Contributor

Ray Haynes

Mr. Haynes is an Assembly member representing Riverside and Temecula. He serves on the Appropriations and Budget Committees. [go to Assembly Member Haynes website at California Assembly]

Governor Davis: Smarter than He Looks!
I'm sorry, I thought he was destroying the state through mere incompetence.
by Assemblyman Ray Haynes 4/19/03

It appears I owe Governor Gray Davis an apology. Over the last four years I’ve been accusing him of recklessly destroying our budget, our business climate and our power system with no strategy or concern for long term costs. A recent report from the California Independent System Operators (Cal-ISO, our state’s incredibly effective energy managers) has now led to me to believe that I haven’t been giving our governor enough credit—he’s smarter than he looks!

In our state budget, we’ve gone from a $12 billion surplus to a $36 billion deficit in four short years. The system of tax and fee increases and some of the budget cuts the Governor has proposed seem designed to deliver the coup de grace to our ailing economy, almost like he’s putting it out of it’s misery.

If you look at what he’s done to our business climate over the last four years it is literally stunning. Workers Compensation costs are doubling and tripling and forcing businesses out of the state. Unemployment taxes are rising, disability taxes are rising, liability insurance is rising, and a host of new fees are being raised on businesses and business owners. At the same time, we’ve increased the minimum wage, mandated paid family leave, restricted work schedules by changing overtime rules, and created a host of new environmental requirements for companies to meet. As a result, the national Small Business Survival Committee (www.SBSC.org) has rated California as the 46th worst state in the country to do business. After the last year of fee and worker’s comp increases, I’m confident that we will drop to the very bottom of the list.

In the power crisis, we all know the Governor waited far too long to take action and let us fall into a hole that will take 25 years to pay off. He has since spent his time looking for others to blame and done little to improve a system that continues to operate at a capacity that is too low for a state our size. Many of the power plants he promised would come on line are now not being built, because his policies have created a climate where despite the highest energy prices in the nation, they won’t be able to make any money. In short, California’s political structure is too unstable for any new business investment, power-related or otherwise.

I thought this was a pretty lousy record, but that’s just because I thought all these things were happening independently of each other and without any grand scheme in mind. This brings me to the Cal-ISO report. According to their analysis, as long as the economy continues to suffer, we should have enough power in the system to last into 2006 or 2007. However, “If the economy picks up, we could be getting into trouble in 2005, 2004 with bad weather” (“Power woes may hinge on economy”, Sacramento Bee, 4-9-03).

Can you now see what the Governor is doing for us? He remembers how mad we got when our power went out a couple of summers ago and he has promised not to let that happen again. According to the state’s own power experts, the only way we’ll have enough power to get through the next four years is by keeping the economy in the toilet. The worst thing that could happen to the state’s power grid in their eyes is for people to start working again, and opening businesses here and expanding their operations.

So while I’ve been badmouthing the Governor for the damage he’s been doing to our business climate and our budget, he’s been selflessly sabotaging our economic recovery in order to keep our lights on—just like he promised! While I would prefer that he solve the power crisis by making it easier to build more power plants, I can no longer accuse him of doing nothing to solve the problem. I apologize for thinking he was destroying the state through mere incompetence, and for not understanding the method behind the madness. He’s still wrong, but at least he’s got a plan!