On November third, voters created a wide, red swath across the maps radiating from our TV screens, with the notable exception of California, and especially, the Bay Area. Staying "true blue", California elected a democratic governor (Brown) and senator (Boxer) in two big races that were being watched nationally. In another race, democrat Nancy Pelosi defended her seat effortlessly. Democratic candidates from other parts of the country stayed as far away from Ms. Pelosi and her health-care bill as possible, but Bay Area voters chose to continue their embrace. Also going into the “blue” column, Prop B, the proposition that asked city workers in San Francisco to contribute some, or in the case of fire and police personnel, to contribute a bit more, to their retirement funds, failed.
Historically, California leads the charge for change, but this election cycle California dug in its heels and continued to support old-guard Washington and Sacramento favorites. Does the rest of the country know something that California doesn’t?
I was baffled at the animus hurled at Meg Whitman for spending so much of her personal wealth in an effort to get elected governor. Spending your own money and not being beholden to any special interest should be a good thing. Mr. Brown does not have Ms. Whitman’s personal wealth, but what he does have is the support of the unions and the mega-dollars that go with it—a combination that proved formidable for Meg Whitman, as it does for most politicians.
Ms. Pelosi is another darling of the labor unions. The Washington Post recently reported:
Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said Monday that “America’s public employees and all working families have never had a greater champion than Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.”
CALIFORNIA IS BROKE: it borrows 40 million dollars a day from the Federal Government. The Wall Street Journal reported today that Governor Schwarzenegger has called a special session to make mid-year budget cuts to deal with California's deficit, which next year will grow to $25.4 billion dollars, double previous forecast.
Unions at the municipal and state levels are taking California to its knees by demanding salaries (which on average are twice that of private sector salaries) and overly-generous pensions and health-care benefits. More money is directed toward unionized California prison guards than to our once-enviable, but now-declining, California State University system. When the UC trustees recently announced yet another tuition increase, they also made clear that more student aid would be available for low-income families. Wealthy families will still be able to afford to send their children to one of the University of California schools, and so will low-income families because of tax- payer support. The big losers in this game are the middle-class taxpayers that aren't union: between higher taxes, fees, tuitions, and trying to save for retirement (unlike union workers, these private sector workers have to fund their retirement plans themselves), these middle-class worker's paychecks are stretched too thin and they are starting to wonder why they are sticking around.
For the first time California did not add congressional seats after the census. More people are now leaving the state than moving in. Businesses have fled the big-labor, big-tax state in droves. Politicians love to wax poetic about jobs and protecting the middle class, but when push comes to shove, their main goal is simply to get re-elected--unions win, the middle-class loses.
The rest of the country has watched the labor strife in Greece and France and has taken heed. Fiscally conservative candidates were overwhelmingly elected this month to state and federal offices. Even liberal and labor-loving New Jersey has seen the light--earlier this year they elected Chris Christie to bring the unions in line with private sector workers in an effort to save their state.
At seventy-two, incoming governor Jerry Brown could decide to retire in four years, in which case he might stand-up to the unions and put California on the road to fiscal health. If not, instead of California Dreamin’, the state will be singing the "bankruptcy blues."
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