Author: Brendan Huffman

Since nobody in Sacramento is accepting responsibility for the state’s
fiscal disaster, I will. I am not a state officeholder or government
employee. I am just a small business owner, husband, and father of two in
the San Fernando Valley. I pay my taxes, and I do my best to support local
businesses.

So, why should I accept responsibility for the state’s ongoing fiscal
problems that resulted in a near meltdown this year? What do I have to do
with teachers being laid off and seniors losing in-home support services
while our taxes increase?

The reason is that, as a voter in every state election since 1988, I have
voted for several items that I should have studied more carefully before I
bought into the hype and voted with my heart instead of my brain.

I have let you down, California, and I apologize.

Two things keep going through my mind following the State Supreme Court’s upholding of Prop. 8. First is the good news that Ted Olson has taken a leading role on behalf of same-sex couples. Second is that my gay friends who have kids are more qualified to parent than I am.

Ted Olson, whose conservative credentials are impeccable, must be deleting thousands of nasty emails in his in-box this week from folks who adhere to the religious wing of the GOP. He deserves a medal, though, for being a Republican and a conservative who embraces the true meaning of both.

The media hastily refer to Mr. Olson as the lead attorney in Bush vs. Gore 2000. Rarely, do reporters mention he was also President Bush’s solicitor general and was narrowly overlooked for Supreme Court nominations in favor of John Roberts and Sam Alito. Think how interesting Ted Olson on the Supreme Court would be right now!

On Monday night, several lawmakers could be overheard in the Southwest Terminal in Sacramento saying that layoffs are eminent as are tax hikes and more spending cuts. (They were assuming that the budget reform initiatives were going to fail the next day—and they were proven right!).

Sadly, we don’t hear more about improving our business climate to generate new tax revenues and to reverse unemployment trends. So, here is a quick list of ideas for more than a handful of legislators to consider:

· Give manufacturers more incentives to operate in California, particularly in areas where large employers have gone out of business (i.e. auto dealerships).

· Provide employers some help in creating jobs instead of downsizing their workforces.

· Take another big step in protecting employers from lawsuits that are unheard of in almost every other state.

I cannot remember the last time the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office scored a murder conviction of a celebrity. And neither can longtime D.A. spokesperson Sandi Gibbons. “I know there has not been one in the last 40 years,” she commented after the verdicts in the Phil Spector trial were read.

This is a huge win for D.A. Steve Cooley, a Republican who is serving a third term. Incumbent D.A.s are often defeated by challengers in their own offices in the midst of courtroom losses. The circuses surrounding the trials of OJ Simpson and Rampart officers hurt Gil Garcetti’s chances for a third term after he had coasted to an easy victory over incumbent Ira Reiner. Mr. Reiner had been hurt by the outcomes in the McMartin pre-school trials.

Cooley’s office has also had some losses, such as the acquittal of Robert Blake, but his public integrity unit has earned him widespread praise for weeding out corruption in some of the county’s smaller cities. In fact, Cooley is the first L.A. County D.A. to be elected to a third term since Buron Fitts in 1936.

Surely, the public officials who are recommending the immediate sale of such state properties as the L.A. Memorial Coliseum and San Quentin Prison are aware of the real estate bust!

Who do they think has that kind of money to buy anything these days? Couldn’t the state sell at a higher price if we waited until the market recovers in a few years? Well, the taxpayers could, but under term limits, lawmakers cannot wait. They need the money now before they are termed out of office.

Instead, the state should examine leasing these valuable assets so that long term revenue streams could provide fiscal stability and prevent lawmakers from spending all the revenues at once.

Among my many pet peeves are my neighbors who let their sprinklers run when it’s raining or water the sidewalks instead of their lawns. Too many Angelenos waste water.

So it should come as no surprise that the L.A. Dept of Water & Power (LADWP) Board of Commissioners voted last week to impose penalties on homeowners who do not reduce their water consumption by 15%.

As someone intimately familiar with the state’s water situation and the need for greater conservation, I am not opposed to this new policy. I don’t love it, mind you, but this plan is far better than mandatory rationing, which was also on the table. I can do a lot more to cut my water bill, and this vote along with Michelle Obama’s green thumb inspired my family to consider replacing more of our lawn with a vegetable garden, if not a cactus or rock garden.

The first two rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament make for the most exciting weekend in all of sports. I love March Madness, especially when small colleges get their 15 seconds of fame by taking powerhouse programs down to the wire.

This year, President Obama has made things even more interesting with his picks. He obviously knows more about college basketball than us Pac-10 followers who cried we were underrated.

Yet, it’s hard to remember that this is college basketball, particularly when the academic performance of so many schools is unacceptable.

According to the latest study from the Institute for Diversity & Ethics in Sports (TIDES), only 63% of the tournament teams graduated half or more of their student athletes. And the authors are calling this good news because it’s better than last year!

There are a lot of reasons why we as voters and taxpayers are subjected to the annual state budget stalemate. Like the sequels to the 1984 hit movie “Police Academy”, they are getting harder and harder to sit through.

Surely, term limits is a big part of the problem, and we have heard almost every argument in support of either extending term limits or eliminating them altogether. But there is a fresher argument against term limits that helps to reinforce the lack of accountability in the state legislature.

Let’s call it the “Bucket List” theory. Remember that Rob Reiner flick a couple years ago about two terminally ill men who escape from a cancer ward intent on living life to the fullest before they die? I never saw it, but I heard it was good from someone I don’t remember. Regardless, the analogy works in Sacramento, too.

The other day, while sitting in rush hour traffic, I looked around and noticed several drivers talking on their cell phones or texting while they waited for the opportunity to move forward a few feet.

Then in struck me—too many vehicular laws designed to enhance safety are completely ignored and almost impossible to enforce.

After reaching this conclusion, I asked a police officer friend about enforcing the new ban on texting while driving. “It’s very hard,” he said. “To actually catch someone in the act, you almost have to be in their car watching them to prove that they weren’t just looking for a phone number to call.”
So there’s your alibi (at least in this particular jurisdiction): just explain that you were trying to locate a phone number in your mobile device.

What about citing drivers who talk on their phones without the required hands free apparatus? “That’s easier to enforce, but often there are other crimes taking place that take priority,” commented my friend in blue. “Also, the driver can say that the conversation was on speaker.”