Gingrich Recommends Fixes for California
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich says the solution to fixing California’s governance problems starts with a part-time legislature. Gingrich, who was in Orange County last night speaking at the New Majority’s Tenth Anniversary celebration, argued that term limits did not work, simply ceding power to lobbyists and bureaucrats.
Now running a think tank called American Solutions, Gingrich said he studies Sacramento, along with the capitols of New York and New Jersey, to see what is wrong with governance in America.
California’s problems start and stop with the control special interests have over the legislature, he said. Calling the public employee unions the modern day version of the railroads from the early 20th century that caused Governor Hiram Johnson to champion the initiative process to get around the legislature, Gingrich said we are in similar times to that progressive era when the people took more control over government.
Main Street Menace of the Week: SB 773 (Florez) – Attack on Bipartisan Workers Compensation Reforms
While the legislature is in session, the National Federation of Independent Business/California will be profiling anti-small business bills and the adverse effect they would have on California’s job creators. This is the fourth column of that series.
Back in 2003 and 2004, our legislators were actually able put aside their partisan differences and accomplish some great reforms to the workers compensation system in California. The average costs for insured employers have been reduced by 64 percent, more injured workers are getting back on the job and we have curtailed excessive use of medical service while preserving access to quality medical treatment. Even more important is that by 2007, taxpayers had saved nearly $2 billion through cost reductions for state and local governments.
Of course, our current legislators can’t leave well enough alone, so there has been a continuous attack on these reforms from the day they were signed. The latest in the bunch is SB 773 by Senator Florez, which would increase the permanent partial disability awards by more than 50 percent starting in 2010. This bill also short-circuits the established regulatory process for determining benefit calculations.
CD10 – Tauscher Nominated, Let the Games Begin!
We started the sweepstakes in Congressional District 10 when news was leaked of Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher’s prospective nomination by President Obama as the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security on March 18th.
So today, May 6, 2009, the real games begin with the President’s announcement of Tauscher’s formal nomination.
Democrat, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi released a poll on Tuesday showing his standing as strongest among the top Democrat contenders at 24%. Senator Mark DeSaulnier had 13% and Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan got 10%. Garamendi’s name ID is not surprising at 80%, given that he has run for every office in the state of California. DeSaulnier’s name ID trails at 39% to Buchanan’s 45%.