Californians for Reforms and Jobs, Not Taxes
President of the Small Business Action Committee and editor of Fox and Hounds Daily, a blog covering the confluence of politics and business in California; Co-chair of the No on Prop 30 campaign; former president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
State Parks, 'Hidden Assets' and Public Trust in Government The State Attorney General and the Department of Finance are investigating the discovery of $54 million in so-called "hidden assets" in the State Parks Department. That's more than twice the deficit that led Governor Brown to announce the closing of 70 parks, parks then saved by non-profits and community groups, which raised their own money. A Public Records Act request by the Sacramento Bee turned up unreported funds collected by two of the Parks Department's special funds. Matt Weiser is one of those reporting the story.
Are there Tax Increases in California's Future? Since Proposition 13 passed in 1978, there have been some tax increases, but mostly there have been drastic cuts in government services at the state and local levels. Recent polls show times are changing. In September, the Public Policy Institute found that 95 percent of Californians think the state budget's a problem; 67 percent say it's a big problem. Last month, the USC Dornsife/LA Times poll reported that 64 percent would be willing to pay higher taxes for local schools.
Mayor Villaraigosa Takes On Prop 13 The Mayor of Los Angeles is stepping all over what's long been called "the third rail of California politics," Proposition 13, which passed in 1978. Property taxes were on the rise, and people on fixed incomes were being taxed out of their homes. But Prop 13 didn't limit increases just for homeowners. It did so for business as well. Yesterday at the Sacramento Press Club, Antonio Villaraigosa called for change , a "split" tax roll, with different rules for homeowners than for business.
Jerry Brown and the Incredible Shrinking State Deficit Governor Brown inherited a $25 billion deficit, which he and the legislature cut in half with spending cuts. Then revenues turned out to be $2.5 billion more than expected. Today, when Brown unveiled his revised budget proposal , anticipated revenues were up by $6.6 billion. Because of the state's two-thirds voting requirement, Brown's proposal still needs two Republican votes in both the Assembly and Senate.
Midterm Elections: California Goes in a Different Direction All California’s statewide elected offices will be in the hands of Democrats starting next year, with only the race for Attorney General still undecided. Despite having spent at least $140 of her own money as the Republican candidate for Governor, Meg Whitman lost by 13 percentage points — almost a million votes. Governor-elect Jerry Brown said nothing more about how he plans to govern than he did during his campaign. We join a panel of politicos to discuss yesterday's results and what they mean for the future.
Proposition 26 Proposition 26 on next week's ballot would re-label what now are called "fees," "levies" and other assessments and call them "taxes" instead. That means passage would require two-thirds super-majorities in the legislature, instead of the current 51 percent. Fees for air and water pollution, oil-spill clean-up, tobacco and alcohol would be affected. We get two perspectives on the initiative.
Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman: The First Debate Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Warren joins a panel of Democrats and Republicans to get their reaction to tonight’s debate between Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown .
The Billionaire Who Fell To Earth: Whitman Drops in Polls With California’s next election less than a month away, the political picture is changing…fast. In March, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman had a 50-point lead in the Republican primary for governor. Now Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has whittled that down to just 9 points.
Political Storm Brews for Senator Boxer When Republican Scott Brown was asked if he thought he could win the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts, he famously answered, "With all due respect, that's the people's seat." So what about Barbara Boxer 's seat after three terms as the Democrat from California? Other Senate candidates: Carly Fiorina (R) Chuck DeVore (R) Gubernatorial candidates: Steve Poizner (R) Meg Whitman (R) Tom Campbell (R) Jerry Brown (D)
Family Feud Breaks Out in Speaker's Race The Latino caucus in Sacramento is growing fast, but it's losing its solidarity. Instead of settling their differences in private, three Latino Democrats from Los Angeles are conducting a very public fight with leadership of the State Assembly at stake. A veteran Latino politician says his colleagues are airing their "dirty laundry" in the fight. Can Republicans take advantage?
Budget Solutions Look Bad and Worse In Sacramento, it's almost axiomatic that a $24 billion budget gap will have to be closed without any new taxes. After last month's special election , Governor Schwarzenegger said the voters had spoken out against any new taxes. Republicans, of course, agree. Democratic legislators have talked about increased revenues in the most muted terms. We hear from Sheila Keuhl , who served six years in the Assembly and eight in the State Senate, until she was termed out last year. We also hear from Joel Fox, former president of the Harvard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, now editor of " Fox and Hounds Daily ," a blog about the confluence of politics and business in California.
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.
The week that wouldn't quit Will next week get even weirder? (Special one-hour episode)
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.