California Assembly Bill 1250, authored by Los Angeles Democrat Reginald Jones-Sawyer, would restrict counties from contracting out for key services. The bill is sponsored by two of the most powerful government employee unions, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). As the San Jose…
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As this column makes clear, governments at all levels abuse the public, trample human rights, and waste taxpayers’ money on a massive scale. Sometimes government abuses its own and the public at the same time. Witness the recent smackdown on free speech at the California capitol. On February 21, the state Senate held a…
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When confronted with seismic-safety issues on the new span of the Bay Bridge, which came in 10 years late and $5 billion over budget, California governor Jerry Brown famously quipped, “shit happens.” As David Siders of the Sacramento Bee observes, Brown the former seminarian does better with the orthodoxies of statist superstition. “Never underestimate…
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As California Senate boss, Darrell Steinberg compiled quite a record of abuse and waste. In 2012, for example, he killed the California Channel’s live broadcast of hearings on four ballot measures dealing with taxes and spending, depriving voters of vital information. He compounded this censorship by claiming: “I pride myself on being open and…
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The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state’s $3 billion stem-cell institute, continues to put on a clinic on how to redistribute money to politically connected insiders. A recent federal review by the Office of Medicine, a division of the National Academy of Sciences, found CIRM rife with cronyism and conflicts of interest. Almost…
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