Reviewing the ballot materials for November's election can be a daunting, but - as it turns out - exciting experience. Lots to digest and ponder at all governmental levels: local, state and national. Locally, there are two elections for Sacramento City Council (Districts 2 and 4); several more for council seats in outlying communities; two bond Measures, Q and R, to fund City school facilities; Measure T to curb (no pun intended) yard-waste dumping; U to raise the local sales tax to support "essential city services;" and, finally, the controversial Measure M to establish a charter commission for Sacramento, the up or down vote accompanied by 56 candidates for 12 15 commission seats just i

Hey Sacramento voters, it’s that time of year again when we grab our ballots and vote up or down on matters about which we admittedly know little or nothing – California Propositions. Hiram Johnson’s well-meaning 1911 effort at a grass-roots tool to control the undue influence of big railroads has left us with a legacy of poor public policymaking. And this year is no exception. Come November 6th we’ll be asked to render judgment on no less than eleven Propositions on which sponsors and opponents are spending millions of dollars to influence (aka cajole and mislead) our decisions. If that doesn’t wet your appetite for frivolity, however, don’t fret: 93 more propositions have been filed wit

As the Wisconsin protests have continued and spread to Indiana and Ohio, with solidarity rallies held in Sacramento and elsewhere, the strategy of Republican Governors becomes clear: cripple public unions. If there was ever any doubt about this goal, it was dispelled by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s conversation with a newspaper editor (impersonating billionaire conservative campaign contributor David Koch) in which Walker discusses their anti-union strategy.  This conservative effort has important implications for the Sacramento area.  Not coincidentally, the effort follows a long decline of unions. In 1945, according to the Department of Labor, unions represented 34% of private empl

Sacramentan Phil Angelides was in town yesterday signing reports at a local bookstore (thankfully there are still some). Noteworthy? Apparently not, there was hardly a mention in the local media. There was, of course, some buzz in January when Mr. A released the report of his federal commission, “The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report,” after an exhaustive 18-month investigation of the worst U.S., perhaps worldwide, financial crisis since the great depression, nearly a century ago. The commission’s work is the definitive piece (apologies to Michael Lewis and other contributors) on this debacle, which is so aptly described in Mr. A’s report as an avoidable result of “human action and inactio

Too bad there’s not an instant replay for political endorsements since the Sacramento Bee recently made a highly questionable call by choosing Dan Lungren over Dr. Ami Bera in the 3rd District Congressional race. “By a slim margin,” the Bee argued, stating that Bera’s grasp of the nation’s and district’s “vast challenges” isn’t “as wide as it should be.” What are these “vast challenges” and what are the two candidates' positions about them? Lungren’s record on the economy and jobs is dismal: voting against the 2009 Recovery Act stimulus and unemployment extensions – job creators/savers – and recently voting against a $30 billion small business lending and tax breaks bill (more jobs help)