Reform California

The Conversation: Thinking long about state's future

By Nicolas Berggruen and Nathan Gardels - Published: Sunday, November 20 2011 - 12:00 am

A dispiriting gridlock continues to grip Washington and Sacramento, undermining the public's faith that democracy can solve our problems. As we write, the so-called supercommittee of Congress, convened to figure a way out of the nation's fiscal crisis, remains hopelessly paralyzed along familiar partisan lines. Everyone knows the sad story in Sacramento.

The Conversation: How Prop. 13 led us to the mess we're in

By Joe Mathews and Mark Paul - Published: Sunday, March 13 2011 - 9:03 am

Gov. Jerry Brown's budget proposals to realign local services and redevelopment are a great public service. Not because they represent deep change – they don't – but because they expose the broad and bipartisan consensus against any meaningful overhaul of California's broken governing system.