News

One of the questions we will ask of gubernatorial candidates is their view of Gavin Newsom’s performance as governor. In preparation, I’ve been doing a deep dive into the record.

Governor Newsom’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year includes $45 billion of spending on salaries and benefits for 255,000 state employees, which translates into $177,000 per employee. Questions legislators should be asking include the following…

If you have the opportunity to speak with a candidate for governor, please consider asking the following two questions.

Earlier this week, a journalist asked me how a stock market decline this year would affect pension spending by California’s cities, schools and the state. He wondered if it “would produce a big or small hit.” The answer is that any decline this year would produce neither.

So long as transit boards are in the pocket of unions, there will be no end to the rising costs for worse service.

Please see the note below about a very important contest that could bring Oakland into alignment with San Jose and San Francisco where two pragmatic mayors (Matt Mahan and Daniel Lurie) have been elected. Please help add Loren Taylor to that mix.

The California Constitution prohibits the Legislature from creating any debt or liability exceeding $300,000 without a two-thirds vote from both legislative houses and voter approval, except in times of war. However, the Legislature routinely creates millions of dollars in new liabilities without public vote.

Dear California State Lawmakers,

I am a proud Clipper Card carrier who rides BART and SF MUNI — and also I’m a taxpayer, so I write to you today about SB 63, which proposes a tax increase for public transit.

Thirteen years ago, the California Chamber of Commerce and other big business organizations cut a deal with Governor Jerry Brown not to oppose a 30 percent temporary tax increase on individuals. Since then the state’s General Fund has extracted an extra $95 billion from individual taxpayers, including small businesses that pay business taxes at individual rates, and annual General Fund Expenditures have increased 165 percent.

Klein and his co-author Derek Thompson believe more of everything is the answer to what ails California. But bad governance will ruin it all.