My friend and former LA Times colleague Matt Welch, writing on his blog at Reason, the libertarian magazine he edits, makes a very good point about media commentary, particularly from our former paper, that voters are responsible for the state's fiscal fix because they vote for so many ballot measures that boost spending.

I think the line of commentary is right. But it's also new, and it's more than a little disingenuous for the LA Times to be making this argument. Welch looked back and discovered that the LA Times endorsed 20 of the last 22 bond measures on the statewide ballot. Patient, heal thyself. 

Welch also reveals that one of the two non-endorsements happened only becasue of his own work inside the editorial board.

At the very end of this Wall Street Journal story on Texas businessman R. Allen Stanford, who is being investigated for fraud and whose empire is being seized by the federal government, comes this bit of news: the politician at the state level who received the most from Stanford was former California Gov. Gray Davis. Among the donations was $100,000 to defeat the 2003 recall.