FresnoBee.com: Dan Walters

Red ink rises despite state's budget sham

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:40:50 PST

Mike Genest, who announced recently that he is resigning as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget director, deserves a respite after four years of dealing with the state's chronic fiscal crisis. Read comments

Bill change underscores the need for journalists

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:56:06 PST

A batch of amendments to a massive water bond bill was submitted to the state Senate's clerical desk Monday, and one of them, as it turned out, had nothing to do with water. Read comments

Next year's vote shapes up as trip to fantasyland

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:32:22 PST

Exactly one year from today, California voters will pretend that electing a new governor will somehow improve their chronically ineffective state government. Read comments

Redistricting should be quite a political show

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:49:17 PDT

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and political reform groups enacted a ballot measure to shift legislative redistricting from the Legislature to an independent commission, they purposely left congressional redistricting in lawmakers' hands. Read comments

Water's only certainty is immense impact on land

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:44:04 PDT

They're fighting over water in the Capitol, but lurking just below the surface is the real issue of how and where California develops land in the years and decades ahead. Read comments

New water policy may be almost impossible

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:12:38 PDT

The "Steve Peace death march," so-named for the state legislator who pushed a massive overhaul of the state's electric power system through the Legislature in 1996, occupies a special niche in Capitol lore. Read comments

CalPERS deals stink like a dead whale

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:55:31 PDT

Remember the old saying "once burned, twice shy?" Read comments

Billions of dollars in spending untold

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:57:35 PDT

For decades, Stockton has been often pumping taxpayers' money into its moribund waterfront/downtown area, hoping it would become an entertainment destination that would recapture its 19th century prominence as a portal into California's gold fields. Read comments

Capitol knows it needs fix

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:55:31 PDT

Widespread public disdain for a dysfunctional Legislature with just 13% voter approval in a recent poll has spawned a rhetorical game in political, academic and media circles that goes something like this: Read comments

Trains try to run on 'leverage'

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:45:15 PDT

Ironically or perhaps prophetically, the California High Speed Rail Authority's Web site bolsters the economic viability of a proposed statewide bullet train system by quoting an official of Lehman Brothers. Read comments