Blaming California Voters When They Should be Confronting Public Employee Unions
If you want an example to buttress Mitt Romney’s point that Democrats are the “Party of government“, just follow the reaction of California politicians to the the landslide defeat of their budget-boasting proposals on the state’s ballot earlier this week. In contrast to Governor Schwarzenegger who seemed chastened by the results*, a leading Golden State Democrat is blaming the voters.
House Speaker Karen Bass said that we’re just tired and misinformed:
. . . it was really clear that voters were giving us a very specific message– This is too complicated. We don’t want to vote on it. We are fatigued with the number of elections we’ve had especially special elections and we want you to go back to Sacramento and resolve this.
She’s partially right. We do want our state legislators to resolve this; we want them to make tough choices and cut the budget. We prefer cuts in services to higher taxes. In short, we want them to do their job instead of passing the buck onto us.
It’s not just Democratic legislators who don’t like what the voters have said by exercising their franchise. Hugh alerts us to this headline in the Los Angeles Times: California voters exercise their power — and that’s the problem.
Our power’s not the problem. The real problem is the power of the public employee unions. Officials in Sacramento are going to have to do more than cut the salaries of “the governor, attorney general, controller, all legislators and other top elected state officials” an by 18%. They’re going to have to offer an across-the-board pay cut for all state employees while reducing the size of the state bureaucracy to its pre-Gray Davis number. But, that would mean facing a confrontation with those unions.
It seems our politicians and liberal pundits are blaming the voters rather than focusing their ire on the state employees whose salaries we pay.
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We prefer cuts in services to higher taxes.
Oh really?
From the LA times:
…a recent Field Poll. It found that voters oppose cutbacks in 10 of 12 major categories of state spending, including the biggest, education and healthcare.
Comment by torrentprime — May 21, 2009 @ 5:26 pm - May 21, 2009
Dan, not to mention the fact that the SacBee (the Sacramento Bee, for those of you in Rio Linda and Port St. Lucie) created an editorial that criticized voters for defeating those ballot initiatives.
However, after the paperreceived numerous complaints in the comments section at its website, the original piece was removed and replaced with one blaming CA’s elected officials.
I kid you not.
For those of you who want to know more, here you go:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/05/21/california-paper-bashes-anti-tax-hike-voters-then-scrubs-it
Bias? What liberal media bias?
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — May 21, 2009 @ 5:35 pm - May 21, 2009
Meh, I am pretty sure if a public poll asked questions like “Should health care for illegal immigrants be cut?” “Should public employees be entitled to gold-plated pension systems unavailable in the private sector?” “Should bad teachers be kept employed regardless of competence” and “Should schools cut non-essential services and programs and focus on the basics,” the results of turpentine’s poll would be rather different.
Comment by V the K — May 21, 2009 @ 6:09 pm - May 21, 2009
But they WONT. I don’t know the specifics of Californians spending, but I do know Democrats. They will NOT make responsible, tough choices, they will make irresponsible, dishonest political choices designed to force the public to recant.
They will absolutely refuse to cut their pet projects and instead cut the most visible, vital services claiming they have no choice. They have already signaled their intent to sell popular landmarks. Meanwhile, stem cell research and handouts to illegal immigrants will go untouched. Does California have a needle exchange program? Give grants to ACORN and frivolous gay groups? Those will remain sacrosanct while Democrats claim they are left no choice but to let prisoners out of jail and take little old ladies off life support…. that sort of thing.
Here in Washington, Democrats have built and funded a multi-million dollar condo complex for wino’s (they still pass out in the gutter in front of it). Funding for that was never even considered as a possible cut, while Democrats claimed there wasn’t enough money for police and fire departments.
Republicans in California have an incredible opportunity if they can effectively expose the corruption, cronyism and blatant dishonesty that Democrats in California are guaranteed to engage in.
Show Californians how Democrats protect their frivolous pet projects while slashing funding for more necessary functions of government and the people of California, might, just might begin to wake up.
Comment by American Elephant — May 21, 2009 @ 7:39 pm - May 21, 2009
torrent: there are two arguments here:
1: Just because someone has a “need” is, by itself, not a justification for a government service. 2: Government at all levels is spending more than ever and California’s government is the most expensive of all.
I’m pleased that the these props lost but voters at some point will have to confront the reality that there is no free lunch (not to mention some of the political hot potatoes like immigration).
Now if we’d just start voting people like Karen Bass out of office…
Comment by SoCalRobert — May 21, 2009 @ 8:13 pm - May 21, 2009
I think that Californians (we are from San Diego) are just displaying the problem. A few years ago they voted down every measure that Schwarzenegger put in front of them to give him tools to fight the unions. Now, voters want government cuts, but would probably vote down any attempts to seriously cut government. Our generation is showing an insane desire to have more government without any of the consequences. This is what happens when you have liberals in charge: there are no adults to point out that painful consequences are PAINFUL. We need to raise revenue so that we don’t pass these shocking deficits along to our kids AND eliminate MUCH government so that we don’t pass along this totalitarian regime along to our kids. In other words, we need to lower taxes to stimulate business while cutting services at the same time. That is a politically unfeasible sell to most people.
Comment by Carolynp — May 21, 2009 @ 9:55 pm - May 21, 2009
Torrent Prime. I usually enjoy you alternative comments. However, it is blatantly clear that you do not live in California. I do – Riverside County, Yucaipa. I was born in Hemet, CA and have lived here for 54 years. Here is the situation…for your education. Assembly Members get $175 a day to help purchase their meal – I do not get per diem from my employer for meals. They get access to government cars for use, as well as, gas cards for use when using their personal vehicles. Teachers get an average salary of $65,000 per nine months of work. Karen Bass whined about making a mere $165,000 per year to work in Sacramento. I sent an email three months ago to tell her to stop whining – havent got a response yet. Oh yeah, dont forget the zero co-pay most State workers get on their health insurance. Also, for some State workers – for every dollar they put into retirement, the State puts in 2 dollars. And dont forget, even in this poor economy, Karen Bass was going to give some staffers a raise!!! My idea – if you identify yourself as a Democrat, mark it on your California State Income Statement so the State can then tax you at a greater rate then Republicans. Finally, the same group of Democrats who were in office when Gray Davis messed up are most of the small ones who were then when Arnold messed up. Apparently, they didnt learn from history. In short, Torrent Prime, come to California, live in our shoes and then make ridiculous, uninformed comments!!!
Comment by Duffy - Native Intelligence — May 22, 2009 @ 1:10 am - May 22, 2009
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Pingback by No Santa Claus for Arnie: Californians Weary of Increased Taxes, ‘Governator’ Unhappy with Voters « Frugal Café Blog Zone — May 22, 2009 @ 5:18 am - May 22, 2009
people get the government they deserve.. and you dumb asses really bought the big one!
Comment by retired — July 8, 2009 @ 9:39 pm - July 8, 2009