Imagine an election where a proposal to increase taxes is declared by the taxing agency to have passed with fewer than 70 votes after the agency disqualified more than 1,500 ballots that would have swung the election the other way. Then imagine that the decision to invalidate these ballots was made by the agency after opening them and seeing how they had voted.  Read more >>

The rapidly approaching impact that state and local debt will have on government services and taxpayers is likely to be as subtle as a suicide bomber's belt of C-4 explosive.

Highly regarded political pundit Dan Walters has compared our state's debt situation to both Enron, "which cooked its books to fool investors and lenders," and a "Third World country whose rulers run up a mountain of debt while squandering revenues."  Read more >>

You can almost hear promoters of a state constitutional convention saying, "Hey Buddy, want to trade your cow for some magic beans?" For Jack this deal worked out in the end, but for taxpayers being asked to trust those peddling a constitutional convention as a panacea for our state's problems, we doubt things will turn out like the fairytale.

As the Legislature returns to Sacramento after a brief break, the continuing budget crisis is the focus of attention. But there are also serious discussions about how to improve California governance.  Read more >>

Several years ago, Stephan Pastis, the creator of "Pearls Before Swine," drew a cartoon that illustrates the threat now faced by taxpayers. In the comic, Zebra is complaining to his friend Goat that he was being sued by crocodiles. The crocodiles' cause of action? "Defendant Zebra has willfully failed to be plaintiffs' food, in breach of Natural Law ... Plaintiffs seek defendant Zebra cooked medium well over a barbecue pit."  Read more >>

Readers of this column may do a double take to see CALPIRG and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association advocating an identical position. But when it comes to government transparency, we are surely reading off the same sheet of music.  Read more >>