Political Reform Archives

News in Brief

Taxes: Prop 13’s Eternal Shadow

Efforts to reform California’s governing system often focus on one or two ideas that can be turned into ballot initiatives. Billionaire Nicolas Berggruen’s Think Long Committee was different. Members agreed on a broader approach – offering a series of integrated proposals in seven major areas with the goal of designing a new governing system. Here are highlights of those recommendations, and how they reached them, in the contentious area of taxation.

Joe Mathews

Social Justice

The Freethinking Homeless Billionaire and the Flat-Broke State

A long list of politicians and a whole industry of fix-it professionals have failed to restore California to its former glory. Did Nicolas Berggruen—Paris-born, art collector, global investor—and his Think Long committee, know how to rebuild the Golden State? And if so, Why didn’t anyone listen?

Joe Mathews

News in Brief

Education: Heart of the Crisis

Efforts to reform California’s governing system often focus on one or two ideas that can be turned into ballot initiatives. Billionaire Nicolas Berggruen’s Think Long Committee was different. Members agreed on a broader approach – offering a series of integrated proposals in seven major areas with the goal of designing a new governing system. Here are highlights of those recommendations as they apply to public and higher education--once the state's acme, now its Achilles heel.

Joe Mathews