OK,
maybe I was wrong. In fact, after much careful thought, I’m sold.
I’m willing to take Darrell
Steinberg at his word. And Speaker John
Perez. And Treasurer
Bill Lockyer. And top Democratic lawyer Lance
Olson. And the President
of the California Federation of Teachers. And the Los
Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle and other wise
editorialists advise me to relax and not worry. I now believe them all.

Their
conclusions: Prop 25 will not lower the legislative vote requirement for tax
increases from 2/3rds to a simple majority. And Prop 25 will not undermine
the
people’s recourse to a referendum.

Indeed,
the proponents helpfully point out that a Court
of Appeal ruled that ”nothing in (Prop 25’s) substantive provisions
would allow the Legislature to circumvent the existing constitutional
requirement of a two-thirds vote to raise taxes."

So
where does that leave us?

Gov.-elect Jerry Brown said Wednesday that Meg Whitman called him to concede and offered to do whatever she could to help him and California. When a reporter asked Brown if he wanted her help, he made a crack about how her money could help fill the state budget.

Funny, but Brown should take her offer seriously and give her a real task.

There’s one that fits her resume, and might result in a good outcome for the state and for Whitman.

That job?

Fix the damn computers.

California’s technology systems are failing to perform basic tasks. Controller John Chiang has said that computers are so broken that he can’t adjust payroll without creating problems. And on election night, the California Secretary of State’s system crashed. This is basic stuff that needs to be fixed.

As Democrats swept all Statewide seats last night (with the exception of one still being counted as of publication time), Republicans were left stunned wondering what went wrong. While the experts’ final analysis will no doubt emerge in the coming days, I think it can be boiled down to one simple sentiment: Voters went with the devil they know.

How else can you explain why voters elected to Governor a career politician who has been in politics for 40 years? How else can you explain that voters heard repeatedly in the final days leading up to Election that the former Governor “lights out” Gray Davis was heading up a Jerry Brown transition team – yet they still cast a vote for Jerry Brown?

It’s the devil they know.

You cannot underestimate a human being’s fear of the unknown. It’s why people stay in jobs they hate. It’s why the abused woman stays with her abuser. Fear of the unknown.

Congratulations to the once and future governor, Jerry Brown.

With Brown capturing the governorship, on top of the Barbara Boxer win in the US Senate, the legislature staying solidly in the hands of the Democrats and Proposition 25 passing to require a majority vote budget, the Democrats and public unions had a big night and got much of what they wanted.

With the Democrats firmly in control, Brown will now have to lead the state in a “breakthrough” of it fiscal difficulties, as the governor-elect put it. However, he faces some big obstacles in his path.

During the campaign, I heard many times that Brown would be in position to fulfill the role of Nixon going to China – in other words, Brown was the only one who could stand up to the budget pressures created by the powerful public employee unions. The big question is can he convince the unions to make changes, and how hard will he try, given their important role in his victory. The unions for their part will begin the drumbeat for more taxes in the shadow of the win on Proposition 25.

Well, that was a good way to blow 140 million dollars. The Meg Whitman campaign will go down as one of the worst in California history, blowing a springtime lead and managing to lose in a massive Republican landslide year.

But that’s what you get when you hire Mike Murphy as chief strategist, as Whitman did. Last we saw of Murphy he had ruined the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 2005 special election. Schwarzenegger’s defeat in that election was so thorough he had to all but become a Democrat to survive in office.

But nevertheless, there he was running Whitman’s effort. But he seems not to have understood the most basic law of modern politics: when you have an illegal alien problem, you get it out; you don’t wait for Gloria Allred to do it for you.

Congratulations to the World Series Champion San Francisco Giants!

Perhaps the Giants victory signifies the beginning of the turnaround for California. After all, California finally beat Texas. One can only hope.

But is the Giants victory also a way for another underdog, Meg Whitman, to pull off an upset win in her version of a World Series?

Here’s the theory. With the Giants capturing the World Series, Giants fans in San Francisco and environs go into joyous celebration. Being San Francisco, the partying lasts through the night. Groggy, many citizens of the City by the Bay barely make it to work and struggle through the day. One thing they don’t do is vote!

With voting in the Democratic stronghold suppressed, Whitman and her fellow Republicans pull ahead in the voting.

Depending upon which poll you read, the races for statewide offices and ballot initiatives are in statistical dead heats today. Which means it’s anyone’s game.

Speaking of games, the Giants clenched the World Series last night. Sure, seems natural now that they’ve done it. But let’s rewind a few days, even weeks.

When the Giants went to the playoffs against the Atlanta Braves a few weeks ago, experts said they wouldn’t make it. They said the Braves were a well-organized, establishment team that would be hard to beat. But we did it anyway.

When the Giants proceeded to the semi-finals against the Phillies, sports pundits said the Phillies had the spunk and the talent to whoop the Giants. Even Giants fans took pause, saying we could never beat the Phillies at home. We beat them anyway.

The Port of Long Beach is viewed by the international trade community as one of the better managed ports in the United States. It is blessed with an extremely talented and hard working management team and a harbor commission that takes its role and responsibilities seriously. In addition, under the City Charter, the Port has historically been at an arms length distance from the City, insulating it from the roller coaster of everyday City Hall politics. As a result, the Port of Long Beach has an enviable record of success.

Unfortunately for the Port and the community of Long Beach, all that may change on November 2nd.

With little debate and no analysis, the City Council rushed an amendment to the City Charter onto the November 2nd ballot. “Measure D” will take hundreds of millions of dollars away from the Port and give it to the City. Measure D was crafted by the Long Beach City Council without analysis or review even by their own harbor commissioners and professional port staff – let alone by the general public and other stakeholders. At the same time, the City Council blasted the Long Beach harbor commission for not agreeing to an earlier version of the measure.

Cross posted at www.calwatchdog.com

Apparently the ideological left, public employment unions and some the state’s top financial officials still don’t get that we have a public employee unfunded pension liability crisis, or they are just in denial.

Late last month, I attended the Milken Institute’s annual “State of the State” conference a usually lively event featuring in depth discussion of the biggest challenges facing the state and sometimes-innovative ideas hosted by one of the state’s most recognizable left-of-center think tanks. Topics discussed ranged from the 2010 gubernatorial election to California innovation to the housing boom and subsequent collapse.