Is Arnold Schwarzenegger the most conservative, anti-tax governor in the history of California?
Those who followed the recent California Forward panel, and accompanying LA Times pieces, on how four previous governors — Earl Warren, Pat Brown, Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson — resolved budget difficulties might have reached that conclusion. A different author described how each governor had had the courage to raise revenues to support a growing state.
The tax numbers on Reagan, offered by biographer Lou Cannon, are jarring in light of today’s debate. Please tell the Republican kids, if there are any Republican kids anymore. Taxes on corporations went from 5.5 to 9 percent; the tax on banks from 9.5 percent to 13 percent, and the highest rate on personal come tax jumped from 7 percent to 11 percent.
If Reagan rose from the dead and tried that today, Republican lawmakers would shun him, and every anti-tax group in the state would be racing to the attorney general’s office with recall papers.
What about other governors? Deukmejian held the line, sort of. He supported a temporary sales tax increase that was repealed — because of a surging economy — before it ever had to go into effect. Gray Davis cut taxes at first, but then raised the dreaded vehicle license fee, or "car tax."
Environmental Elitism: America’s New Religion
The other day President Bush called for more exploration of America’s domestic oil reserves including off the coast of California and ANWR in Alaska. In my opinion this was long overdue but better late than never.
Our esteemed Senator Feinstein immediately went before the cameras waving the “bloody shirt” of the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill saying to the Associated Press,"Californians are all too familiar with the consequences of offshore drilling," Feinstein said. "An oil spill in 1969 off the coast of Santa Barbara killed thousands of birds, as well as dolphins, seals and other marine animals. And we know this could happen again."
That spill happened almost 40 years ago and there have been no major spills from oil platforms off the coast of California since that time. During Hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005 the almost 4,000 oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico reported some major damage and many rigs were lost, but there were no major spills.
Why is everyone so angry?
Californians are angry – at least that’s the conventional wisdom.
Surveys by the Public Policy Institute of California and Field Research Corporation find Californians deeply pessimistic: less than a quarter of voters believe the state is heading in the right direction.
Californians are grumpy about the economy, too. Nearly three quarters of adults believe the economy will be in bad times for the next year. Voters have a low opinion of their elected officials and are critical of institutions such as the schools.
But just how deeply entrenched is this anger?
The LA Teachers’ Walkout from a Teacher’s Point-of-View
This site has featured commentaries from two of our bloggers (Joe Mathews and Matt Klink) on the one hour walkout of the Los Angeles teachers union to protest the education funding proposal in the governor’s budget. Now comes a look at this issue — as well as a broader view of teachers’ unions — from an insider. Doug Lasken, an English teacher in the LAUSD, penned this article for the Los Angeles Daily News. It’s well worth the read.