Hopefully it did fall through the cracks for California political observers that last week liberal Democrat Congresswoman Grace Napolitano of Los Angeles County was very blunt in comments to the San Gabriel News Tribune that she thinks that the $11 billion water bond currently slated to appear on this November’s ballot is going to be defeated by voters.”
According to the News Tribune, Napolitano said, “They should support it, but I don’t think they will… People are very upset with legislators. And since it’s (legislators’) idea, I don’t think (voters) are ready to put out any more money.”
Napolitano’s comments are very significant because she is a supporter of the bond, and she also has some gravitas on the water issue, serving as the Chairman of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power.
I suspect that you will see more and more “realistic assessments” of the lack of political viability of this massive, bloated, so-called water bond as we get past the June election.
In talking to many experts on water, it is clear that this measure contains literally billions of dollars in borrowing that is “not essential” for addressing our state’s water crisis. Instead of placing a measure before voters that was significantly more modest, and contained only spending that could be strongly justified in addressing our water storage and conveyance challenges, instead the Democrat-controlled legislature did what it does best – it overspent.
The $11 billion dollar water bond package is loaded up with billions in pork spending (“Projects of Regional Koncern, as we say) and other “pay offs” to garner the necessary two-thirds vote to place it on the ballot. I am sure everyone can remember that in the final hours, in order to get votes in the Assembly, an additional billion dollars plus in borrowing was added to the measure – this after the Senate had already voted out the measure. Some of the stories of legislators giving this vote in return for driving more of the spending into their districts is nauseating.
There is serious doubt if California voters would vote for any massive bond package this fall, given the poor state of the economy. But the greed of state legislators has pretty much doomed its chances for passage. Opponents will have so many obvious examples of massive wasteful spending that are in the package that even the massive infusion of campaign dollars from those who will financially benefit from the bond spending will not be able to overcome the negatives.
So what should happen now? The legislature should step up and make significant changes to the water bond package, eliminating the billions of dollars in excessive, non-essential, wasteful spending. Assuming that the greed of legislators will not allow for that, Capitol politicians should seriously consider then kicking the whole thing to a future election year, when perhaps the economy has improved.
This current water bond package will end up being rejected by voters. But don’t rely on my opinion – after all, I oppose the bond. Look no further than to high profile supporters like Representative Napolitano, who aren’t afraid to tell it like it is.
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