Bipartisan bill unwinds Jerry Brown’s reforms, doubles down on flawed law that’s strangling local governments with debt
Borenstein: California taxpayer pension costs grew eightfold since 1999; new plans add billions more
mercurynews.com
Dan Borenstein
@danborenstein.bsky.social
Editor-at-large, columnist and editorial board member for the Mercury News and East Bay Times
How much deeper will state legislators dig the pension-debt hole? www.mercurynews.com/2026/08/11/b... @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com
Borenstein: California taxpayer pension costs grew eightfold since 1999; new plans add billions more
Bipartisan bill unwinds Jerry Brown’s reforms, doubles down on flawed law that’s strangling local governments with debt
mercurynews.com
While it seems much has changed since Concord’s Byron Campbell mistreated women, there are too many similar cases today.
Borenstein: A mayor sexually harassed City Hall workers. For one, it triggered something even darker.
mercurynews.com
California bill aimed at public records requests made with undefined “malicious intent” could be used to punish people who are in disfavor. @cnpa.bsky.social @facoalition.bsky.social @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/16/b...
Borenstein: Your government wants power to sue you for seeking public records
California bill aimed at requests made with undefined “malicious intent” could be used to punish people who are in disfavor.
mercurynews.com
The A's left town over a year ago. Time to unwind the deal that still gives team control over Oakland Coliseum stadium and arena site. @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com @athletics.com www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/12/b...
Borenstein: Turn the lemon A’s Oakland Coliseum deal into lemonade
Clock ticking on six-party negotiations to unwind agreement that still gives team control over stadium and arena site.
mercurynews.com
Candidates need to know when to fold. @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/29/b...
Borenstein: Porter’s and Mahan’s egos fuel Hilton in California governor race
The legacies of the two Democrats will likely be that they enabled Trump’s candidate to move on to the general election.
mercurynews.com
The Sheng Thao debacle and the Trump presidency teach us that we should treasure checks on executive power, not undermine them, and strengthen professional, not political, administrative leadership. @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/19/b...
Borenstein: Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee’s audacious power grab has Trumpian tone
Sheng Thao debacle and current presidency teach us that we should treasure checks on executive power, not undermine them.
mercurynews.com
My latest column in the @mercurynews.com and @eastbaytimes.com stems from questions friends keep asking me. www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/05/b...
Borenstein: California ballots are arriving. What’s a Democratic voter to do?
Timing and strategic voting for governor are the party’s best hope to avoid being shut out in the November general election
mercurynews.com
BART is carrying less than half as many passengers as it was before the pandemic while providing more train service. It’s nuts. www.eastbaytimes.com/2026/02/20/b... @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com
Borenstein: Gov. Newsom just enabled BART’s reckless spending
Bay Area transit bailout deal rushed through the Legislature this week could also endanger funding for San Jose extension.
eastbaytimes.com
This is what's wrong with California's ballot measure rules. Even the backers were misled on where new sales tax money would go. @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com @mattmahansj.bsky.social
Borenstein: DA Rosen, Mayor Mahan, labor leaders were deceived on sales tax increase they endorsed
‘Double-crossed’: Exemplifying California’s broken ballot system, Measure A misled voters and key public safety advocates.
mercurynews.com
Rabbi says Richmond leader Eduardo Martinez is trying to shift the blame and make himself the victim www.mercurynews.com/2025/12/30/o... @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com
Opinion: Bay Area mayor has yet to fully apologize for antisemitic posts
Rabbi says Richmond leader Eduardo Martinez is trying to shift the blame and make himself the victim.
mercurynews.com
In this era of Trump election deceit, Californians deserve better from their leaders. @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com
Borenstein: In California, it’s Democrats trying to undermine election integrity
Like Trump and MAGA, blue state legislators put their thumb on the scale. Shockingly, county registrars back the move.
mercurynews.com
Transparency matters. @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com @facoalition.bsky.social @knightcolumbia.org @countyofsanmateo.bsky.social
Editorial: Open up secret Sheriff Corpus removal hearings now
First Amendment Coalition lawsuit threat is right: Fate of elected official should not be determined behind closed doors.
mercurynews.com
UPDATE 7/2/25: Andrew's MEMORIAL will be held Sept. 7 in Walnut Creek. Please DM me with your email if you'd like to receive the details. Thanks, Dan
Star chamber. Transparency, due process lacking. @mercurynews.com www.mercurynews.com/2025/06/27/e...
