Although it received very little press attention taxpayers recently won a huge victory in the California Supreme Court. The ruling in Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency v. Beringson has created shockwaves throughout the state among those concerned with local taxation. To fully appreciate the importance of this ruling we must travel back to 1978 when Proposition […]
To visitors the signs that mark a third-world county are obvious. Crumbling infrastructure people sleeping in doorways a wide gap between rich and poor little or no middle class limited government services unless you pay "extra" and all political and economic power concentrated in the hands of a small elite minority whose sole mission is […]
An appeals court in the state of Washington has ruled that politicians cannot be punished for lying and the issue will now be considered by the state supreme court. When a candidate for state senate published a brochure falsely claiming that her opponent had voted to close a facility for the disabled the matter was […]
One of the quirky qualities of government bureaucrats is that they regard all money as fungible. They have no qualms about raising taxes for a purpose that is attractive to voters and then spending the additional funds on something else. We saw the interchangeable quality of government money in perspective after the passage of Proposition […]
There are 13 measures on the statewide ballot this fall in California. Those advocating a “yes” vote on any of them have an uphill battle. And if you think it is too early to be talking about the next election well that proves the point. We just had the June primary and that was the […]
The world’s second richest man Warren Buffett is in the news again. This time for donating a huge chunk of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation whose founders are the only people who until the creation of their foundation outranked Buffett in wealth. Commonly referred to as "The Oracle of Omaha" for […]
Compared to prior years the resolution of the 2006-2007 California state budget was a relatively benign affair. True it was still late as the constitutional deadline was June 15th. But like the line from the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie this constitutional provision has always been treated more like a "guideline" not a firm […]
What do thousands receiving Hurricane Katrina payouts from FEMA thousands more receiving child care benefits in California and outgoing Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill have in common? They all are getting stuff they don’t deserve. When most of us were in school we were required to take a civics class. We learned about the structure […]
Members of the state’s largest government workers union have been threatening to strike although a tentative deal may now dissuade them. The 87000 state employees represented by the Service Employees International Union include janitors accountants prison cooks and those who work for the Department of Motor Vehicles. They have gone without a raise for three […]
Justifiably taxpayers rejoiced over last week’s defeat of statewide measures Propositions 81 and 82. Both were dangerous silly proposals that would have resulted in more debt and higher taxes. But perhaps the most significant outcome of California’s primary comes from a local race in Orange County. There Orange County Treasurer John Moorlach prevailed in his […]
