November 16, 2012, 12:05 AM
A state appellate court has dealt a blow to Wal-Mart’s strategy of using petition drives to push through approval of new superstores while avoiding California’s environmental law. In a cookie-cutter pattern documented by California Watch, the mega-retailer bankrolled local...
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November 7, 2012, 1:24 PM
Multimillionaire activists, big labor unions and major corporations combined to pump more than $363 million into political fights over 11 propositions on Tuesday’s state ballot, a California Watch analysis shows. That’s about $20 in political spending for each of California’s...
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January 2, 2010, 9:10 AM
Years ago, on a visit to Zurich, I noticed the entire city seemed to be hung with political posters, declaring, in German, “No on Dog Law!” The Swiss were having a national referendum on a new regulation involving pets – leashes, or spaying, or something over which the...
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