The Real Jerry Brown Issue
Meg Whitman is getting it wrong. Her attacks on Jerry Brown are sporadic, unfocused and in many cases just downright untrue. She is trying to define him as a traditional tax and spend liberal, but that dog won’t hunt.
The state budget increased by 120 percent while Brown was governor (1975-1982), says a Whitman website; well, budgets increased 120 percent while Ronald Reagan was governor (1967-1975). As governor, Brown wanted to raise $7 billion in new taxes, she says. Not true, wrote Ed Salzman, then editor of the California Journal, in a 1982 summary of the Brown years.
"Ronald Reagan left Brown in a fiscal Fat City (in 1975), with a healthy surplus and a tax structure that far outpaced the state’s needs. Brown guarded that surplus in his first term, fighting off those who would increase spending."
Scandal Surrounding the California Air Resources Board
Many
politicians and pundits pin the economic travails of the State of
California upon our tax rates. However, my experience leads me to
believe that the number one cause for the economic malaise of our once
great State emanates from our regulatory climate. Here is but one
example.
It is most unfortunate that few Californians are aware of the
scandal surrounding the California Air Resources Board (CARB). CARB
has been in the process of establishing a Diesel Engine Rule that will
require all engines in the State of CA to be replaced twice in the next
ten years.
The fiscal impact of this rule can easily cost the
California economy in excess of $40 billion. It will impact trucking,
construction, and farming, as these industries rely heavily upon diesel
engines. Is the expense for this rule justified?
On Mehlman: A Modest Solution to the Closeted GOP Official Problem
The case of Ken Mehlman, the former Republican National Committee chairman who has just revealed that he’s gay, poses a dilemma for the political and journalistic classes.
Mehlman presided over a party that exploited homophobia for political gain in races all over the country. The dilemma is: what punishment did he deserve and when did he deserve it?
Mehlman has been embraced by many, and he’s now working on the effort to overturn Prop 8. Some critics, however, say he deserves criticism and political ostracism for his past use of anti-gay feeling as a tactic. Some have even argued that anyone who knew of his sexuality should have exposed it – and that the media and political opponents should expose the personal lives of similar closet cases. But others say outing is wrong, even in such cases.
Impact of Oil Tax Doesn’t Sink In
Little
moments can say a lot.
I
experienced one such little moment a few weeks ago when John Perez, the speaker
of the California Assembly, stopped by the Business Journal to talk about the
state budget. He explained that one of the Democrats’ big proposals is to
impose a new tax on oil pumped out of the ground in California. He said it figures to be roughly
9.9 percent.
"Nine-point-nine
percent of what?" I asked.