Willie Brown is elected as the new Govenor and every strip club in the state will become like the O'farrell Theater in SF! All other political views set aside.
BD
it should be easier to do surveillance on.
what is this all about???
SD Police HQ. I guess he's razzing LE.
My bad - I feel like a dufuss (not the Govenor). It should have been in reply to "Which hotel/motel in SD for outcall". I should leave the dissing to the more experienced.
is Steve Peace, the chief author of the state utility deregulation who, along with the FERC and their two cronies in the executive branch of the federal government who got them insiders appointments as poitical payback with the added lure of sticking it to Cali as payback for voting Dem for so long, are the largest single reasons behind our state budget defecit. Of course, not far behind them is the federal government itself, who is picking up less of the tab for Medicare and immigration issues than they have in the past, which the states (especially this one, which has the highest outlays for each program in the country) have to then pick up. However, let's all forget about that...Davis has been such a political player that we will UNDOUBTEDLY get someone better in for governor if he is recalled...right? Like Arnold...whose buddy Jesse Ventura did such a wonderful job in Minnesota...just ask the new governor.
Scapegoats are a beautiful thing...
Yeah, you're right. Davis did nothing wrong. Oh wait, wasn't he the governor that sat on his hands until the energy fiasco was so far out of control he had to sign those ridiculously inflated energy contracts? Wasn't he the governor that started out with a 10 billion dollar surplus and turned it into a 30 billion dollar deficit by increasing spending 45 percent, while the population/inflation index only increased 22 percent? Wasn't he the governor that authorized the hiring of 45,000 new state employees since taking office? Isn't he the governor that now wants to triple our car registration rates because of his mismanagement? No, I must be thinking of someone else. Of course that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. Sedagive.
Your arguments would make more sense, if California was the only state that was having severe budget deficits. Instead, virtually all 50 states are suffering these deficits. The principal reason for this is the recession, and massive declines in tax revenues.
The energy fiasco that you describe was set up by the ill-timed and ill-considered energy "deregulation" that occurred long before Davis became governor, and subsequent gaming by George W.'s Texas cronies (Enron with "Kenny-boy" Lay, Duke Energy, etc.) with the full complicity of FERC, Cheney & George W. With the phony outages in California that these Texas energy companies were engineering in Spring 2000, I'm not sure any governor would have been able to steer a better course. California was hit with a massive con-game that makes Teapot Dome look like, well, a tempest in a teapot. We're all still paying for it.
Oh, and many of the increases in state budget you cite were approved by both Democrats and Republicans, since budgets require 2/3rds approval by both houses.
Lastly, when I hear Republican state legislators talking about how good it would be to for the State of California to declare bankrupcy and how favorably Wall Street would look on it, I'm wondering who exactly we should be recalling. Doesn't make me want to buy any more California general obligation bonds.
-- Modified on 7/10/2003 8:11:56 AM
I did say that Davis is a severe political "player", which even the most ideological liberal Democrat has to be aware of. I am certainly not starry-eyed with GD myself, but the idea that he is "the reason" for Cali's budget woes and that recall is "the answer" is scapegoating at its worst, and it smacks of political opportunism. Me myself, I would rather pay an increased VLF anyday than see some of the cuts that Senate Repub's are in the process of proposing to the state's citizens and environment.
Willie Brown is elected as the new Govenor and every strip club in the state will become like the O'farrell Theater in SF! All other political views set aside.
BD
Here are the major points on the CA budget crisis:
Increase in population - 21-22%
Increase in tax revenue to the State - 28% (yes, that's right - increase)
Increase in spending by the State - 45-50%
And it is the Governors fault - he could have not signed the budgets and pushed for less spending.
Also - lets look at his leadership - 11,000 new hires AFTER his hiring freeze????
The power debacle was done to CA by CA politicians - and the fact that no new power plants were allowed to be built in this state even thought the need for power has increased exponentially during the same period.
Bottom line - to take a surplus and turn it into a deficit even though revenues increased takes one thing - Our elected officials spending money like a bunch of drunk sailors on shore leave... Remeber that the next time you vote.
I'll get off my soapbox now...
The legislature needs to be under the same scrutiny as this inept gov.... they are just as guilty - if not more so, than the political animal GD.
When I see many members of the CA legislature speak on TV, I am dismayed at their relatively poor education, ANTI-AMERICANISM (like the idiot who wants to give illegals driver's licenses and the other idiot that wanted to impose a soda pop tax), their overt resentment against "white people", and general disregard for fundamental civics and democratic principles.
The energy crisis, though severe and most definitely a contributor to the state's deficit, is by no means the main reason for the deficit... but rather the out of site social spending.
