and his support for challengers may have backfired.
By • June 27, 2018
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Democratic lawmakers are at odds over a budget compromise that will be more pain than gain.
Commentary
California can’t sidestep federal tax impact
California will get hit hard by a new federal tax law that limits deductions for state and local taxes. California politicians had hoped to sidestep the law, but the Internal Revenue Service has squelched that notion.
By • June 25, 2018

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CalMatters columnist Dan Walters writes about California and its politics. Read his column and sign up for his Weekly Walters email newsletter.
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Dan Walters
CalMatters
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