Author Archive for Thomas D. Elias
‘GOP: Cosmetic change is all we need’
As the election neared last year and it became clear that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney could not possibly win without more Latino support than he had so far earned, the national GOP made a symbolic move.
Justice long delayed in Feds’ energy cheating
It’s taken almost 13 years, but justice may finally be coming to California consumers victimized by the federal government during California’s energy crunch of 2000 and 2001.
Constitutional crisis coming over prisons?
Rarely since the Civil War have state officials anywhere in America been as close to openly defying federal authority as Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature are today.
LNG exports could hurt California recovery
California’s recovery has led the nation for months in producing new jobs, even though it hasn’t yet come close to replacing all those lost in the Great Recession of 2009-11.
Will farm labor shortage drive immigration changes?
There has been some dispute over whether the labor shortages California farmers reported over the last few years are real. It turns out they are very real, but that doesn’t quiet the skeptics.
GOP revival will take big Orange County change
For more than half a century, the Election Night fate of California Republican candidates could be foretold early in the vote count: If a Republican emerged from Orange County with a lead of 250,000 or more votes, he or she would almost always win statewide office.
California money switches rouse voter suspicion
One reason Gov. Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30 tax increases passed so handily last fall was that many voters became convinced that if they didn’t say yes to the new levies, the sky would fall.
The false assumption that passing taxes will be easy
Spend more than $30 million to pass a temporary tax increase proposition.
Time to get serious about Texas war on California
It’s easy to see the four-day job-poaching foray into California just completed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry as an isolated incident.
Alternatives to prison realignment could be worse
As crime statistics for 2012 gradually filter in from around the state, gripes about the 15-month-old prison realignment program have begun rising in newspaper headlines and talk show airwaves.