Blog / The Business Perspective
It's Time to Turn Lemons into Lemonade in Sacramento
July 13, 2010
by Webmaster
It's Time to Turn Lemons into Lemonade in Sacramento
Summer reruns used to be limited to network television. Now, they've taken over California politics. The Legislature's decision to leave Sacramento without a budget deal and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's minimum wage declaration for state employees are both reruns of political battles past. If there was ever a time for thinking — and acting — differently, it's now.
With approval ratings at their lowest point in years, many of us hoped that this year would be different. Certainly, politics as usual is no longer working. The State still suffers from a chronic budget deficit and when you add the state pension crisis to the conversation, you have a scenario that is threatening California's future even after the economy improves. The tax reform commission's recommendations to reduce revenue volatility have been shelved without any real evaluation. And the vast majority of Republican and Democratic lawmakers remain stuck in their partisan corners, with each side exasperated with the other.
In talking to fellow Californians of all political stripes, the majority has simply lost hope in the current system's ability to keep us running — let alone innovating us well into this century. The quiet resignation is reflected in recent polls that Republican, Democratic and declined-to-state voters share many of the same feelings, even if they don't agree on the same solutions.
California's voters have contributed to this dysfunction, but are also best poised to approve structural improvements to Sacramento's gridlock. Voters already approved the "top-two" open primary (Proposition 14) in June and took away the state Legislature’s ability to choose its own voters through redistricting reform (Proposition 11) in 2008. We'll start seeing the benefits of those reforms in 2011 and 2012.
This summer is an opportunity for state lawmakers to demonstrate that they are capable of true reform as well. Gov. Schwarzenegger should stop this battle over minimum wage, which is a political distraction and unnecessarily hurts thousands of state workers.
At the same time, Democratic lawmakers should heed the Governor's call to include public pension reform as part of any budget deal. No responsible state budget is complete unless it addresses the single greatest financial threat to California's solvency.
And all lawmakers — Republican and Democrat — should immediately head back to Sacramento and stay there, working around the clock, until they reach something more than a duct-taped stop gap until the next fiscal year.
As an optimist, I am hoping for a revised script in the summer of reruns. One thing is certain — summer is the time to turn lemons into lemonade. And we are all thirsty.
And that’s The Business Perspective.
Comments
I agree wholeheartedly. The democratic process is partly about legislators staking out initial bargaining positions. But it is more about finding common ground, and figuring out what compromises and horse-trades need to be made in order to find an ultimate agreement that perhaps no one thinks is perfect, but is better than stalemate. Where is the legislative ability in our state legislature?
Posted by: Webmaster @ 4:18:00 pm
Very well written. I only wish that Sacramento would read it.
Posted by: John Kelsall @ 4:43:00 pm

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