One “Dastardly Deed” Cements Gavin Newsom as my Black Bart Nominee
I thought I might nominate Donald J. Trump for this year’s Black Bart Award. But it’s time to retire our lame-duck President’s number. Instead, I nominate California’s Governor Gavin Newsom–for his often good, sometimes bad and, once-in-a-while really stupid impact on the Golden State. On the plus side, or the negative–depending on where you stand […]
Becerra: Another Bright Spot For California And The Rest of The Country
We look at the good news and the bad. The appointment of California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra to head the Department of Health and Human Services brings an accomplished politician and health care champion to the challenging job. We dismantle the congressional stalemate on coronavirus aid. And we criticize California Gov. Gavin Newson, Los […]
Becerra’s Problems with Senate Confirmation
Gov. Gavin Newsom best not plan to appoint a new attorney general too quickly because there is a very distinct possibility that current Attorney General Xavier Becerra, nominated to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, will not be confirmed by the US Senate. Thus far Senate Republicans have been fairly restrained about President-elect Biden’s […]
Black Bart Award for California Politics 2020
For the past eleven years frequent contributors to this page Joe Mathews, John Wildermuth and I have nominated candidates for Californian of the Year in the world of politics. This year, as last, we will be joined by Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, long time journalist for NBC in Los Angeles and former professor at USC’s Sol […]
Water Wars by Other Means
Clausewitz famously said war was “politics by other means.” In California, politics is water wars by other means. Although it isn’t always above the surface, below the surface everything in the state involves water one way or another. That’s because the more populous Southern California needs most of its water to flow down from Northern […]
The Road Ahead for the California GOP
California’s AG resisted any temptation to join those of 18 sister states led by the Texas AG seeking to have the Supreme Court overturn President-Elect Joe Biden’s irreversible victory. Not that the vast majority of California voters favored the idea which turned out to be a giant waste of time as the high court delivered […]
Assembly Bill 5: California’s ‘Swiss Cheese’ Law
California voters pulled the teeth out of Assembly Bill 5, the labor classification legislation that outlawed gig work, when they approved Proposition 22 last month. The ballot measure didn’t strike AB5 from the books, but it is a statute in trouble, further weakened by a recent lawsuit. With every punch that lands on AB5, there’s […]
Housing Laws that Allow the Theft of Community Wealth
You’ve heard the story about frogs who don’t leap out of a kettle of water that is slowly brought to a boil. The story illustrates how people, like frogs, will succumb to slow changes without taking action. The story is a myth, but the principle holds true for California’s single-family homeowners, neighborhoods and communities. Having […]
Looking to 2021 and Our Recovery
The holidays are here, which means 2020 is coming to an end. Under normal circumstances, a new year would represent new beginnings and new opportunities, but as we prepare to welcome the new year, the hard truth is that many of the issues and challenges we have faced throughout 2020 will remain with us in […]
Midway through plagued first term, Newsom’s career hits make-or-break point
Speaking to the camera from his home office during the final days of a family quarantine, Gov. Gavin Newsom seemed at times to be giving himself a pep talk, as much as encouraging 40 million Californians to hunker down amid a coronavirus spike threatening to overwhelm hospitals. “We will get through this,” the governor said […]