The media seems to be salivating over comments Jerry made about Prop 13. But for those of us who take threats to Prop 13 very, very seriously, weprefer to digest and parse what was actually said.

First, Jerry Brown did NOT say he wanted to repeal Prop 13 or anything close to that. In fact, he said that Prop 13 is not the problem. His point was that state government consolidated its power (to the detriment of local governments) after Prop 13. It is our view that Prop 13 did not cause this and we have several arguments in support of our position. (As it relates to education spending, the Serrano series of court opinionswas the primary — if not sole — cause of transferring power to Sacramento).

Let’s hope that Governor Brown and his people are taking note of the education debate raging in Illinois.An article in today’s Wall Street Journal sums up the plan under debate:teachers would not earn tenure until they’ve been rated "proficient" or "excellent" by their principals for four years; tenured teachers rated "ineffective" for two years could lose tenure, districts would have an easier time dismissing ineffective teachers and layoff decisions would be made based on teacher performance—as opposed to seniority.The final piece of the proposal would restrict teacher unions’ ability to strike by requiring them to take part in mediation (and give school boards the power to accept the mediator’s solution) before striking. According to the WSJ, this deal is being rushed because state officials want to offer this up in exchange for a tax increase. … Read More

From todays’ Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail… … Read More

Tomorrow Republican John Boehner will be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. I commend all Sacramento legislators to watch the ceremony. No, not because I want you all to see the fruits of a big GOP victory nationally last November. I want you all to watch it because of the process. I want you all to note that while the Republicans will put forward their candidate for Speaker, John Boehner (whose election is a formality as Republicans have a healthy majority in the new Congress), Democrats will put forward Nancy Pelosi as their candidate for Speaker, and cast their votes for her.

Note that Boehner will not be "upset" that Democrats voted for their candidate for the top spot, and Pelosi will be gracious in the process. But pride is maintained. Democrats shouldn’t vote for a Speaker who doesn’t share their priorities, nor should Republicans.

This process should serve as an example of how the election of the Senate President in the State Senate, and a Speaker in the Assembly should take place. Each party’s caucus puts forward their candidate with the outcome of that… Read More

Sometimes when you read about the discussions taking place within Sacramento’s political class, you just have to shake your head. It has been widely reported that Governor Brown is planning on asking the legislature, in some bipartisan fashion, to place on a special election ballot an extension of the largest tax increase in the history of California (or any state, for that matter). If there is a little deja vu factor here, that’s because this has happened before in the not-so-distant past…

In 2009, in what has been characterized as the worst political move in state history, the Governor and the legislature first enacted what was called a "temporary" increase in income, sales and car taxes (yes, Virginia, right in the midst of a recession when families are trying to make ends meet on tight budgets). These taxes, it is estimated, sucked about $1,500 annually for two years from every family in the state, to provide about $15 billion in additional tax revenues to state government. In addition, in this same terrible "deal" for taxpayers, the legislature also placed on a special election ballot a two year… Read More