Seeking Equity in Public School Funding From the Ancients

No press conference by Gov. Jerry Brown seems to be compelte without some reference to ancient Greek or Roman philosophy and literature – often declaimed in the original Latin.

The Democratic governor’s unveiling of his proposed $139 billion spending blueprint for the fiscal year rbeginning July 1 was no execption.

Generating the most media attention is Brown’s desire to change the distribution of state money to public schools.    Read more »

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Reaction to Gov. Jerry Brown’s Budget

A scrupulously arbitrary review of 16 statements by lawmakers and statewide elected officials finds Gov. Jerry Brown’s latest budget plan to be generally praiseworthy.

“It’s not time to roll out a ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner yet, but today’s news gives Californians a reason to hold our heads high and put dunce caps on our state’s critics,” says Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, a Van Nuys Democrat who chairs the lower house’s budget committee.    Read more »

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Memo From the Grammar Police to California Department of Justice Lawyers

On January 7, 2013 the Brown administration filed a document with a panel of three federal judges asking them to release the state from it’s obligation to lower the population at the Golden State’s 33 prisons to 110,000 inmates – 137.5 percent of design capacity.

(There’s a little under 120,000 inmates at the moment, which is down 43,000 from the peak of overcrowding several years ago.)    Read more »

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As an Alternative, Eliminate the Archaic 30-Days-In-Print Rule

On January 7, 2013, Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat, violated one of the chief rules of public relations by trying to blunt potential criticism of the upper house by drawing attentiont o the opportunity for leveling it. 

As the Senate’s first floor session of 2013 drew to a close, Steinberg allowed that the public and might  be critical of the lack of legislative business conducted during the first months of the legislative session.    Read more »

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From the Stray-Stuff-Buried-On-Cluttered-Desk File

During the Del Mar racing season, one of the entries in at least one of the races was “Willie Brown.”

No confirmation — or denial — as to whether the horse was named after the former Assembly Speaker and mayor of San Francisco. 

Willie Brown, the horse, faced six other entrants in one particular race.    Read more »

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This From a Subscriber Who Recently Voted…

Virtually every initiative that I tried — and tired — to read reminded me that these are all issues that should have been dealt with in the Legislature.  

(Editor’s Note: Totally. The subscriber’s reactions to specific ballot measures follow:) 

Prop. 30:  Tax myself?  Go figure.  No

Prop 31:  Two-year budget?  What would they do in the off-year?      Read more »

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BIll Lockyer for CSU Chancellor

California’s Capitol left this comment at the bottom of  a column by the Sacramento Bee’s Dan Morain about State Treasurer Bill Lockyer and his qualifications to be California State University Chancellor:

The 427,000 students and 44,000 faculty and staff of the California State University system would be terrifically lucky to have State Treasurer Bill Lockyer as their next chancellor.    Read more »

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Cleaning the Augean Stables*

Jerry Brown holds a 1961 Bachelor of Arts degree in Classics from the University of California at Berkeley. He’s the only California governor of the last 112 years whose collegiate focus was the study of languages, literature and philosophy from cultures that rose and fell a millennium or two ago.

His speeches and statements are peppered with references to ancient Greece and Rome with a smattering of Latin quotes, usually correctly declaimed, thrown in for sport.    Read more »

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Kudos to Assemblyman Jim Nielsen

In an interview aired June 14 on KCRA-TV, the Biggs Republican, vice chair of the Assembly Budget Committee,  displayed his mastery of the Lexicon of Common Budget Words and Phrases by describing the budget as not only “kicking the can down the road” and “business as usual” but adding that the process lacked sufficient “transperancy.”    Read more »

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From Time Magazine: The Truth About Men, Women and Work

First there was the mancession. Then there was the economic war on women. Over the past four years, the monthly jobs figures have been spun like a roulette wheel to declare which sex is gaining–or losing–from recession and recovery. April’s numbers show that women gained 73% of the 115,000 new jobs added to the U.S.    Read more »

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