Grover, Show Us Your Budget
I have a deep, dark confession to make: I like Grover
Norquist.
My good feeling is personal and
professional. As a reporter, I’ve talked to him several times over the years
about California politics. He always returned my phone calls promptly and
answered my questions in interesting, quotable ways. Last year, he agreed to
speak at an event on initiative and referendum that I helped organize in San
Francisco, holding up the right flank of a gathering that included people across
the political spectrum, from a host of libertarians to Tom Hayden, Mike Gravel
and some real, live European socialists. In that role, he was the perfect guest
– he showed up on time, spoke for his allotted time, said interesting and
provocative things, and made no demands of the overtaxed organizers.
Now that
said, let me be clear: I don’t agree with Grover politically. I’m quite sure he
votes for different people than I do most of the time. And I’m not a fan of how
he practices politics. I’m also not sure he’s doing anyone any favors,
including himself, by inserting himself into California’s ongoing fiscal and
governance nightmare.
Nevada, Arizona Not Immune From Economic Woes
Let’s return for a moment to those thrilling days of yesteryear, all the way back to, well, last year’s governor’s race.
For month after month, Republican Meg Whitman slammed Jerry Brown and the Democrats for what she argued was California’s dreadful business climate (Sure, the state had had a GOP governor for the previous seven years, but details, details).
Echoing Republican grumblings of years past, Whitman argued that California was bleeding jobs to business-friendly states like Arizona, Texas and Nevada, states with lower taxes, less environmental regulation, lower costs and generally better treatment of business types, both tycoons and entrepreneurs.
To hear Whitman and other Republicans talk, those states were the Promised Land for business, virtual Gardens of Eden for those American dreamers who wanted to create jobs and move this country back into a Golden Age of prosperity.
David Broder and the Initiative Process
David Broder inscribed my copy of his book on the initiative process, Democracy Derailed, to someone “who makes the system work.” The thing is, Broder did not like the system that he occasionally talked to me about — the initiative process. Broder, the national political writer for the Washington Post and dean of the Washington press corps, passed away at age 81 yesterday.
Broder was fascinated with the initiative process enough to write his book about it, which focused greatly on California. He was not a fan of the process. He chose to report the San Francisco Chronicle’s headline on the 20th anniversary of Proposition 13: DEMOCRACY GONE AWRY, instead of the Los Angeles Times’ 20th anniversary editorial comment: “Proposition 13 is 20 years old and it’s time to proclaim the tax-cutting measure a stunning success.”
He followed up a number of times with me listening to arguments about the process. One time sitting down with Los Angeles businessman and civic activist, David Abel and I, in Abel’s office after Abel chaired and I served on a state commission on the initiative process. But hearing the debate, he never wavered in his opposition to the initiative.
Bad Lawsuits Cost Good Jobs
I do not think anyone will disagree that California has been experiencing a pretty bad run for the pass few years and it looks like it will continue into 2013. Unless there are major changes, we’ll have deficits hovering at over $25 billion and unemployment at slightly above12% (nearly 20% in the Central Valley) for the next few years at least. Not suprisignly, there’s not a lot of confidence in the Legislature, so why is it that California’s legislators continue to encourage lawsuits that hurt job creation and business growth? California is one of the most litigious states in the country. More than 1.2 million civil lawsuits were filed in this state just last year.
No matter where you look- from our courts to our state legislature to the office of our attorney general – California chooses to create obstacles for employers and small businesses owners by encouraging more lawsuits. Other states like Nevada and Arizona are adopting policies that make their business climates more attractive. Abusive and predatory lawsuits are seriously impacting or forcing businesses out of this state.