FR friend Greg Lucas over on his California’s Capitol blog posts up a media release issued jointly by Senatoor Mark DeSaulnier and Assemblyman Mike Feuer, who are Chairmen of each house’s Select Committee On Improving State Government, are convening the first joint hearing to, "address the pressing need for state government reform."
I noted with interest the group of panelists that will appear before the committee:
- Bill Lockyer, State Treasurer and former President Pro Tem of the California State Senate
- Robert Naylor, former Republican Leader, California State Assembly
- Laura Chick, Inspector General of California, former Los Angeles City Controller
- Mac Taylor, Legislative Analyst of California
- William Hauck, Chairman, California Constitution Revision Commission
- Fred Silva, Senior Fiscal Policy Advisor, California Forward and former Executive Secretary, California Constitution Revision Commission
- Bruce Cain, Executive Director, U.C. Washington Center and former Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California at Berkeley
- Scott Pattison, Executive Director, National Association of State Budget Officers
- Jaime Regalado, Director, Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute of Public Affairs in Los Angeles
- Brenda Erickson, National Conference of State Legislatures
Notice any glaring omission from this group of fine panelists? Trying to find a conservative on this list would be like trying to play Where’s Waldo. The only two members of the panel that may be interpreted as shout-outs to the right or pro-business community are hardly going to be telling these state legislators anything they don’t want to hear. Bill Hauck of the California Business Roundtable and Bob Naylor both want to roll back term limits, Naylor opposes a part-time legislature (I don’t know about Hauck), and probably as a great indicator of "insider" status, both were strong backers of the February budget deal (which socked Californians with over $16 billion in higher car, sales and income taxes) and Proposition 1A on the May Special Election Ballot (which would have hit taxpayers with over $14 billion MORE in taxes in exchange for the enactment of an ineffectual "revenue smoothing" process). You’ll recall what happened to 1A when the voters got their hands on it. You can see more about Naylor here. I was surprised to see on Hauck’s resume that once-upon-a-time, he served as Chief of Staff to then Speaker Willie L. Brown, Jr!
Anyways, my point is that with ten panelists, DeSaulnier and Feuer could have had the courtesy to 
put some people on the panel who will represent the interests of taxpayers with their input. I’m reminded of the slogan, "Garbage in, garbage out."
**There is more – click the link**
October 21st, 2009 at 12:00 am
The best reform includes charging fees for every gov. service no matter who you are….make everyone who uses state services pay a fee of some kind by a debit card…..if your poor….you pay at least one dollar per service….lets get some reality into the moocher system….you pay something every time you use state services….
October 21st, 2009 at 12:00 am
What a great idea, Robert. Yes indeed; pay to get your unemployment check; pay to get your welfare check; pay to get that traffic ticket. oh wait. You already pay when you get that traffic ticket.
And there you go again, Jon, off the rails to the far right. You have no idea what these people will say at the conference. Or do you? Maybe you got new batteries for your crystal ball. Can I borrow that crystal ball? I’d like to look up the winning numbers of the Irish Sweepstakes.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:00 am
Hi Jon, Actually, former Senate Minority Leader Jim Brulte and Former Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle were invited to share their insights. Both declined, as did other Republicans the committee invited to testify. – Jim Evans, Communications Director, Darrell Steinberg
October 21st, 2009 at 12:00 am
Perhaps Republicans are so whipped by libs and RINOS they see little reason to getting their scars battered once again.
Personally, I would not walk across the street to see any politican, attorney, lobbyist, union groupee or fund raiser. This ilk makes selling cars look angelic!