March 24, 2010
California Commentary
Steinberg's Fake Reforms
by Jan Coupal
Fake. Faux. Pretend. Bogus.
Phony. There are a lot of words
in the English language to
describe something that which
is represented as something it is
not.
With all the very real problems
facing California today, one
would think that our state
Legislature would enact real
reforms. Regrettably, however,
the majority party continues
to pursue fake reforms which
probably helps to explain the
institution's dismal 16% approval
rating.
First, given that California
can't seem to break the habit
of spending more money than
we receive in taxes, more
attention is finally being paid
to "oversight." Oversight of
existing programs is routine in
more fiscally responsible states
like Utah and Texas, but barely
gets a nod here in the Golden
State. True, the State Auditor
has received praise for trying
to implement the agency's
mission "to ensure the effective
and efficient administration and
management of public funds and
programs." But expecting that
office to adequately address all
the waste, fraud and abuse in
California state government is
like expecting a BB gun to take
down a rhino.
So along come Senate leader
Darrell Steinberg who has
created - at taxpayers' expense,
of course - his own Office of
Oversight and Outcomes. Talk
about the fox guarding the
henhouse. Steinberg, who
represents a district covering
much of Sacramento, an area
laden with large numbers of public
employees, first goes after the
effectiveness of the Governor's
furlough program. While there
are some legitimate questions
about the furloughs, they hardly
represent a significant share
of the waste in government.
Columnist Dan Waiters points out
that there is massive waste in the
administration and management
of CalPERS that is likely to cost
taxpayers hundreds of billions of
. dollars. As Waiters writes, "when
the Legislature stops wasting
taxpayer- financed time on trivia
and bores into the CalPERS
debacle, maybe we'll take its
'oversight' seriously." Amen.
The second fake reform
pursued by Mr. Steinberg involves
the budget process. He blames
a 76-year-old law requiring a two-
, thirds vote of the Legislature to
approve a budget for lawmakers'
recent inability to pass a budget
by the constitutional deadline of
June 15 each year. Steinberg is
urging his colleagues to place on
the ballot a measure -- based on
one that has been promoted as
an initiative by former Assembly
Speaker Bob Hertzberg -- to
eliminate the supermajority
requirement.
Hertzberg, never considered
an ally of the taxpayers, was
promoting the elimination of
the two-thirds vote through his
California Forward Committee,
claiming his proposal had bi-
partisan support. However, the
response was underwhelming.
He was unable to raise nearly
enough money to gather the
signatures to place his proposal
on the ballot, so he has passed
the baton to Steinberg.
Steinberg wants the public to
see this measure as "reform," but
it is actually an effort to make it
easier to spend more money and
to increase the pressure to raise
taxes.
Sure, a budget could be
approved quickly with a simple
majority vote. But at what
cost? Since the concerns of
the minority party could be
ignored, the majority would ram
through 'whatever they wanted
without debate. The minority
party, regardless of which party
is in that position at any given
time, still represents millions of
Californians whose concerns
deserve consideration.
Steinberg is engaging in
political theater. He knows
he needs a two-thirds vote of
the Legislature to place this
constitutional ch.ange on the
ballot and he is not going to get it.
And if Steinberg's proposal
were to reach the ballot, voters
would quickly recognize that it is
not reform, it is just an effort to
grease the skids to make it easier
to carry on business as usual.
Instead of posturing as a
reformer, why doesn't the Senate
leader push his colleagues to
focus on the real issues facing
California, like high taxes and
a hostile business climate?
Instead, lawmakers have been
hard at work declaring a "No
Cussing Week" and renaming
the Legislative Office Building.
If not distracted by trivial
legislation, lawmakers could
implement the number one
reform taxpayers would like to
see: Legislators rolling up their
sleeves and focusing on making
California a more livable state.
That would be a real change.
Jan Coupal is president of
the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers
Association - California's largest
grass-roots taxpayer organization
dedicated to the protection of
Proposition 13 and the advancement
of taxpayers' rights.
by Linda Thistle
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DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: *
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Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way
that each row across, each column down and
each small 9-box square contains all of the
numbers from one to nine.
* Moderate ** Challenging
**. HOO BOY!
© 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.
The Julian News 13
Clowns For Haiti
continued from page 8
those needs next week. CWB
has been invited to join PSF
starting in March. We will send
volunteer artists from the USA to
partner with Spanish clowns in
Jacmel, Les Cayes and around
Port au Prince. In late March
CWB will send medical clowns
with a team from Boston to the
northern city of Cap Haitian to
perform and provide support at
makeshift tent clinics that are
serving thousands of displaced
and injured children from Port au
Prince.
This is just the beginning - In
the past, we have learned that
by arriving in a community and
performing a show or two leads
to tidal waves of the "word of
mouth effect." Other community
organizations hear about ourwork
and invite us to perform and give
workshops for the children and
the community. We anticipate
our efforts in March and early
April to do the same, perhaps
even on a larger scale now that
informal camps are springing up
all over the countryside with the
million-plus homeless Haitians.
At CWB we are strategically
preparing for multiple trips and
projects from Jacmel to Les
Cayes, from Port au Prince to
Cap Haitian with our partners
in Haiti. We are also seeking
volunteers from such esteemed
groups as the Big Apple Circus
Clown Care@ program to help
us provide the best hospital
clowning we can.
Your continued financial
support will make this happen - In
trying to meet the requests of our
partners in Haiti, CWB is facing
a new demand for volunteers
and funds, much larger than the
demands we have experienced
before. We need your assistance
through donations to help meet
the needs of our partners in Haiti.
Your tax-deductible donations
will enable us to send multiple
Clowns Without Borders groups
to Haiti over the coming year and
beyond.
We dream of supporting those
displaced and traumatized by the
earthquakes that have left over
2001000 people dead. We hope
to bring shows and workshops
to children of all ages in Haiti
and with that, we plan to train
Haitian artists in the circus arts
so that when CWB departs,
there will remain the capacity
to experience joy and laughter
through community performance.
Our goals are lofty; you can
help us achieve them.
Yours Truly,
Tim Cunningham
CWB USA Board President
To make a donation to Clowns
Without Borders Project Haiti
please send a check with Project
Haiti in the memo to:
Clowns Without Borders
P.O. Box 460523
San Francisco, CA 94146
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comer
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© Heard On The Streets Of Julian ©
by Eric Stamets
Top Ten Reasons To Live In Julian
-- King Crossword --
Artswer5
Solution time: 25 mins.
10. You love to drive.
9. You're too used to calling the recycling center the dump.
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7. Morning rush hour consists of about 10 minutes at the high
school parking lot.
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you're there. To--p
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30 Kreskin's
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35 Lair
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8 Deadly
9 It may
include a
Reasons Not To
Live In Julian
1
10. (Weekdays only) You get
tired of waving at someone you
know in just about every car that
passes.
9. Your post office box is too
30 close to the floor.
__ 8. None of your vehicles have
four-wheel drive.
-- 7. Both grocery stores and the
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6. It's too far to walk to get to
the back fence and talk with your
neighbor.
Alternately - You keep getting
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street.
5. It's too bright for your eyes to
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© 2010 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
need delivery pair of aces
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DOWN measure
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47 Trail behind 5 Smooth- 25 Spy-novel
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© 2010 King Features Synd,, Inc.
37 Soap opera,
e.g.
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Boy" author
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town
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city
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that
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vowels
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here. World dghts reserved.
3. You opened a gift store
Weekly SUDOKU --
and thought you would retire a
Answer
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