A Solution to End Gridlock: Put it All on the Ballot
One argument made to persuade Republicans to provide the votes to put the tax extensions contained in Governor Jerry Brown’s budget on the ballot is that legislators should not prevent the people from deciding if they want to raise their own taxes.
Grover Norquist of the Americans for Tax Reform, the creator of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge signed by all Republicans save two, has said that even voting to place a tax on the ballot is tantamount to breaking the anti-tax pledge.
Others counter that if constituents want to express themselves on the tax increases and extensions then the people’s representatives should not stand in their way.
Would that argument also apply to other long-term budget fixes like a spending cap or pension reform? Shouldn’t the voters have their say on those as well?
So, here’s a solution to end the gridlock: Put it all on the ballot.
GOP Needs to Be Part of Budget Solution
There was only one sour note when Democrat Darrell Steinberg, the state Senate’s boss, bounced Republican Tom Berryhill from his post as chairman of the Senate Food and Agriculture Committee last week for telling reporters that the state budget “is really not our (Republicans’) problem.”
It should have been Republican Bob Dutton, the Senate minority leader, who slapped Berryhill upside the head.
The absolute last thing California Republicans need right now is to be seen as the party that really doesn’t care about the budget, the politicians who are perfectly content to sit back and just say no to whatever the Democrats come up with.
Picture Rome, Nero and a fiddle.
Ever since he was elected in November, Gov. Jerry Brown has been warning Californians that the only way out of the state’s financial mess is for everyone to pull together.
Time to Put the Brakes on Cars for Legislators
You’ve heard of government programs before. The U.N.’s “Oil for Food” Program, to name one government-subsidized program for the truly needy.
Does a Legislator qualify as a truly needy soul?
There is one program operating right here in California that I call “Cars for Legislators” which, despite criticism, is still guzzling up hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds every year. Governor Brown was right last week to take away the cell phones of non-essential State workers in order to save the state $20 Million; Governor Brown ought to put the brakes on cars for Legislators as well.
The SacBee’s Patrick McGreevy reported over the weekend that “newly-elected Luis Alejo, a Democrat, is taking delivery of a 2011 Ford Escape Hybrid, worth $37,269.” And the Democrats aren’t alone. Tim Donnelly, one of the Assembly’s most conservative new members – and a Tea Party darling at that – just took delivery of a brand-spankin’ new Ford Edge. (Don’t even get me started on Cathleen Galgiani’s new Ford Mustang — the visual there is just too much.)
Hardly a Transparent Budget
Jerry Brown is being applauded for bringing honesty to the California budget process. True, compared to his predecessor, his blunt talk is refreshing. (He abstains from using the word “fantastic” in every sentence). Also, he hasn’t minced words in describing the scope of the problem. But let’s deconstruct whether he has been entirely honest in his handling of the budget as well as the plan itself.
First, to the extent he was saying, “we had no idea it was this bad,” the reality is, yes he did. Everyone did. For years fiscal conservatives have warned about the impending disaster both in terms of overspending and the extraordinary level of debt being racked up by state, much of it consisting accounting maneuvers for the purpose of kicking the budget can down the road.
Second, during the campaign, he pointedly said that “everything is on the table.” But that’s not quite true either. His budget plan lacks any real reforms. Where is the pension reform? What will be done to blunt the power of the unions? What about more efficient ways to deliver public services? For example, why does California continue to spend twice the national average to incarcerate one prisoner for a year? The real answer to this is that he has refrained from putting anything “on the table” likely to anger the unions – the very interests that financed his campaign. (Sure, the unions will cry crocodile tears over the cuts, but there is nothing here that threatens their power).