Joe Mathews

Joe Mathews is a journalist, an Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation, and a contributing writer at the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of The People's Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy and coauthor of the book California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix it.

Proposition 29

Tobacco Tax: Good Idea, Bad Execution

California’s Proposition 29 authorizing a tax on cigarettes failed because voters are wary of ballot initiatives, writes Joe Mathews.

Joe Mathews

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Jerry Brown, Beggar

California’s fiscal crisis is mushrooming, and Governor Moonbeam seems powerless to stop it. Joe Mathews on Brown’s call for ‘stoicism,’ and why it’s not working.

Joe Mathews

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Jerry Brown’s Budget Disaster

California’s governor was supposed to join left and right and get his state’s budget under control. Joe Mathews on how Brown has failed on all counts.

Joe Mathews

Jerry Brown's Zen Budget Strategy

While governors from Wisconsin to New York battle the unions over budgets, California’s Jerry Brown is giving labor what it wants now—and may ultimately win bigger budget concessions.

Joe Mathews

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Arnold, Out Like a Lion

California's governor leaves office January 3, but he isn’t going quietly. Joe Mathews on how the action hero is sucking up all Jerry Brown's oxygen—and why Brown doesn't mind.

Joe Mathews

Joe Mathews

Tobacco Tax: Good Idea, Bad Execution

Jerry Brown, Beggar

Jerry Brown’s Budget Disaster

Jerry Brown's Zen Budget Strategy

Arnold, Out Like a Lion

Californa's Most Powerful Woman

Arnold Swats Whitman

Bubba vs. Moonbeam

The Most Scandalous State

Palin's California Rescue