For example, why should "poor" people be given subsidies for their telephone usage, energy bills, and be practically receiving a full ride on their rents in very expensive areas of SD? Why should illegals be able to send their children (many of these people have very large families) to our public schools? Why should illegals get free medical care, when you and I have to pay?
Come on people, more common sense is needed!! I am not defending Bush, but Bush has little (if anything) to do with this state's problems!! This stuff had been going on well before Bush was in office!!
"give illegals driver's licenses" I think this idea is being proposed so that the illegals can be insured. I don't know if this is being pushed by the insurance industry, or if it is just to ensure that everyone on the road is insured.
"why should "poor" people be given subsidies for their telephone usage, energy bills, and be practically receiving a full ride on their rents in very expensive areas of SD?" I live in La Costa where the city council has decided against the neighborhood's wishes, to build 188 low income housing units. I worked hard to live in a nice area. I resent that people who have lesser income still get to live right smack dab in the middle of a higher income neighborhood at a fraction of the cost. I could understand (but would be still against)maybe 25-35 units, but 188?? It's going to turn into a ghetto in a few years.
I lived in NoCal before moving here, we also had low income housing. The vandalism, bike theft, car breakins, graffiti ect..
Sure glad the Carlsbad city council doesn't give a damn about the feeling of the largest contributers to their tax base.
I realize this has little to do with the topic, but I needed to rant a bit.
It's funny how I tend to agree with most of your posts Ness.
Good day all.
Seems that a lot of people overlook a primary reason for the recall: Gray Davis lied about the extent of the budget deficit during the campaign. As soon as the election was over, voila, the numbers started rising astronomically. At present, our $38 billion deficit is larger than the entire BUDGETS of all states except New York! We pay twice per capita in taxes compared to Arizona - do we get twice the value? Davis wants to allow illegal aliens to get drivers licenses, which in many cases lead to them being able to vote!
When Davis heard about the recall effort, he went and hired all of the professional signature gathering firms registered in California so that they couldn't participate in the recall effort due to conflict of interest. You can bet he will play every political trick in the book to try and derail or delay the recall even if enough valid signatures have been gathered, instead of abiding by the existing law and the will of the people who have signed the petition.
We must take all politicians with a grain of salt, but you can take Gray Davis and throw him out with the bathwater. My 2 cents.
gentlemen, it is bad manners to talk politics in front of the ladies, but to ease all of your imminent pain in politics and to paraphrase the immortal will rogers "i've never met a politician i didn't like or couldn't buy," or something like that. personally i've always liked the politician with the open hand for you knew most of the time what you put in it and most often what came from it. it's those idealist who scare the shit of me and usually put a government on its behind. similiar to what were facing now in california. anyways' here i am rambling on with bad manners as it was my first intention to draw attention to those aforementioned bad manners in saying politics like religion are topics with no definite outcome. in closing i quote the late jim morrison, "show me the way to the next whiskey bar."
I had a feeling I should have left Banana's comment about Grey "Matter" Davis alone. As I implied, he is an embarassment to Democrats even because he is such a political animal and is so beholden to his special interests. It is just that the notion of Davis' recall being a panacea is as full of illusion as the entire political process in this country at this point, between how few people care/are informed/vote and how much our "democracy" is really a "representative republic" that is, at this point, completely in bed with whoever greases their palms, because money is power. Unless a majority of the population takes an active part in a country's political process and elections are changed from "winner takes all" to "proportionate repesentation", it will always be this way. The few with money and power will always decide for the unwashed masses (especially when the media is consolidated), and most who aren't kidding themselves because of their personal ideology into believing that any successful politician these days really cares that much about the "common man" will vote will vote for the "lesser of two evils". Until more people care about something more than their own needs, something Ayn Rand once wrote comes to mind: "Brothers, you asked for it". That is my last political post, guys...I will stick to TER issues from now on.
Despite my better judgement not to extend a political discussion, I will.
While I think that Davis made some bad decisions regarding spending, I do believe that the power crisis was largely an artificial one that was not of his making. I find it a little hindsighted to criticize his decision in making the long term contracts when he did. Its very difficult to time any market, let alone one that is being manipulated.
I think more of the focus should be directed at the federal government which sets up policies and programs involving education, immigration, homeland security, health care, etc. and then never fully allocates the money to pay for them. Its even more problematic since the Federal government is more more capable of financing those programs than the states who they pass the costs on too.
I should probably get off the soap box, but on the vehicle tax issue, maybe we should have never lowered the rates to begin with. Also, let us remember the math. If you reduce a fee by 50% and then take it back to where it started, you have to raise it 100%. So you can agrue that its a 100% increase in fees, or just a return to the proper fee level.
Bottom line for me, I don't think much of Davis, but I also don't think it does the state much good to recall him. And no, I don't think elected steroid man Arnold is the answer either.
....I am done