Actually, Susan Kennedy, the Chief of Staff for this Governor and the last, is a good student of government. She knows that in crisis there is opportunity. In her speech to the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce she said, "There is a greater chance that we will achieve change this year than in the last 50 years.” And she added: "The single biggest danger is that in our urgency to solve our problem, we’re going to miss the opportunity for structural reform — which is critical.” She also called for a flat income tax and made the promise, "I guarantee you a lot of those obsolete boards and commissions will be eliminated."
Thanks to Carla Marinucci of the San Francisco Chronicle for being the only reporter I can find who covered this important talk. As Kennedy said "our backs are against the wall’ and we have no other choice but to make changes that were not considered even a month ago.
Some of these changes should have happened decades ago as money was spent on programs that have marginal benefits.
[Publisher’s Note: Bill Leonard’s reference in the title of this post is some humor as we have noted many, many times on this site that the Republican Governor’s Chief of Staff is not only a Democrat, but at one point was Executive Director of the California Democrat Party – Flash]