Politics

The eight-page document reads like a contract, asking candidates seeking a seat in the Legislature to pledge support for workers organizing unions. It lists priority issues – including health care, immigration and retirement benefits – and asks if the candidate will be a “supporter,” “champion” or “partner” as the union pursues its agenda in Sacramento. […]

Questionnaires for candidates are a staple of electoral politics. Many interest groups use them in evaluating whether to endorse contestants or spend money to support their campaigns. The stakes are high on both sides, and the process raises some ethical questions. Here is a sampling of questionnaires given to this year’s candidates for the Legislature.​ […]

A group that lobbies to change public education is pouring money into a handful of Northern California legislative races ahead of the June 7 election, aiming to influence the kind of Democrats who hold power in the state Capitol. Democrats make up a solid majority of the Legislature, but they do not agree on everything. […]

In their own words “You can’t do that, man, you go to jail for that.” – Sen. Leland Yee on June 20, 2013, talking to an undercover FBI agent who offered him a bribe “What has happened to me could happen to anyone in public office.” – Sen. Ron Calderon on Nov. 13, 2013, after […]

With feathers adorning his head and red paint decorating his face, Haru Kuntanawa hardly looked like a potential business partner for California’s oil industry when he addressed the crowd gathered last week in a Sacramento conference room. But under a plan state air regulators are considering, industries that emit greenhouse gas pollution in California could […]

As anti-establishment fervor sweeps the nation this election season – forcing the son of a former president to abandon his campaign for the White House – a contrary trend has taken hold in the California Capitol: political dynasties are going strong. Gov. Jerry Brown, the son of a former governor, has occupied the governor’s office […]

After their 6-year-old son died following a dental procedure, a Bay Area couple went to the California Legislature, hoping a new law could prevent other families from experiencing similar tragedy. What they’ve found, so far, is that dentists hold surprising sway in Sacramento. More, it seems, than grieving parents making a plea for change. The […]

Can a Democrat cross environmentalists and labor unions and still keep her seat in the California Legislature? Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown (D-San Bernardino) is putting that question to the test. After two terms in the statehouse, Brown is facing a challenge from the left as she runs for re-election. Environmentalists and union leaders unhappy with Brown’s […]

This letter first appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle Letters to the Editor on March 23, 2016, in response to Why your signature is worth more than ever. Regarding “Populist concept now for the rich” (March 21): For some time now, the giant special interests such as Big Tobacco have gamed the initiative process by […]

Democracy has a price. And at the moment, it’s higher than ever in California. With a presidential election coming up this fall, dozens of groups are trying to get measures on the ballot — asking voters to sanction recreational marijuana, stiffen gun controls, increase cigarette taxes and pass numerous other laws. The competition among them […]