Unions at End of Brown’s “Big Pipe”
Here’s what I got out of Jerry’s Brown press conference
yesterday: the public employee union position is currently prevailing in the
Horseshoe (the governor’s suite of offices.)
Governor Brown believes his spending cut and tax extension
plan should go on the ballot pretty much as is. Adding long-term budget fixes
like pension reform and spending limits would weigh down the ballot too much so
that all the measures, including taxes, might fall of their own weight.
The unions, of course, don’t want spending limits or pension
reforms and Brown doesn’t appear to want them on the ballot, either.
Let’s Caucus
The legislature now seems inclined to consolidate the 2012
presidential primary with the state primaries. In tough fiscal times, the money
saved by consolidation seems to outweigh the attention that the state might
gain from having a separate presidential primary. And the low turnout in the
2008 state primaries, which were separate from that year’s presidential
primary, was embarrassing.
For those
reasons, one primary is probably better than two. But consolidation isn’t the
only option. In fact, there is a proven election format that would spare the
state a separate presidential primary while still providing us a boost of
public attention from the national media and candidates.
The caucus.
Yes, I’m talking about the same
sort of presidential caucus used by Iowa. Voters gather in one place for a
couple of hours to decide, face to face, how to divide up presidential
delegates in their area. Such caucuses are usually associated with smaller
states, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen in California.
Cuts Ahead For State’s Many Regulations
Cross-posted at CalWatchdog.
California leads the country in regulatory laws. It’s nothing to be proud of. While other states mock California’s businesses representatives at national industry meetings for the crazy laws and regulations, California’s businesses owners and employees are paying the price with business and job losses.
Tired of temporary fixes, Sen. Sam Blakeslee and representatives from the Assembly and Senate formed the E3 Roundtable in an effort to achieve meaningful, structural regulatory reform.
Yesterday the E3 held its first meeting of the new year and invited several representatives of the business community to speak about the burden of overregulation, and the impediments to doing business in the state.
Blakeslee said the goal is not to prohibit regulations, but to reform the process in which rules and regulations are developed so that regulations better achieve the intended objectives, in a well-designed manner that is also protective of jobs and the state’s economy.
What’s the Deal, Governor?
Let’s say you and I make a deal. If you agree to move into my not-so-great neighborhood and be a good citizen, I’ll give you something in return. For example, I’ll pay all your utility bills for 15 years.
Now, let’s say you decide to take a chance and you move your family. Over time, you and the other folks who took me up on my deal work to improve your new neighborhood, to make something of it.
But a few years later, I show up and say, “Ummm, you know, this arrangement is costing me money. Deal’s off.”
Now you could say, “Wait right there. You’re backstabbing me. We made a deal, and a deal should be a deal.”
You could – you should – argue that you’re the one who took a chance and moved your family. You and the others who accepted the deal are the ones who worked to improve my iffy neighborhood. The least you should get is your free utilities for the rest of the 15-year term. That was the deal, after all.