Listen: Radio Free California

By Will Swaim
05/28/2021
New episode of the Radio Free California Podcast is out! California Policy Center’s own Will Swaim and David Bahnsen are at it again with their latest episode of National Review’s Radio Free California podcast. In this week’s episode, they discuss a barnyard metaphor used by a Santa Clara County official to describe the tawdry relationship...

TAGS: David Bahnsen, Kevin Kiley, Lorena Gonzalez, National Review, Podcast, Radio Free California, Unions, United Teachers Los Angeles, UTLA, Will Swaim

After 33 Years, San Diego Submits to State Prevailing Wage Law

By Kevin Dayton
07/30/2013
This afternoon (Tuesday, July 30, 2013), the San Diego City Council voted 5-4 to cease taking advantage of its constitutional right to establish its own policies concerning government-mandated wage rates for construction contracts. It adopted a proposal from Mayor Bob Filner to submit to state law and require its construction contractors to pay “prevailing wage”...

TAGS: California State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, City of San Diego, Lorena Gonzalez, State Building and Construction Trades Council v. City of Vista

Finally Got It! Secret Union Deal for San Diego Convention Center

By Kevin Dayton
07/08/2013
Through relentless and tedious persistence and a willingness to disturb “the Establishment” of the country’s eighth most populous city, the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction (based in California) has finally succeeded in obtaining and exposing a document revealing how the office of former San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders (a Republican) arranged a secret and...

TAGS: California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), California State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, City of San Diego, City of San Diego Proposition A (June 2012), Clark Construction, Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction (CFEC), Greenmail, Lorena Gonzalez, San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, San Diego Convention Center Expansion, San Diego County Central Labor Council, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders

Persistent Pressure Compels San Diego to Spit Out Project Labor Agreement

By Kevin Dayton
04/23/2013
For five months, the City of San Diego refused to give the public a Project Labor Agreement negotiated for its planned $520 million convention center expansion. This union agreement was reportedly the result of a backroom deal involving top union leaders, but multiple requests for it under the authority of the California Public Records Act failed to dislodge it. But today (April 23,...

TAGS: California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), City of San Diego, City of San Diego Proposition A (June 2012), Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction, Greenmail, Lorena Gonzalez, Project Labor Agreements, San Diego Convention Center Expansion, San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council, San Diego County Central Labor Council, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, Senate Bill 829 (2012), Senate Bill 922 (2011)

CEQA Debate Rule No. 1: Do NOT Mention Union “Greenmail”

By Kevin Dayton
02/21/2013
“Here’s the plan: pretend that unions aren’t exploiting the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) as a tool to obtain labor agreements. Maybe no one will notice.” Supporters and opponents of CEQA reform are straining to avoid this uncomfortable subject as influential Democrats in the California State Senate prepare to introduce an alleged reform of CEQA...

TAGS: A Move to Put the Union Label on Solar Power Plants, Adams Broadwell Joseph & Cardozo, California Energy Commission, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE), CEQA Reform, Clark Construction, Corporate campaign, corporate campaigns, Greenmail, Labor Coalition’s Tactics on Renewable Energy Projects Are Criticized, Laborers Union (LIUNA) Local No. 783, Lorena Gonzalez, San Diego Convention Center Expansion, San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council, UNITE HERE Local Union No. 30

Unions Threaten Environmental Litigation to Block San Diego Convention Center

By Kevin Dayton
09/20/2012
Whatever your views concerning the wisdom of the proposed $520 million expansion of the San Diego Convention Center and the related expansion of the adjacent Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel, you should be outraged at the shameless stunt of top San Diego labor union officials and their lawyers at the September 19, 2012 meeting of the...

TAGS: Adams Broadwell Joseph & Cardozo, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), CEQA Reform, Greenmail, Jerry Brown, Lorena Gonzalez, National University System Institute for Policy Research in San Diego, Project Labor Agreements, San Diego Convention Center Expansion, San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council, San Diego County Central Labor Council, Tom Lemmon, UNITE HERE Local Union No. 30