Recently a friend sent me his notes from Infinite Games, a book about the mindset needed to succeed in non-finite endeavors such as business.That same mindset is employed by unions and corporations for whom California's government is a customer that provides them with more than $200 billion a year. They know that politics is an infinite-round … Continue reading Our Non-Finite War
Category: Calls to Action – Citizens
A Wall Or A Frog?
Last weekend some friends asked me when California would “hit a wall,” by which they meant have so many governance problems that it would have no choice but to reform. I responded, “probably not in our lifetimes, if ever.” I explained that California is more like a frog slowly being boiled to death. This is … Continue reading A Wall Or A Frog?
Money Isn’t Everything
Earlier this week, the New York Times reported on a study ironically entitled “Outsized Influence” about 12 individuals who spent $3.4 billion on politics but were anything but influential. To put it in perspective, the dozen spent 1000x more than CA's prison unions, whose members obtain $10 billion per year from the state, a return … Continue reading Money Isn’t Everything
Punch Your Weight!
Though we often disagree with them, we have great admiration for two groups — SEIU and the Construction Unions — for politically punching more than their financial weights. Both treat politics like a business and have chapters that persistently donate to lawmakers. You can be sure lawmakers pay attention when either organization pays attention to them. GFC modeled its chapter structure on theirs and aims to run … Continue reading Punch Your Weight!
Pension Reform
Early GFC supporters will recall that I expected pension reform to happen by now. I was way off. And as my colleague Joe Nation recently reported, in the absence of reform we ain't seen nothin' yet. That's why pension reform must happen, but it won't until other reforms happen first that demonstrate to legislators they … Continue reading Pension Reform
GFC’s 10th Anniversary
Today is GFC's 10th anniversary. In the past decade, we've grown from three supporters to the largest bundler of direct donations to members of the California Legislature. And we're growing faster than ever. A US Senator once told me that special interests get their way because "they're always there for us." I'll echo that: GFC … Continue reading GFC’s 10th Anniversary
Beating CA’s Nomenklatura
Yesterday's opinion piece about California by Ezra Klein in the New York Times got a lot of attention, and deservedly so. But it missed a key point. Whether California's progressivism is rhetorical or substantive, public sector employees always win. They are the nomenklatura in California's political system, beneficiaries of spending and services regardless of ideological … Continue reading Beating CA’s Nomenklatura
Tax Increase Proposals
Last year we spent as much time blocking tax increase proposals as liberating nurse practitioners. This year will be the same. Reform efforts will focus on OPEB and tenure but at least as much time will be devoted to blocking tax increases, bills to extend collective bargaining rights to legislative staff, and more. Proposals to … Continue reading Tax Increase Proposals
There’s No ROI Like ROPS
It's not only public sector unions that earn huge returns from donations to elected officials. Tesla probably wouldn't have survived its early years without the benefit of incentives and favorable regulations from California and other jurisdictions. Like the prison guards, Tesla learned there's no ROI like ROPS — Return On Political Spending. Tesla also learned … Continue reading There’s No ROI Like ROPS
$7,152,548
As 2020 comes to a close, we are pleased to report that GFC raised $7,152,548 during the 2019-20 legislative session. Launched in 2011 with seed funding from three donors (Ron Conway, Greg Penner and me), today GFC has nearly 900 donors plus 16 chapters that together are among the most powerful forces in Sacramento. Special … Continue reading $7,152,548