The LA Times (full disclosure: I'm a former staffer and still contribute pieces) has an excellent blog post, asking the public to help it decide what position to take on city Charter Amendment E, a ballot measure that would allow the city council and mayor to offer cash, tax reduction, or other incentives to businesses to come here. (It's not clear where such inducments are an illegal gift of public funds under current law). It's a new editorial method for the Times, and a good one. The post lets the public listen to audio of the editorial board's meetings with supporters and opponents of the amendment. And it gives the public a deadline -- the endorsement is scheduled for Feb. 22 -- to contribute. Times staffer and friend of the blog Robert Greene reports the paper is going to try something similar with two other charter amendments that appear on the March city ballot.

I have an essay in this Sunday's Los Angeles Times books section that re-reads classic journalism of California (Hinton Helper's "Land of Gold," Lincoln Steffens' autobiography, and especially Carey McWilliams' "California: The Great Exception") in the context of the state's budget deficit and cash crisis. The conclusion: California is often on the edge of fiscal cliff. In fact, our perilous finances -- and unstable governing system -- help define who we are as a people and a state.

Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton has an interesting idea for stimulating the economy: Have the federal government restore the tax deduction for state sales taxes.

In California, this would blunt some of the blow from the expected sales tax hike to help fill an estimated $40 billion shortfall in the state budget over this year and next. Skelton argues that the credit would spur consumer spending -- making it more of a pure stimulus. The sales tax credit existed before the 1986 tax bill. Under President Bush, taxpayers could take a credit for either state income tax or state sales tax, but not both.

Author and longtime Sacramento Bee columnist Peter Schrag shows up in the LA Times with a piece today that, more than anything I've recently read, explains the political dynamics behind the state's cash crunch. Republicans blogs are already attacking it, but Schrag has plenty to say about Democrats too.

The Los Angeles Times praises a bizarre initiative, filed late last month, that would remove the entire legislature (and, in some cases, automatically remove the governor from office) if lawmakers don't pass a budget on time. In the event of a late budget, the governor and the lawmakers would not only be kicked out of office but they would be barred from returning to elected office for two years. There are all kinds of practical problems, but the Times seems to like the blast at the legislature. It's a symptom of the extreme frustration -- and powerlessness -- Californians are feeling as they watch their governor and legislature fiddle as the state runs out of cash.

It's a sign of the anger out there that this initiative is not the first time the notion of firing the whole legislature has come up. There's been persistent conversation among conservatives in California about coming up with some way to dissolve the legislature. But nothing's been filed, and my sources have been unwilling to go on the record.

The ballot initiative, scheduled to be on the city of Los Angeles ballot in March, sounds good. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power would have to install enough solar panels atop buildings to produce 400 megawatts of electricity. But Los Angeles Times columnist Tim Rutten suggests it's a dirty deal. There's no limit on how much electric rates will go up to pay for this. And he suggests the whole thing has been cooked up by the union representing DWP workers--and the very smart political consultants who represent them--as a way to take more money from citizens and give it to some of the best-paid unionized workers in town. Expect to hear more about this.

Supporters of the California initiative to ban same-sex marriage have outpaced opponents  thus far. More details in this Los Angeles Times story. Bob Stern of the Center for Governmental Studies, which recently completed an excellent report on initiatives, says that Prop 8 could prove to be the most expensive campaign ever waged over a social issue.

At least the 12 on the statewide ballot in California. And Robert Greene of the LA Times tells these stories.

Here's my LA Times piece arguing that Gov. Schwarzenegger should respond to the prison guards' recall effort -- by embracing the recall vote and using it to rebuild his political capital.

Here's my piece on Prop 98, California's education funding guarantee, in today's Los Angeles Times. Prop 98 is very, very complicated, but it generally does what it's supposed to: protect education. In the piece, I consider various problems with the formula and various ways to fix it, but conclude with only one reform.