For Silva, Expediency Over Leadership : * County Supervisor Opposes a Sales Tax Increase Without Offering a Real Alternative

It is fine for Supervisor Jim Silva to be opposed philosophically to new taxation, and he won’t get too much of an argument in politically conservative Orange County. But it is another thing entirely to hear him say plaintively, as he did last week, “Maybe if there were a Plan B out there, then people would look at the alternatives and make a better choice.” Silva was explaining his decision to oppose Measure R, the half-cent sales tax for bankruptcy recovery, which he earlier voted to put on the ballot in June.

It is precisely the absence of a credible Plan B that makes the tax necessary in the first place. Silva and his board colleagues had to have understood that when they were presented with the hard facts by County Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy, who considered everything in assessing the county’s financial position. But coming out against taxes without identifying specific alternative plans is easy enough to do, and Silva has opted for expediency. Meanwhile, only Supervisor Marian Bergeson of the other supervisors has been courageous enough to say that she favors the increase, and has announced that she will vote for Measure R. By sitting on the fence, the others on the board are casting a vote for the status quo.

Silva’s announcement was made before a friendly enough crowd. He spoke out against the sales tax increase on Wednesday at a strategy and organizational meeting called by the Republican Central Committee, which already has voted its opposition to Measure R.

The session was conducted at the office of the developer Buck Johns. It seems to us that the question for Silva is as much for Johns and others who agree with them. Certainly Johns and friends have a cadre of financial experts available at their disposal to run through the numbers; let’s hear their detailed and workable plan that would give Silva his viable Plan B. In the absence of such a proposal, the continued opposition to Measure R should be understood for what it is, a vote in favor of continued bankruptcy.

Silva and company are hardly alone in not wanting new taxes, but if a better short-term recovery plan can be cobbled together, the time to present it is now or never. The hour is much later than many in the grandstand are willing to acknowledge.