Governing at the Ballot Box

Grrr... Governor Herr Gropenfuhrer has decided to hold a special election. At a time when the state of California is suffering a massive deficit, the national economy is at best, lackluster, and we just got through an election in the fall, now we "must" have another election. It would be one thing if it was for a truly necessary reason, but the initiatives Schwarzenegger is pushing include the assignation of redistricting to a panel of retired judges; the limitation of budget spending and permitting the governor to make unilateral cuts; and changing from two to five years as the amount of time teachers must wait to obtain tenure. There may be a couple other initiatives, but this is the meat of it all.

Let's review: while I'm not a big fan of partisan redistricting, I'm also not a fan of just handing the job over to a panel which I assume will be appointed by the governor. Any way you look at it, you can't take partisan instincts out of the process. This isn't to say that I want California to be like Texas, where one party runs roughshod over another, but no matter the solution, politics will never be completely removed from the task of drawing legislative boundaries. In any event, if the proposed legislation passes, the changes won't be able to take place before 2008 at the earliest; that's just two years before the next census, when the population tallies will affect boundaries anyway. Why change them two or three times in between censuses?

The budget: while it would be nice to have governments that live within their means, it's not going to happen, and any attempts to institute "balanced" budgets or more control by one legislative arm over another is just phony, in my opinion. The real problem here isn't finding a balance: it's that Schwarzenegger doesn't seem to want to negotiate with the State Legislature, and California is hampered by a requirement that the budget can only pass with a 2/3rds majority-- something that is true for only a handful of states (I believe three states). Most states merely require a simple majority. This means the Republican legislators are able to hold an entire state hostage to their demands. It also means that both sides play politics with the money in order to achieve some sort of consensus on the budget, which is why I don't think this is a politically feasible solution. Finally, it isn't our job as citizens to regulate how the budget is created and passed; that's why WE elected these people, to do the job for us. It's pretty sad when they can't seem to do the job they're supposed to.

Finally, teacher tenure: this is such a stupid thing, really. An extra three years, fine. I'm sure most people won't have a problem with that. But is it really of such urgency that it has to be done NOW? Is it a piece of legislation that absolutely couldn't wait until the regular ballot just a year away, in 2006??

So far, I'm not impressed. I contacted Schwarzenegger's office at least twice, asking that he not institute the special election. The state supposedly has a deficit, so how are we expected to pay an additional $45 billion for an election that really could have waited another twelve months? Personally, I am extremely disappointed by Schwarzenegger's so-called bravado over this election. If he really wants this election so bad, maybe he should pay for it out of his own pocket. I'd be more than happy to help govern the state at the ballot box then.