California Voices

A Blog from New America's New America in California

Gays in the Military, and California’s Budget Rules

  • By
  • Joe Mathews
November 14, 2011

(originally published at Fox & Hounds Daily)
The two items in this headline would seem to have nothing to do with each other.

But they do.

The logic of the ban on gays in the military – which is to say the illogic of that ban – is the same illogic that has shaped the California budget process.

Before the lifting of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy – before the establishment of that policy – the U.S. military had an outright ban on gays serving in the military. So naturally, there were no gays in the military, right?

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Never Bet Against the Sexual Harasser

  • By
  • Joe Mathews
November 8, 2011

(originally published at Fox & Hounds Daily)
The media consensus is that Herman Cain’s goose is cooked. The reason? New accusations that he’s a sexual harasser.

This of course makes no sense. Because they have a name in politics for sexual harassers.

Winners.

Here’s a test try to think of a sexually harassing politician who lost because of his behavior (or her) behavior. It’s hard, isn’t?

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Pension Reforms – Why Should I Care?

  • By
  • Joe Mathews
November 4, 2011

(originally published at Fox & Hounds Daily)
The current pension reform debate – with proposals from the governor and now from a team of Republicans via ballot initiative – is drawing considerable media attention.

It’s hard to understand why.

The debate has almost nothing to do with the broader public.

The pension changes being talked about won’t change all that much or save much money for other public programs. And the plans being offered don’t respond to the real problem in matters of retirement savings.

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The Non-Financial Problem With High-Speed Rail

  • By
  • Joe Mathews
November 3, 2011

(originally published at Fox & Hounds Daily)
The high-speed rail debate may begin and end with the price tag: $98.5 billion. But there’s another fundamental problem with the plan. It doesn’t fit California or Californians.

And to say it doesn’t fit the state is to say this also: the high-speed rail plan treats California as if it’s one state.

It isn’t. California is a country-sized place made up of regions that have the size and character of states.

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Splitting California in Two Would Be Great, If It Made Any Sense

November 2, 2011

(originally published at Zocalo Public Square)

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Initiatives Need a New Warning Label

  • By
  • Joe Mathews
November 1, 2011

(originally published at Fox & Hounds Daily)
Who needs Halloween for a good fright when so many California ballot initiatives are posted on the Secretary of State’s website?

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Municipal Mouse Click: How Local Government is Going Online

October 27, 2011

(originally published at Zocalo Public Square)

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How the Digital Revolution Changes California’s Governments

  • By
  • Joe Mathews
October 26, 2011

(originally published at Zocalo Public Square)
Richard Price, chief of the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District, was having lunch at a deli when he heard an emergency vehicle approach the restaurant. The emergency crew parked in the deli’s lot, and went to a business next door where there had been a report of a heart attack.

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Exclusive! An Interview With Realignment

  • By
  • Joe Mathews
October 25, 2011

(originally published at Fox & Hounds Daily)

The most-talked-about name in California governance hadn’t granted an interview. But a tipster in a small local hospital in California’s interior called, with directions to a little-known private wing.

The name on the hospital room door said, “Serrano Priest.” I opened it. “Mr. Priest?” I asked.

“Ah, hell. You found me,” came the reply from the mangled body that lay on the hospital. “I register under that name when I don’t want calls. It’s me – Realignment.”

He reluctantly agreed to an interview.

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The New Economic Realities Will Change Our Relationship to Government—Maybe For the Better

October 25, 2011

(originally published at Zocalo Public Square)
The sun-washed Polihale State Beach Park in Kauai seems an unlikely place to see the changing face of governance, but there we catch a glimpse of the new relationship forming between governments and citizens—one that is more participatory and inclusive.

While Polihale is formally a Hawaiian state park, its main feature is a 12-mile strip of beach, which sits just below the Na Pali cliffs in the southwestern portion of the island. Its remoteness and terrific surfing waves have made it a popular tourist spot.

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