From the Gubernatorial Candidates on the Budget: ‘No Comment’
Californians following the governor’s race through the media think the choice is between one candidate who doesn’t read her mail and another who doesn’t know how to hang up the telephone.
If the candidates have generated no more light than that on who they are and what they will do once in office, whose fault is that?
Is it the media who revel in covering controversy? Is it the candidates who prefer to argue about these matters rather than the complexities of modern-day California government? Or is it the voters who would want to make their choices on character issues rather than trying to decide which candidate is right or wrong on policy?
Can We Elect Meg’s Money?
Are you sold on Meg Whitman as a governor? Me neither. The state needs big change, and her campaign has offered stale plans and over-the-top political attacks.
There’s not much hope in Meg.
But one must have high hopes for Meg’s money.
Yes, the billionaire candidate has spent north of $100 million. But there’s much, much more where that came from. And so, while Meg doesn’t inspire me, her money does.
CARB Errors Sad Symbol of California
The accounting errors, omissions and misdeeds of the California Air Resources Board are the truest symbol of where California’s government stands today.
Our state’s government lacks leadership, truth, transparency and accountability. Everywhere we look in Sacramento these virtues are in desperately short supply After months of battling the many transgressions of the California Air Resources Board, the deal reached between industry and CARB seems to indicate that honesty and facts can and does still have a place in government decision making – but only when the stakeholders are prepared to fight tooth and nail for it.
As CEO of an organization representing hundreds of California contractors subject to CARB regulations, we watched in wonder and awe as zeal replaced science while billions of dollars were spent, perhaps in vain. Again and again, our industry’s reward for attempting to insert a voice of reason was rewarded with the label of obstructionist and abusers of the environment and public health.
Manufacturers ‘fact-check’ Boxer’s commitment to manufacturing jobs
Barbara Boxer decried the loss of manufacturing jobs to other states and other countries, but the exodus of American manufacturing jobs has much to do with her job-killing policies that have made it harder and more costly for manufacturers to operate in the United States.
Boxer voted for more than $1 trillion in higher taxes, she voted for a health care bill that actually jeopardizes the benefits manufacturers offer our employees and she championed a cap-and-trade bill that threatened to kill 850,000 jobs in just five years. Boxer also voted against the free trade agreements that would have helped open up new markets for our country’s manufacturing companies. Barbara Boxer’s newfound interest in fighting for manufacturers is the epitome of election-year pandering, and California manufacturers simply won’t stand for it.