Since the founding of our republic there has been tension between citizens who want to know about the conduct of their representatives, and those in government who would prefer to do their business in secret.

Secrecy is not always bad policy. Few would argue that Franklin Roosevelt should have revealed the invasion plans for Normandy prior to D-Day.

However, the responsibilities of most politicians are mundane and it is hard to argue that the public should be denied knowledge of how efficiently they are managing and spending taxpayers' dollars.  Read more >>

Howard Jarvis, the leader of California's most famous tax revolt, passed away more than 20 years ago, but over the past year his name continually popped up in newspaper articles across the United States. Property tax troubles were brewing throughout the country and Jarvis's prodigy, property-tax-cutting Proposition 13, was remembered by beleaguered taxpayers as something to be emulated to protect against out-of-control taxation.  Read more >>

The story is told that to fool Catherine II, Russian minister Grigori Potemkin constructed hollow facades of villages along the desolate banks of the Dnieper River. When the monarch and her entourage sailed by, they were impressed with the prosperity in her new territories.

Backers of a phony property rights measure, Proposition 99 on the June ballot, have borrowed a page or two from Potemkin's book.  Read more >>

Sacramento admits to a $14.5 billion deficit over the next 18 months. Chances are close to a certainty that this is a conservative estimate. After all, when do politicians ever exaggerate bad news for which they are responsible?

The responses from Sacramento officials vary, but none are especially good news for taxpayers.

The governor says there should be no new taxes, that we should close the budget gap with spending cuts, but this did not stop him from pushing his now defunct government mandated health-care proposal that could have cost Californians billions of dollars.  Read more >>

Los Angeles is a union town.

No, not in the sense that years ago, before foreign competition, Detroit and Pittsburgh were "union towns" because of the sway auto- and steelworkers held in the community. And no, this has nothing to do with the writers strike where people in elite Hollywood jobs are squaring off against management over who will reap the profits from the new media.

Los Angeles is a union town because the city is run by the public-employee unions for the benefit of the public-employee unions, and all other considerations are secondary.  Read more >>