California Politics

Jerry Brown: The Philosopher-Governor

The days of the philosopher-king are long gone. Slipping away, too, are the days when the citizenry was familiar with the concept of a benevolent despot shaping a state in his mind's image. But not in California. The picture painted of Gov. Jerry Brown in an extensive Atlantic magazine profile publ ... More >>

Gavin Newsom Urged to Take it Easy, Stop Talking So Much

On Gavin Newsom's recent book tour, Stephen Colbert noted that our lieutenant governor's tome ought to come with a "bullshit detector" and added that all of Newsom's trite Newsomisms should be carved onto a rock and tossed onto someone's front lawn. Put that one on your back cover. Writing a book wa ... More >>

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Ryan Andresen, Gay Boy Scout Denied Eagle Award, To Be Honored by California Pols

Ryan Andresen, the incredibly badass 18-year-old who was booted from boy scouts because he's gay, is getting the recognition he so deserves. After scoring a spot on the Ellen Show and Anderson Cooper 360, the East Bay teen's next stop is the state capitol where he'll be honored by the California As ... More >>

Prop. 34: California Keeps Death Penalty, Once Again Shows It's Not as Liberal as Some Think

California: that big blue state that handed President Obama 54 free electoral college points and gave his campaign more money than any other state. The state that is on the brink of Democratic supermajorities in both the state House and state Senate and contains a voting population in which register ... More >>

Gov. Brown Won't Let Reporters Have Easy Access to Prison Inmates

Assembly Bill 1270, passed by both chambers of the state legislature, would have allowed journalists to set up interviews with specific inmates in state prisons. Eight times over the past two decades a similar bill had passed through to the governor's desk, and all eight times it was vetoed.The stre ... More >>

Kamala Harris Says Arizona Can't Boot Illegal Immigrants from Country

​California has the largest number of illegal immigrants and undocumented laborers in the country. So it should be no surprise that California Attorney General Kamala Harris has joined the fight against Arizona's unfriendly immigration law.Yesterday, Harris filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the ... More >>

Gavin Newsom Admits He Doesn't Have Much to Do

​Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom finally found something meaningful to bestow on the office of Lieutenant Governor: advocating for the position to be eliminated. That's right, the former San Francisco mayor who famously asked "What does the lieutenant governor do?" is lobbying that that his own highly p ... More >>

Prop. 8 Appeals Court Ruling: Inside the Dissenting Opinion

​Same-sex marriage advocates rejoiced today as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker's 2010 decision that Proposition 8, the 2008 California ballot initiative banning gay marriage, is unconstitutional.The decision is almost certainly destine ... More >>

Governor Jerry Brown Signs Slew of Illegal Immigrant-Friendly Bills

​While the federal government stagnates on any immigration reform, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bevy of illegal immigrant-friendly bills that will make their under-the-radar way of life less of a headache starting January 1, 2012. Opponents have already started filing in. Perhaps th ... More >>

Gov. Jerry Brown Signs Bill That Heads Off Local Ban on Circumcisions

​The controversy over male circumcisions has officially been nipped in the bud. Governor Jerry Brown on Sunday signed off on a new law that puts the kibosh on local cities and counties looking to criminalize circumcision for males younger than 18.Lawmakers passed the bill last month, claiming a ci ... More >>

Senator Lou Correa, Author of Vetoed Medical Marijuana Restrictions Bill, Just Wanted to Help

The LiberalOCHere to help​Medical marijuana advocates celebrated Wednesday with Governor Jerry Brown's veto of SB 847. The brainchild of State Senator Lou Correa (D-Orange County), the bill would have made a 600-foot barrier between medical cannabis dispensaries and homes state law (except in citi ... More >>

Remembering Don Casper, a City Official Who Saved Taxpayers Billions

Rolling Paper: Looking at the Current State of Safe Access

Amazon.com Goes to War with State of California over Online Sales Tax

​Nobody expected that Amazon.com would take kindly to California legislators' decision to force the mammoth web retailer to collect state sales tax. As part of the recently approved, arduously deliberated state budget, California is now requiring out-of-state companies such as Amazon to slap the t ... More >>

Jerry Brown Rehires Official Who Protested State Building Privatization

That was a close call.​After he was quoted in The Snitch protesting a proposed sale of 24 government office buildings to private investors, Arnold Schwarzenegger fired Donald Casper from his job as a state buildings commissioner.Now that Governor Jerry Brown has scotched the Governator's mone ... More >>

