With so much going on in California politics, I try to focus my commentaries on those items that I think have some significance. But today I will exhaust a few paragraphs of text talking about what I consider to be a non-issue that has been raised in the campaign for Governor – at least it is not an issue that should impact the candidates for office. The ABC affiliate in San Francisco in recent days ran a piece on the news that drew attention to the high costs to taxpayers for the California Highway Patrol to provide law enforcement protection for the state’s constitutional officeholders.
Obviously there is a very high price tag on protecting our celebrity Governor. But according to ABC7 reporter Dan Noyes, in the last fiscal year alone, the CHP spent just over a million dollars guarding the five constitutional officers — $224,193 for Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, $139,954 for Treasurer Bill Lockyer, $172,225 for Secretary of State Debra Bowen, $309,436 for Controller John Chiang, and $214,335 for Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.
Noyes raised the question about whether Constitutional Office holders who are running for office should be reimbursing the state treasury for additional costs associated with CHP protecting them as candidates.
**There is more – click the link**