Certain images and situations developing around the world recently directly and indirectly play on the politics in the nation-state of California.
Already involved directly in the governor’s race are the troubles of investment firm, Goldman Sachs. Meg Whitman’s stint on the Goldman Sachs board and her involvement in the financial process known as “spinning” has given fodder for the Poizner campaign to deliver sharp attacks. The Goldman Sachs saga has also touched Democratic candidate Jerry Brown for inroads the financial firm had with the City of Oakland when Brown was mayor, and Brown’s sister Kathleen’s working relationship with Goldman Sachs.
Expect to hear the name Goldman Sachs bounced around in campaign ads and mailers over the next five months.
The oil spill threatening the Gulf Coast states will undercut the effort to move forward with drilling at Tranquillon Ridge off of Santa Barbara. While Governor Schwarzenegger initially stated he would continue to pursue the goal of drilling at T-Ridge despite the spill, resistance clearly stiffened against the project because of the massive spill. The governor announced yesterday he was pulling his support for the T-Ridge project.
The Arizona immigration law could play a role in California elections. This past weekend, Los Angeles Times reporter Cathleen Decker suggested the Arizona law would bring back strains on the Republican Party that Proposition 187 created with Latino voters when the anti-illegal immigration law passed in 1994.
However, Decker had a warning for Democrats. “Democrats, being Democrats, could certainly turn the gift horse into a nag by appearing to pander too much.”
The immigration issue will take center stage in the political world during the coming political season.
Farther afield, solutions to financial problems in Europe could have meaning here in California. Greece hangs on by its financial fingertips and other European nations worry about financial collapse. In an effort to head off the crisis, Greece, as well as France, are looking to modify their governments’ relationships with public employees. Besides considering benefit cuts to public sector workers, the nations’ governments are pushing plans for public workers to put off retirement until later in life.
Similar proposals on altering public sector workers’ benefits have been made to deal with California’s difficult fiscal situation. The reaction to the European proposals, and their success or failure, could well be a precursor to what happens in California.
State politics are often interwoven with national and international events and this week was a clear reminder of that.