Steven Greenhut
Business & Economics
Will California’s ‘Top Two’ Primary Work?
California voters on Tuesday approved Proposition 14, which replaces traditional partisan primaries in state and Congressional races. Starting in 2011, candidates for an office would be on a single ballot, regardless of political affiliation, and the top two vote-getters (even if from the same party) would advance to the general ...
Business & Economics
Election wish: Do no more harm
SACRAMENTO – A dozen years ago, I put my wife and kids on a flight from Dayton, Ohio, to John Wayne Airport and then headed out on the road West, driving with my cranky old cat and big furry dog. I’ll never forget that drive, which mirrored the old Route ...
Business & Economics
Seriously folks, these folks aren’t
Sacramento – The Australian radio announcer interviewing me last week about the dreadful state of California’s budget and economy wanted to know what she would find if she landed at LAX and drove around the state. It’s not like “Blade Runner,” director Ridley Scott’s 1982 film depicting a dystopian future ...
Business & Economics
Grab that redevelopment cash
SACRAMENTO Few things are more ironic, and infuriatingly funny, than listening to California’s notoriously ham-fisted redevelopment agencies complain about the state’s “theft” of redevelopment funds. Last week, California cities had to comply with a Sacramento Superior Court judge’s ruling requiring them to make the first of two payments transferring a ...
Business & Economics
Democrats dreamin’ — a public demanding tax hikes
California’s Assembly Democrats want you to be part of the state’s budget solution, which is how they are touting a series of live budget forums across the state. One took place Saturday in San Diego and the next one is scheduled May 13 in the Bay Area city of Albany. ...
Business & Economics
Referendum on unions in OC
Voters in North Orange County on June 8 will fill the Fourth Supervisorial District seat vacated by Chris Norby when he was elected to the state Assembly to replace Mike Duvall, of sex-scandal fame. Most residents probably don’t think too much about the Board of Supervisors, but there is one ...
Business & Economics
Even ‘SNL’ is on to government unions
SACRAMENTO – As government employee unions were negotiating their lucrative retirement deals during the rising economic tide of the past decade, they promised cities and counties that the deals would pay for themselves, citing fanciful rates of return on investment income. Now that the economic tide is no longer rising, ...
Business & Economics
Get in line, and take a number
SACRAMENTO – I’ve experienced several months where, for one reason or another, I’ve been stuck wrestling with various bureaucracies, of the governmental and corporate variety. It’s a frustrating, time-consuming and, ultimately, dehumanizing process. You’re always a number. Most everyone at the other end of those darned customer “service” lines is ...
Business & Economics
Pension crater much deeper
SACRAMENTO – A new report from Stanford University’s well-respected economic policy institute has revealed that those of us who have been warning about California’s severely underfunded public employee retirement systems have, quite frankly, been wrong. We have been understating the scope of the problem. Pension critics, myself included, have been ...
Business & Economics
Jerry Brown: older, not wiser
Now that California Attorney General Jerry Brown is an official candidate for governor, we’re getting to relive some California political history as pundits and reporters think back to Brown’s first stint as governor (1975-83) along with some of the entertaining facets of his long and bizarre political career. The basic ...
Will California’s ‘Top Two’ Primary Work?
California voters on Tuesday approved Proposition 14, which replaces traditional partisan primaries in state and Congressional races. Starting in 2011, candidates for an office would be on a single ballot, regardless of political affiliation, and the top two vote-getters (even if from the same party) would advance to the general ...
Election wish: Do no more harm
SACRAMENTO – A dozen years ago, I put my wife and kids on a flight from Dayton, Ohio, to John Wayne Airport and then headed out on the road West, driving with my cranky old cat and big furry dog. I’ll never forget that drive, which mirrored the old Route ...
Seriously folks, these folks aren’t
Sacramento – The Australian radio announcer interviewing me last week about the dreadful state of California’s budget and economy wanted to know what she would find if she landed at LAX and drove around the state. It’s not like “Blade Runner,” director Ridley Scott’s 1982 film depicting a dystopian future ...
Grab that redevelopment cash
SACRAMENTO Few things are more ironic, and infuriatingly funny, than listening to California’s notoriously ham-fisted redevelopment agencies complain about the state’s “theft” of redevelopment funds. Last week, California cities had to comply with a Sacramento Superior Court judge’s ruling requiring them to make the first of two payments transferring a ...
Democrats dreamin’ — a public demanding tax hikes
California’s Assembly Democrats want you to be part of the state’s budget solution, which is how they are touting a series of live budget forums across the state. One took place Saturday in San Diego and the next one is scheduled May 13 in the Bay Area city of Albany. ...
Referendum on unions in OC
Voters in North Orange County on June 8 will fill the Fourth Supervisorial District seat vacated by Chris Norby when he was elected to the state Assembly to replace Mike Duvall, of sex-scandal fame. Most residents probably don’t think too much about the Board of Supervisors, but there is one ...
Even ‘SNL’ is on to government unions
SACRAMENTO – As government employee unions were negotiating their lucrative retirement deals during the rising economic tide of the past decade, they promised cities and counties that the deals would pay for themselves, citing fanciful rates of return on investment income. Now that the economic tide is no longer rising, ...
Get in line, and take a number
SACRAMENTO – I’ve experienced several months where, for one reason or another, I’ve been stuck wrestling with various bureaucracies, of the governmental and corporate variety. It’s a frustrating, time-consuming and, ultimately, dehumanizing process. You’re always a number. Most everyone at the other end of those darned customer “service” lines is ...
Pension crater much deeper
SACRAMENTO – A new report from Stanford University’s well-respected economic policy institute has revealed that those of us who have been warning about California’s severely underfunded public employee retirement systems have, quite frankly, been wrong. We have been understating the scope of the problem. Pension critics, myself included, have been ...
Jerry Brown: older, not wiser
Now that California Attorney General Jerry Brown is an official candidate for governor, we’re getting to relive some California political history as pundits and reporters think back to Brown’s first stint as governor (1975-83) along with some of the entertaining facets of his long and bizarre political career. The basic ...
