A good independent expenditure thoroughly understands the ongoing campaign dynamic. Otherwise, its just simply adding election noise which voters ignore.

In this year’s California primary election, independent expenditure committees spent $475,000 to support Republican Anna Bryson in California’s 73rd Assembly… Read More

“The rare problem of high pensions going to top public executives was solved last year by state legislation. Pensions will now be based on the salary cap for Social Security taxes: $117,000… The highly exaggerated “unfunded liability” problem is resolving as the stock market and tax revenues recover from the recession.The Ventura County Taxpayer Association’s “reform” scheme was hatched as a Wall Street scam to convert well-managed public pension portfolios into thousands of individual IRA’s. These are more dependent on mutual funds and lose more of their value to broker’s fees…” – Excerpt fromrecent commenton UnionWatch Editorial “Pension Reform Comes to Ventura County.”

Using Ventura County as an example, it would be instructive to respond in detail to this comment. Because Ventura County’s pension system is, relatively speaking, one of the more financially stable systems in California, and because the benefits they pay their… Read More

Three weeks ago Californians took to the polls to cast their votes in primary elections. The result was commanding Republican victories in districts across the state. Observers noted the impressive, and some said surprising, number of Republican candidates moving forward to compete on the November ballot, many who will be challenging Democrats in key legislative seats.

The outcome of Republican candidates isn’t a mistake and shouldn’t come as a surprise. The victories are largely the outcome of renewed efforts and collaboration among the state’s Republican leaders to identify and train quality candidates to challenge Democrats, restore GOP representation in Sacramento and fend off the Democrat… Read More

How many times have you gotten one of those e-mails asking you to send vast sums of your money to someone in a far off country letting you know that they have a deal you just can’t pass up?

Well over a year ago on this page I penned a pretty extensive column after I got more than a little incensed that a some cyber-thieves from the Ukraine were able to send information to Fresno-based United Security Bank [italics added for emphasis] which caused the bank to literally wire close to $3.5 million of funds TRC Operating Company without the knowledge of TRC, to a bank account in the Ukraine. Apparently three separate wires (with many more pending) were complete before someone with a heartbeat at United Security Bank thought to intervene.

After some sort of… Read More

Nearly every news outlet in California has been gleefully reporting that the state economy is bouncing back. While recent newsreports show unemployment has slightly dropped, the facts show otherwise — particularly telling is how the Legislature is so focused on increasing the minimum wage, rather than improving the business climate.

Unemployment in the state, and across the country, is worse than is being reported. And, it is far more complicated than a slight economic uptick, or slight “drop” in unemployment.

We’re creating jobs at a slower pace now than at the same time last year. And with the supposed drop in unemployment, the underemployed and those “no longer in the labor force” are issues rarely reported. There is no coincidence between… Read More

The Sacramento arena deal has prompted questions over the lack of public debate about key details, dubious financial numbers from the city and the public subsidy the project requires. And, last-minute legislation last year by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, is allowing the arena’s construction proceed without a credible environmental impact review.

Last week, the city of Sacramento announced it expects to spend up to $750,000 to defend a lawsuit related to the planned downtown arena. The lawsuit accuses city officials of making a secret deal to provide an extra $80 million of public money to help the investors’ group beef up its offer against a well-funded Seattle group that wanted to buy the Kings and move them to Seattle.

I have… Read More

Californians don’t trust state government. A recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California reveals that only 6 percent of voters believe that government does not waste much money. Your read correctly – only 6 percent have confidence that tax revenue is being spent wisely.

Of course the entrenched political class based in Sacramento would have you believe that state government always operates with integrity — even though currently three state Senators are on leave… Read More

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Neel Kashkari, GOP candidate for California governor against incumbent Jerry Brown, faces an uphill climb with the media. His day-to-day comments and speeches are not reported, so that when important state issues come up, like the ruling in Vergara V. State of California concerning teacher tenure and seniority, the vast majority of the electorate does not know where Kashkari stands. He should pay particular attention to being heard when arguing teacher tenure and seniority because Brown is beholden to the teachers unions on these subjects and is not in a position to sound convincing.

Vergara was brought by a group called Students Matter (which plans campaigns in a number of states against teacher tenure and seniority rules) on behalf of nine students from five school districts, charging that five statutes in the California Education Code regarding tenure, seniority and dismissal procedures violate the equal protection clause of the state’s Constitution, resulting in grossly ineffective teachers obtaining and retaining employment. Moreover the suit claims that these ineffective teachers are disproportionately assigned to schools serving predominately low-income and… Read More