Gregory D.

Lee

Read Greg's bio and previous columns here

May 15, 2009

California Democrats Have Endless Excuses to Not Cut Spending

California Democrats, who hold a majority in the legislature, recently rejected a series of cost-cutting Republican proposals to help reduce a budget deficit that is projected to top $8 billion by summer and $42 billion by 2010.

Among proposals Democrats killed were to freeze salaries for top executives, abolish unnecessary state commissions populated with retired lawmakers and require welfare recipients to take random drug tests to continue receiving benefits if they didn’t complete a drug treatment program.

Among the many excuses offered by the Democrats was that it would be hard to recruit and retain top executives who make over $150,000 if their salaries were frozen. I don’t think someone making that much money would consider quitting in the middle of a severe recession. Freezing the salaries would have saved at least $2.5 million.

Cutting or eliminating the numerous silly commissions California has would have saved taxpayers another $7 million. These commissions meet once or twice a year, but the Democrats’ excuse is that the commissioners sometimes meet “many more days” and earn their pay. Who wouldn’t want to be a commissioner and make $132,000 a year to attend a couple of meetings? Forcing California’s top executives to also serve on one or more of these commissions would justify their annual pay raises.

So, what’s the Democrats’ excuse for not requiring welfare recipients to take random drug tests? Could it be that it would drastically reduce the welfare rolls? Would it encourage illegal aliens to go home? Which is it? No excuse was offered. The cost of drug treatment programs would be substantially less than the money doled out to illegal drug users who obviously pay for their drugs with taxpayer money. Testing might have an effect on California’s leading cash crop – marijuana.

Another Republican proposal was to close San Quentin State Prison and sell the property to developers. The prison, which is about as old as the Tower of London, is in ill repair but sits on some of the most valuable property on the north end of San Francisco Bay. But no! It might add to prison overcrowding!

The estimated $2 billion generated from the sale could build two brand new prisons in the middle of the Mojave Desert where the land is practically free. That would help stimulate California’s dismal economy, solve the prison overcrowding problem and leave a surplus that could be applied to the budget deficit.

One additional Republican proposal was to scale back a proposed two-tower state lottery headquarters, estimated to cost $185 million dollars, and instead renovate the existing headquarters for $40 million. But no! The Democrats killed this proposal, according to the Los Angeles Times, saying that “backing away from the larger project would send a negative message amid efforts to borrow against future lottery revenue.” Currently, such borrowing is prohibited, but it is one of several measures on a special election ballot next week. The Democrats are assuming the ballot measure will pass, which I think is a mistake. Special elections historically attract more conservative taxpaying voters who will show up in droves to defeat it. President Obama isn’t on the ballot this time, so most non-taxpayers will take a pass on this election.

Just when you thought the Democrats could not come up with any more excuses, a spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) said, “Wholesale deregulation – anti-environment, anti-worker, anti-consumer bills – smack of the Bush-era policies the nation and Californians in particular overwhelmingly rejected in November.”

So there you go. It’s George W. Bush’s fault! Never mind the fact that California is rapidly sliding downhill into the Pacific Ocean. Democrats completely ignore common sense reductions, and instead are programmed to only seek tax increases. Even a combination of cost cuts and tax increases repulses the average California Democratic politician who appears hell bent to drop the state into a deficit abyss.

Gregory D. Lee is a nationally syndicated columnist for North Star Writers Group. Readers can reach him at info@gregorydlee.com.   

© 2009 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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