Given California’s chronic problems, it’s hard to imagine anyone sees our state as a model. But it’s clear the Obama administration does. And to make matters worse, President Obama is now using schemes from California’s playbook in his bid to impose our failures on the rest of the nation.

Much like Sacramento, Washington is mired in gridlock. The budget never really gets done and politicians seem to stumble from one crisis to the next. Like California Governor Jerry Brown, President Obama lacks the ability to forge true bipartisan consensus to solve problems.

Of… Read More

Tomorrow afternoon, Assembly Constitutional Amendment 4, is up for a hearing in an Assembly Budget Subcommittee. For who do not recall ACA 4, this is bipartisan legislation that has been proposed by Senator Lois Wolk (D) and Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen (R) that requires that before the Senate or the Assembly can vote on a bill, it must be in print (and available on the internet) for 72 hours in its final form. It also provides for an exception for urgency bills (2/3 vote) related to declared emergencies, and allows bills to be heard by committees after the contents of the bill have been available online for 15 days.

As I wrote in a column in support of ACA 4 that appeared in the Sacramento Bee, “There are three key reasons why this is a needed reform. The first is to make sure legislators are able to read, analyze and seek input on legislation before they vote on it. The second reason is the public deserves to be able to know what is being voted on by their elected officials in time to be able to express their views on legislation prior to a vote. Finally,… Read More

Why is it that the political party that once proudly declared that it stood for working people is now laboring so hard to cost those Californians who are still working their jobs?

The Democratic party so dominates the Legislature and all constitutional offices, that Republicans almost need a passport to enter Sacramento. One would think that this would be the majority party’s opportunity to help California, which is tied with two other states for the highest unemployment in the nation, get back to work.

While Democratic lawmakers may try to comfort themselves with statistics that show the unemployment rate is declining, a closer look shows that the statistics are misleading. The declining numbers result from significant numbers of the unemployed giving up on the job… Read More

The dead Boston Bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, would have been eligible to serve on a jury in California, if state legislators have their way.

The Assembly passed a bill Thursday that would allow non-citizens who are in the U.S. legally to serve on jury duty.

Just when you thought the state couldn’t favor non-citizens any more, once again California is racing to be the first state in the country to pass a ridiculous law affording non-citizens rights previously reserved only for American citizens.

But that’s not all.

Democratic lawmakers at the state Capitol are currently trying to pass a law allowing illegal immigrants to obtain a California driver’s license. Last year they passed a law allowing illegal immigrants to apply for and receive student financial aid benefits and state-funded grants for college.

But here is an interesting thought: The dead Boston Bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, would have been eligible to serve on a jury since he was a “legal immigrant” but not yet a citizen.

This is what life in California has become under a Democratic supermajority.

“Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, said his bill,… Read More

Much will be in the main stream media today about the “battle” shaping up between Governor Jerry Brown and Democrat legislative leaders, each of whom are putting forward plans that they say would improve the education for young children in California. However, when you look at their two plans, and then look at the vast challenges facing the state’s K-12 education system, you literally have to shake your head because, frankly, neither plan appreciably moves the needle. But yet the “warring parties” are so passionate about that which is so uninspiring.

It reminds me of one of the classic Star Trek episodes from the last season, Let This Be Your Last Battlefield. Two humanoid aliens, Bele and Lokai, are locked in a 50,000-year-long battle, into which the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise is drawn in. The passion between these two warring aliens was fierce — their dislike for one another immense. In the end, you find out that the reason for the hatred comes down… Read More

This morning the Presidential Library of former President George W. Bush was opened in Dallas, Texas. Much can be read online about the event, and you can re-watch the ceremony on C-SPAN among… Read More

Citing a lack of civil rights and social inequities as what is wrong with California public schools, Gov. Jerry Brown vowed Wednesday at a Capitol press conference to give more money to the K-12 school districts that serve poorer students and English-language learners.

Brown said state funding needs to balance social equity and restore school funding cuts; and provide supplemental funding to children in high-poverty schools.

Following passage of Proposition 30 last November, raising taxes $6 billion, Brown’s controversial plan to shift money from wealthier schools to poor ones is a result of an emboldened Democratic supermajority.

Lawmakers and the governor are clearly preparing for the state’s looming June 15 budget deadline, with Brown working hard to get his proposal passed. Earlier this week, state Senate Democrats announced they had their own education funding… Read More

Few would argue the importance of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), legislation passed by Republicans in Congress, though signed by Democrat President Lyndon Johnson. The Act applied a nationwide prohibition against the denial or abridgement of the right to vote through among other things intimidation, suppression, literacy tests and poll taxes.

However, the Act also requires minority congressional and legislative districts be drawn with at least 50% minority voting age population in certain jurisdictions, and has contributed to the fracture between Republicans and minority voters.

Consider this: The redistricting tool which forces “majority-minority districts” compacts more minority voters into a district, while increasing the number of white voters in another. This limits the influence minority voters have in those districts by increasing the white percentage of the voters. In short, the VRA puts minority voters in one district and white voters in another, thus creating a political segregation.

It is not unheard of, and in fact, well-documented for Republican legislators to ally with black Democrats to gerrymander state and federal… Read More