Editorial: Removal of Sheriff Corpus rife with secrecy, lacks due process
San Mateo County supervisors’ star chamber procedures for ousting elected official grossly abuse the power voters gave them.
mercurynews.com
Oakland’s huge, hidden pension tax expiring. Get ready for the next one. @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com www.mercurynews.com/2025/06/17/b...
Borenstein: This Bay Area city’s half-century of pension taxes provides a cautionary tale
Most local governments in California also fail to set aside sufficient money for their workers’ retirements.
mercurynews.com
Former Contra Costa Times city and copy desk editor Andrew McGall died Saturday night at Kaiser Hospital in Walnut Creek. He was 78. Andrew was a news hound, an excellent and meticulous editor, a voracious reader, a deep thinker and a wonderful, kind friend. Memorial details to follow.
Former school board members are speaking up. @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com www.eastbaytimes.com/2025/05/16/o...
Opinion: Eight former Oakland school board members say students are casualties in teacher-union political power grab
Eight former school trustees say current board majority’s incompetence could plunge district back into state receivership.
eastbaytimes.com
What should be a moment of celebration for the Oakland Unified School District has morphed in the past two months into one of the worst periods of uncertainty in years.
Borenstein: This Bay Area school board was taken over by the teacher’s union
The ensuing chaos threatens the district’s fiscal stability just as it’s about to emerge from 22 years of receivership.
eastbaytimes.com
"The Trump administration, under the guise of fighting antisemitism and DEI, is threatening the Bay Area’s world-renowned academic research centers and, in so doing, risks undermining the secret sauce of Silicon Valley." @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com @maxtaves.bsky.social
Taves: Trump’s higher education attacks endanger Silicon Valley’s secret sauce
Bay Area universities used their academic freedom and federal funding to make America great. Now, that’s all at risk.
mercurynews.com
Oakland Mayor-elect Barbara Lee promised last week to unify warring political factions while addressing the city’s fiscal, public safety, housing and homeless challenges. But when it came to questions about the city’s budget, she punted. That can’t continue.
Borenstein: Mayor-elect Barbara Lee can’t fix Oakland until she fixes the budget
With crime high, police staffing short, bond rating sliding and a massive structural deficit, layoffs seem inevitable.
eastbaytimes.com
An excellent, smart debut column by Deputy Opinion Editor @maxtaves.bsky.social
Taves: Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is paving California’s road to hell
A new state insurance regulation, expanding homeowners’ coverage in the most flammable areas, greases the wheels of California’s suicidal building machine
mercurynews.com
Former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is exactly right on this one.
Libby Schaaf: Oakland school superintendent firing was ‘rash and confounding,’ last city budget ‘irresponsible.’
Former mayor says school and city leaders need to better consider impact of costly decisions that have long-term effects
eastbaytimes.com
Under subpoena from US Equal Employment Opportunity Comm investigating antisemitism, UC will be giving them my name, position, date of hire, personal phone number, personal email, employment status, because I signed Oct 2023 letter decrying attack by Hamas. Really? docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Open Letter on Recent Events in Israel and Gaza to the UC Berkeley community.docx
Open Letter on Recent Events in Israel and Gaza to the UC-Berkeley Community To sign the letter, click here. We are Berkeley faculty who are deeply concerned about recent and ongoing events in the Mi...
docs.google.com
I'm Jewish, named after my uncle who was executed by the Nazis in a forced labor camp in Poland. My gradfather died in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Trump's use of antisemitism as a smokescreen to underminine free speech and destroy academic research is reprehensible. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/p...
Trump’s Escalating War With Higher Education
How colleges are responding to pressure from the administration, and what it might mean for the future of America’s university system.
nytimes.com
The details left out of the voter guide for Oakland's special election
Editorial: Oakland’s Measure A would duplicate taxes residents already pay
Voters in April 15 special election should reject sales tax increase to 10.75%, the highest level in California.
mercurynews.com
As RFK rails against vaccines, here's why the HPV vaccine is so important.
The epidemic of throat cancer sweeping the industrialized world
“Hey Doc, I got a lump in my neck:” Why kids and young adults should be vaccinated against HPV
mercurynews.com
