Californians get stuff wrong just too damn often. Last year, it
happened with Proposition 8, the anti-gay-marriage initiative. And this
year, it looks like it’s going to happen again with Propositions 1A to
1F. For the past few months, liberals and conservatives have skewered
the budget compromise measures nonstop. Progressives don’t like the
spending cap, and the right-wing hates the tax increases. Not
surprisingly, amid all this harsh criticism from both sides, a majority
of state voters appears poised to vote down the ballot measures on
Tuesday. If they do, they’ll be inviting disaster.
Props 1A to 1F represent several months of hard work and countless
hours of negotiations by Democratic leaders, the governor, and a
handful of brave Republican legislators. The measures aren’t perfect by
any stretch of the imagination. We don’t like the spending cap in Prop.
1A either. But it was the price to pay to get the support of a small
number of Republicans. It was a classic compromise; both sides gave up
on issues they held dear and agreed to things they disliked in order to
finally reach an agreement. It’s how government is supposed to
work.
A quick rundown: Prop 1A caps spending, increases the state’s
rainy-day fund, and extends recent tax increases. Prop. 1B provides
education funding. Prop. 1C lets the state borrow against future
lottery revenues. Prop. 1D transfers some Prop. 10 tobacco tax money to
the general fund. Prop. 1E moves some Prop. 63 mental health money to
the general fund. And Prop. 1F prohibits raises for state public
officials in deficit years.
Now, if voters scuttle this entire deal, they’ll be sending a
message that compromise is a waste of time, or worse, a risk not worth
taking. Republicans will have no incentive to move toward the center,
and any hope of future tax increases will be off the table. Moderate
Republicans, already a vanishing breed, will have no reason to strike
deals with Democrats. Why should they when voters say, “Don’t
bother?”
All of which makes the left-wing’s opposition to the measures more
confounding. Our Democratic leaders work for months on a deal, finally
get one by coaxing a few Republicans to cross the aisle, and now we’re
going to tell them that it was all a waste of time? When you think
about it, it’s madness. This incessant demand for ideological purity
— on both sides — is what causes governmental gridlock in
the first place.
As if that weren’t bad enough, the defeat of the measures will
create a $6 billion to $8 billion budget hole. According to the
nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office, the state now faces an
additional $15 billion deficit because of the economic crisis. So we’re
going to tell Sacramento to fix another $23 billion problem without
compromise? How’s that supposed to work exactly?
Help stop the madness. Vote Yes.
