The Tax Extension Election: Why it’s an Uphill Battle
The voters may have a simple way of resolving the state budget crisis: do away with state government. That’s a conclusion you can take from an unusual survey of opinions on government conducted for California Forward by Viewpoint Learning and released last week.
The survey looked at voter opinions of the various levels of government. Virtually without exception, respondents had more faith in local government to fix problems than state government. But neither level did particularly well. The survey asked how good a job STATE government was doing making California a good place to live: 21 percent said excellent or good; 75 percent said fair or poor. When asked about LOCAL government, the numbers were 36 percent excellent and good; 60 percent fair and poor.
When given 12 factors that kept state government from working well, too much “bureaucracy, waste and fraud” ranked first with 72 percent saying this was a big problem. It was followed by “political leaders don’t listen to regular people” (67 percent) and “elected officials aren’t held accountable for their action” (66 percent).
Politics and the Inconvenient Facts
Last week, my colleagues and I released our latest analysis
of school expenditures in California (click
here for the study), detailing the spending patterns in school districts
across the state. As is often the case
when a piece of research strikes at the heart of a group’s political
agenda, Peter Schrag’s column in the California
Progress Report this week attacking that study is a classic example of
politics trying to divert attention from the inconvenient facts.
When Peter contacted me last week, I spent the better part
of an hour explaining to him our methodology and the reasons why it was the
best approach to accurately reflect and describe the changes in school
expenditures in California. While it is
clear he disagreed with our analysis, his response was not to engage in an open
debate over the major issues at the heart of our study, but rather to
regurgitate a politically-driven analysis of the study prepared by consultants paid
to spin the results to fit the agenda of the education establishment.
Life Without Term Limits May Attract Bowen
You think it’s the weather?
For the second time in less than 18 months, one of California’s top elected officials is looking to jump ship in Sacramento in for the bright lights and freezing winters of Washington, D.C.
This time it’s Secretary of State Debra Bowen, whose political consultant told the Sacramento Bee that the veteran Democratic officeholder is “very, very seriously considering running for Congress” to replace Rep. Jane Harman.
When someone says “very” twice, you know it must be serious.
Harman, a centrist Democrat who is resigning to take over as president of Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, represents the 36th Congressional District The Los Angeles district runs from San Pedro north to Marina del Rey, which Bowen represented as an assemblywoman and state senator.
A smart regulatory-making process will generate California revenue
Last week we heard about California’s budget crisis in Gov. Jerry Brown’s 20-minute State of the State address.
While Gov Brown stuck to state budget details in a brief 20-minute address, the regulatory crisis movement is gaining momentum as a realistic solution to revenue shortfalls here and across the country.
For example: