Pop quiz. Which of the following statements is true? A. California High speed rail (HSR) will allow riders to travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco in about two and a half hours for $50. B. The total cost of HSR will be about $40 billion. C. About half the cost of HSR will be picked up by the private sector and the federal government. D. If you like your plan you can keep it.

If you answered none of the above, you are correct and probably good at spotting misinformation put out by the political class to manipulate public opinion.

The first 3 statements come from arguments by those who supported Proposition 1A, or, as it was called, the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, which appeared on the ballot in 2008. Using rosy estimates of short travel times at low cost, along with several million dollars provided by labor unions to get the message out, promoters of Proposition 1A convinced voters to approve a $10 billion bond. It also helped that the glowingly positive ballot title and summary, which are supposed to be objective and are usually written by the attorney general, were prepared by members of the Legislature who… Read More

November 27, 2013 By John Seiler, CalWatchdog

Since June, Katy Grimeshas been coveringthe struggle between Gerawan Farms and its workers against the United Farm Workers union and Sacramento politicians.

Almost two months ago, she profiled Silvia Lopez, the farm worker who was fighting UFW representation being force on Gerawan’s workers without their consent. Grimesspent half a day with Lopez and the workers when they protested at the ALRB offices and at the Capitol. “I never once saw another reporter or media person,” Grimes said.

At first, the Brown administration and the California Agricultural Relations Board resisted the workers’ pleas to allow a vote, as required by the 1975 Agricultural Labor Relations Act, as Grimes reportedin another article.

The articles gained widespread readership in Sacramento and among the state’s farming community. The outcry led to the ALRB granting a… Read More

For the third year in a row, California has been named the worst-run state in America, by 24/7 Wall Street. Is it any wonder? With at least10 Californiacitieson the verge of municipal bankruptcy, a $24 billion budget shortfall in 2012, including a mid-year shortfall of $930 million and $8.2 billion carried over from the year before, California is a mess.

“California carries an A credit rating from Standard & Poor’s, and an A1 from Moody’s — both worse than any other state except for Illinois. Explaining its rating, Moody’s pointed to the state’s history of one-time solutions to resolve its budgetary gaps,” 24/7 Wall Street reported in… Read More

One of the biggest unreported, blockbuster stories in modern America is the alliance between public sector unions and the speculative banking industry. It is a story saturated in greed, drowning in delusion, smothered and marginalized by an avalanche of propaganda – paid for by taxpayers who fund both the public sector unions and the public employee pension funds.

The problem with public sector defined benefit pensions can be boiled down to two cold factors: They are too generous, and they rely on rate-of-return assumptions that are too optimistic. The first is the result of greed, the second of delusion. To indulge these vices requires corruption, and it is a rot that joins public sector unions with the most questionable elements of that Wall Street machine they so readily demonize.

If you honestly review the numbers, the greed is obvious. The average pension for a public servant who has worked 30 years or more in public service is more thanfour timeswhat the average social security benefit is for someone who has worked 40 years or more in the private sector. To cite… Read More

It seems like every time we turn on the television today, we see elected officials fighting about President Obama’s health care law.

What’s missing from this debate is any real discussion about fixing the problems with health care. Democrats and Republicans seem more interested in scoring political points than finding common-ground on bipartisan solutions.

However you look at it, the Affordable Care Act is hurting Californians. When they sign up, individuals expecting promised savings are instead facing the sticker shock of sky-high premiums. Approximately 59,000 Californians have signed up for a plan through Covered California since October 1st. Nationwide, just 106,000 people have signed up for coverage – including those who had to navigate through a broken website to do so.

The experiences other countries have had with government health care show what we will soon see in the United States. In Canada, the median wait time to see a doctor is 18.2 weeks. In France, the health care system is facing a 5.1 billion Euro deficit. One analyst called the French system, “unaffordable, unsustainable and the manner in which it’s… Read More

Last Wednesday brought news of jubilation to California’s Golden Dome – the LAO has officially given word that California will see fiscally happy days through FY 2020.

While the LAO is a very valuable entity in Sacramento, all too often it doesn’t fully take into consideration some of the Golden State’s most challenging fiscal issues, which enables our elected officials to continue to ignore those challenges.

According to the LAO, for FY 2014, it is now projecting a $2.2 billion surplus rising steadily to $3.2… Read More

This is a tale of coattails. The coattails of an 800 pound gorilla known as Proposition 13.

In 1978, support for Proposition 13 swept 17 new legislators – nicknamed “Prop 13 Babies” – into office. It was clear, at the time, that Proposition 13 had very long coattails.

Over the years, the professional political class has tried to downplay the influence of Proposition 13 on electoral politics, even though polls show that it would pass by the same two-thirds margin as it did in 1978. Political consultants have advised candidates, in all but the most left leaning districts, to pay lip service to Proposition 13 but then to move on to other issues. Few candidates have been willing to make the defense of Proposition 13 the centerpiece of their campaigns.

The thinking that Proposition 13 really doesn’t matter to today’s voters has been turned on its head by the recent results from the Special Election in 45th Assembly district, located in the Los Angeles suburbs in the southwest San Fernando Valley,

When Representative Bob Blumenfield resigned in the middle of his term to take a seat on the Los Angeles City Council, voters chose as the top two… Read More

Former Gov. George Deukmejian, alternately animated and emotional, offered a simple, arresting thought at the dedication of the impressive new Long Beach Superior Court complex that carries his name:

“I’m not sure what all the fuss is about,” California’s 35th governor told a bipartisan gathering of 500 jurists, elected officials, friends, family, and alumni from his 28 years of public service. “I just did my job.”

Typical Duke. Humble, self-effacing, and reflective. No bragging. The voice of a man who viewed himself, first and foremost, as a public servant. Well into his fourth quarter, he seems almost disbelieving that his life journey… Read More