AB 152 Proposes Tax Credits for Farmers Donating to Food Banks

Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes.​Just as the California state legislature fights for its paychecks, another food-related bill fights to make it through committee in the Senate after passing unanimously through the Assembly.AB 152, introduced by Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes, is intended to give reli ... More >>

Medical Marijuana Bills Killed by Odd Bedfellows -- Labor and Business Groups

You can't really win against business AND labor​Public safety and jobs. To a California politician, they are the bread and butter -- if bread and butter means getting elected, that is. There are fewer worse labels for a politician than "job-killer" or the pejorative "soft on crime."You'd think, th ... More >>

Dianne Feinstein Tells Francisco to Go Smoke a Fat One

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, San Francisco.​Wait, not all of your tax dollars are wasted in San Francisco. Your local bureaucrats make it part of their job to send a letter every February to state and federal politicians restating the city's desire that the government legalize marijuana. No ... More >>

Jerry Brown's Legacy Examined in New York Times Magazine

Still quirky after all these years​Like clockwork, the New York Times periodically chooses to publish an in-depth profile of some prominent California politician or politicians, usually under the rubric of West Coast "quirkiness" showcased for a national audience. Our state's pols don't always fai ... More >>

Schwarzenegger Creating 'Governator' Cartoon Chracter

Schwarzenegger will use his alter-ego to take on the state's Democrats​Just when you thought you had seen every iteration of Arnold Schwarzenegger -- playboy, bodybuilder, Terminator, governor -- he comes up with one more: cartoon characterIn his free-time as the state's former chief executive, Sc ... More >>

Gov. Jerry Brown Stops in SF to Get Buy-In on Budget

What kind of salesman is he?​Update: The Bay Area Council voted to endorse Brown's budget proposal. Members called the talk with Brown "tough but refreshing."As a governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger had the star power that could set off a media frenzy every time he blew his nose. And while Gov.Jerry B ... More >>

Jerry Brown Abandons Schwarzenegger Plan to Sell State Buildings

Vanquished!​Gov. Jerry Brown today announced he is scrapping former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to sell a dozen state buildings, including San Francisco's PUC Building and Supreme Court Building.Schwarzenegger attempted to bulldoze the plan through last year before leaving office -- which ra ... More >>

Examiner's Phil Anschutz Dumps Money into California Politics -- Except San Francisco

No money for you, chumps.​San Francisco Examiner owner Phil Anschutz, his companies, and his employees, donated $92,582 to 30 California politicians between 2003 and 2009, according to campaign finance filings compiled by Anschutz's competitor, Bay Area News Group.But the railroad, telecommunicati ... More >>

Gavin Newsom -- You Can Still Watch Him on Demand

Technologically active again​When former Mayor Gavin Newsom left City Hall, his staid YouTube addresses that people had grown accustomed to went right with him. But Newsom's hiatus from YouTube was short-lived. Just barely a month as the state Lieutenant Governor, Newsom sent out his first video a ... More >>

Hey Rich Assholes: Are You Shorting Your Nanny? Tell It to the Judge

Don't even think about shorting her...​The cost of living for the Meg Whitmans of the world might become much more expensive. California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D- San Francisco) announced today that he is introducing legislation to improve the lives of domestic workers in the state.The bill, whi ... More >>

Newsom Mania Comes to an End

​Now that Gavin Newsom has finally cut the cord and left San Francisco, one can only wonder how long it will be before we see his face on TV again.It's been well-stated that for such an ambitious politician, Newsom landed a politically impotent position as California's lieutenant governor. And as ... More >>

Jerry Brown's Budget Solution Is To Starve Senior Citizens, Excluding Himself

Not On Our Dime​Most everyone would expect Governor Jerry Brown to take sharp measures to ensure that the state's books are balanced in the coming year.But cutting back on food for the elderly? That seems draconian. According to the Sacramento Bee, Brown wants to seriously trim grants for the low- ... More >>

Jerry Brown Should Get Rid of Schwarzenegger's Debt Deals

Gavin Newsom Goes Back On His Word To Avoid Back Room Deals

​After winning the seat for lieutenant governor in November, Mayor Gavin Newsom told reporters, point blank, that there would be no back room deals or political bargaining when selecting an interim mayor to fill the remainder of his term.He's also vowed to steer a clean-cut transition as he assume ... More >>

