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Posts under ‘California Politics’

Unintended Consequences of State Furloughs

Governor Schwarzenegger’s plan to impose furloughs on some 200,000 state workers — three days a month — at first glance seemed among the most reasonable of the radical budget cuts he proposed for the state.
A few days here, a few days there, imposed on all state workers regardless of what they did, seemed like a [...]

The Politics of Prisons

What a difference a day, or two, makes. 
On Monday, Pasadena Police Chief  Bernard Melekian, who also is president of the California Police Chiefs Association, said he was adamantly opposed to the Schwarzenegger administration’s plan to reduce the prison population by 27,000 — a plan that still threatens the entire budget package agreed to by the [...]

Let them mow grass

Gov. Schwarzenegger, once a master of media sophistication (or manipulation, depending on your point of view), seems to be losing his touch.
His biggest talking point these days is that the current budget crisis in California presents all kinds of opportunities to do things better than they have been in the past.
What kinds of opportunities, you [...]

The Editorial Board of the Future?

For the first time that I’m aware of an editorial board has web streamed a live interview with a California governor — and allowed readers from throughout California to pose questions directly to the governor during the session.
That’s what happened last Friday when Governor Schwarzenegger met with the editorial board of the Sacramento Bee, using [...]

California Dreaming .. of a Constitutional Convention

California desperately needs new ideas to help it out of its current mess.
But there is a danger that Californians will latch on to some bad ideas or half baked ideas or even good ideas that don’t solve the problem they’re meant to solve — as has happened in California repeatedly over the past thirty years
The [...]