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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][go to Haynes index]
 Throwing
Down the Gauntlet
Dems
off to a bad start…
[Ray
Haynes] 1/10/05
Last
week, the Legislature began its new session, and the Governor delivered
his state of the State address. In his address, Governor Schwarzenegger laid
out his vision for the next year in California, saying, that when he took
over, California “faced economic ruin” amidst a $22 billion deficit.
After one year in office, he quite correctly stated the people of California,
through the recall, and Propositions 57 and 58, rescued California from bankruptcy.
He followed up by saying: “Last year we stopped the bleeding, this
year we must heal the patient.” He then laid out an ambitious agenda
for budget, education, government and political reform. He called upon the
Legislature to join him in “regaining control of California’s
financial future … restoring the trust of the people … [and]
introducing a bold, new era of reform for California.”
He could have saved his breath.
Even before his state of the State address was delivered, the
Democrat leaders in Sacramento threw down the gauntlet last month.
They set out an agenda to directly challenge the Governor and
the Republicans in the Legislature, claiming they have a mandate
for bigger government, higher taxes, and more government intrusion
into businesses and families this year. The recall is over, they
think, and they honestly believe that people in California want
them, not the Governor, to run things.
So—they
announced their agenda, and then set about to completely exclude
Republicans
from any participation in the
legislative process. They directly challenged the Governor, and
announced their intention to coddle the special interests that
have dominated Sacramento for so long.
The Governor
said “we don’t have a revenue problem,
we have a spending problem. This state is spending money on automatic
pilot.” The Democrats said: “We are going to raise
taxes, and continue to feed our special interest friends with
your hard-earned money.” The Governor said “We want
to reward good teachers with higher pay and get rid of bad teachers.” The
Democrats said: “We want to protect the union and keep
giving a failing system even more money.” The Governor
said: “We want a real democracy in California, not election
districts designed as an incumbent protection racket.” The
Democrats said: “We want to keep our jobs without being
accountable to people. Who cares about democracy?” The
Governor said: “We need a 21st century government for a
21st century state.” The Democrats said: “We want
the 19th century patronage machine we have had for the last 40
years, and, by the way, we control the Legislature, so Governor—you
can stuff it.” The Governor said—“I am going
to take my ideas to the people if the Legislature isn’t
going to act.
Of course,
the Democrats are off to a bad start. They announced they were
going to re-introduce
most of the legislation that
the Governor vetoed last year. Gay marriage was the first bill,
then higher taxes on everybody they don’t like. Drivers’ licenses
for those who are breaking our country’s immigration laws,
more regulation on business and an increase in the minimum wage
that will put every restaurant in the state out of business are
at the top of their agenda.
The Legislature
has until the end of March to act, and, if it doesn’t,
the Governor is going straight to the people. If the legislative
leadership requires the Governor to go the
initiative route to get the reforms California needs, they will
render the Legislature a useless appendage of government. If
the Democrats kill his legislative agenda, we might as well adjourn
at the end of March and come back in two years. The gauntlet
has been thrown down. Let the battle begin. CRO
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