Poizner Puts Much-Needed $15 Million in the Pot
Well, Steve Poizner’s in the governor’s race to stay.
The state insurance commissioner said Sunday that he’s putting $15 million of his own cash into his GOP campaign for governor, upping his personal contribution to about $19 million or roughly the same former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has given to her effort.
The money puts paid to the rumors that:
1. Poizner really didn’t really have millions to spend on his campaign.
2. Even if he had the money, the insurance commissioner really wasn’t serious about a 2010 run for governor.
Poizner said in a statement to supporters that he’s going to use the money to tell voters about his plan to close the state’s budget problems by slashing taxes, making the supply-side economic argument that lower taxes will stimulate growth and bring in even more tax revenue.
Impact of Presidential Approval on Mid-Term Elections
Barack Obama’s public approval rating has dropped to as low as 47% in the last week, according to Gallup. Although the President will not appear on the ballot again until 2012, how the public views his presidency will have a direct impact on each party’s performance in next year’s mid-term elections.
The party holding the White House has lost seats in 10 of the last 12 mid-terms, going back to President Kennedy’s 1962 losses. Even in that year, with a 74% approval rating following the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy’s Democrats lost seats in the House. Historically, the public uses mid-term elections to correct for the perceived excesses of the party in power, while the absence of coattail effects may result in some seats reverting back to the party with the natural advantage in the district.
Would You Like Cheese With That Whine?
Sacramento lawmakers are unhappy with their jobs. Recent complaints by members of the Legislature include: People don’t appreciate them; solving problems is hard work; they don’t have the power they think they deserve; their retirement is mandated by term limits; there is no lucrative pension; and their pay is being cut – although they will remain the highest paid lawmakers in all 50 states at nearly $100,000 annually along with a car and another $30,000 a year in tax free expense money.
If lawmakers don’t like their jobs, their dissatisfaction is not nearly as strong as that of the general public. The October Field Poll showed the Legislature’s approval at a record low 13%.
“Who wants to grow up and be held in low esteem by 87% of the people and have to deal with the budget and not have a darned thing to say about it,” Assemblyman Juan Arambula told the Los Angeles Times.
Getting it right on fees
A recent editorial by the Sacramento Bee says unlimited fees on housing have no impact on its development or affordability. The Bee says that the efforts of local governments in the Sacramento area to reduce those fees (aka “construction costs”) so that more housing can be built isn’t really good policy and should be at best temporary.
Sheesh. I guess the Bee wants us to believe that costs don’t matter. Most Californians know better. They know, for example, that when gasoline goes from $2.50 a gallon to $2.85 a gallon it costs more to truck produce to the supermarket and, therefore, aren’t surprised when the price of lettuce goes up 15 percent.
Taking the analogy a step further, if enough customers start eating less salad, because buying lettuce for 15 percent more money doesn’t fit in their budgets, the supermarket’s lettuce orders go down, making the marginal cost of the gas hike much bigger for the supplier. If the cost gets too high, the supplier may not be able to economically truck the lettuce to the supermarket at all.