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George SkeltonCapitol Journal |
Recent Columns:
Shorter commutes. Less sprawl. Cleaner air.
Admittedly I'm biased on offshore drilling. I was born in Santa Barbara, grew up in Ojai and spent many a weekend on the beach.
It's not all about budget brawling. Beneath the haze of haggling over taxes and spending, several hundred bills are lined up awaiting their fates as legislators rush to leave town.
Whenever legislators become frozen in a budget bog, I remember the words of two historic leaders.
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein says: "The bottom line is the election is in 2010. And I'll make a decision at the beginning of the year."
Seven weeks past their constitutional deadline for passing a state budget, legislators still are stumbling around. Why? Because they haven't yet done the "Dance of Death."
Reading what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had to say at yet another wildfire photo-op assured me that it was safe to go on vacation for two weeks. There'd be no interruption by Capitol politicians agreeing to a budget deal.
One severely broken part of California's state government is the tax code. It's antiquated and unreliable.
An e-mailer had it basically right the other day. He likened the public's mind-set about government to what Marine Col. Nathan Jessep (Jack Nicholson) barked at young Navy prosecutor Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) in the movie "A Few Good Men."
Here's Sacramento's problem: It desperately needs more tax money to provide the services the public wants. But the public doesn't trust Sacramento to spend any new money wisely.