Schwarzenegger Dealt Setback In Bid to Rush $1.3 Billion Building Sale

Drag​Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's frantic bid to rush the $1.3 billion fire sale of 11 state buildings before he leaves office suffered a blow this afternoon. A state appeals court in San Jose announced it wouldn't hear arguments until Jan. 26 regarding whether the sale should be allowed. Schwarze ... More >>

Doyle Drive's Goofy Privatization Deal Stalled By Judge

Will Jerry Brown stop the fiscal insanity? ​A judge Wednesday issued a temporary restraining order halting Caltrans from signing a finance deal that would let a foreign consortium take over construction and maintenance of part of the Doyle Drive project in the Presidio.This marks the second time i ... More >>

Inspector General's Office Nixed By Jerry Brown. What Did Inspector General Do?

​Move Will Save State Not Quite Three-Thousandths Of One Percent Of Looming DeficitThe office of Gov.-elect Jerry Brown yesterday announced it would be curtailing the office of inspector general in January as a cost-cutting move. This, of course, prompts the question "what does the inspector gener ... More >>

Why Tom Ammiano really doesn't want to be mayor

Tom Ammiano Makes It Official: He Won't Be Next Mayor

Count me out, says Tom Ammiano​Assemblyman Tom Ammiano told SF Weekly, in no uncertain terms, he doesn't want to be the next damn mayor. He told his former board colleagues the same. He hasn't yet hired out a pilot to do skywriting -- but his drift is unmissable. Supervisor Chris Daly remains unda ... More >>

Don't worry, America. San Francisco knows what's best for you

The Examiner's Hilarious Political Endorsements

​God help me, but it's true: I love America's Funniest Home Videos. Thanks to YouTube, you can find more than enough old episodes. You turn the sound off -- be gone, Bob Saget! -- and bliss. It's so predictable, yet so hilarious. Men working on roofs are gonna fall. Skateboarders will not land whe ... More >>

Attention, Guardianistas: Here are your endorsements.

Schwarzenegger Bill He Dismissed With 'I F*ck You' Veto on Gov's Desk Again

Life in the capitol...​A Tom Ammiano bill authorizing the city to issue bonds related to the development of Pier 70 has cleared the legislature and landed on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk. That's hardly a call for rampant cursing -- yet, the last time this bill reached the governor, it was vet ... More >>

Workers' comp covers retired cops who get cancer

S.F. Legislators Approve $400K Gift to Insurers. Will Governor?

It's unanimous: let's screw San Francisco​In a year when San Francisco faces a $787 million budget shortfall, how do our representatives in Sacramento propose to help out? By unanimously supporting a measure transferring $400,000 annually in health care expenses from insurers to local San Francis ... More >>

Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger Say Let the Gays Marry -- Now

Jerry Brown says: Go get married!​Update: You're never going to believe this, but, at 4:59 p.m. the City and County of San Francisco also filed a motion urging the stay be lifted! Attorney General Jerry Brown has filed a motion with Judge Vaughn Walker requesting that no stay be placed on the ruli ... More >>

Jerry Brown Wants You -- To Put Him on a T-Shirt

Put that man on a T-shirt. Now! ​California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown is no spring chicken. And he needs your fashion advice. Brown has enough elections under his belt to know the value of lookin' sharp. That's why the man of many hours is calling on his supporters to "help Je ... More >>

Republicans Following Porn on Twitter (NSFW)

By following @_PrettyAlison, the California GOP studied the body politic...​If you're going to get hit with a sex scandal, you should at least make sure to enjoy the sex. Yet the California Republican Party has been monitoring the online offerings of dozens of porn purveyors in a situation that ga ... More >>

David Plouffe Tells Panicked S.F. Dems They've Never Had it So Good

​David Plouffe says to give Obama a break...​Democratic strategist David Plouffe was in San Francisco Wedensday to inspire panicked Democrats with an obvious-yet-overlooked message: Irrespective of his plummeting poll numbers, Barack Obama has been an extraordinarily successful president, and li ... More >>

List: The best democracy money can buy

Doyle Drive's costly pothole

Governor Schwarzenegger is willing to pour billions of public dollars into a schemeto benefit private investors.

Distressed Properties

The state's quick budget fix of selling off public buildings is a horrible idea.

Jackpot

How four tiny Indian tribes, with help from powerful gambling interests, are trying to transform the Bay Area into a slot machine Mecca