Willie Predicts Prop 29 Wins, Smuggling Explodes
Ex- Sacramento strong man, Willie Brown, predicts Prop 29- the tobacco tax- wins on Tuesday. He also predicts a resulting shift by smokers to indian casinos and increased smuggling of tobacco from out of state.
I was as happy as many were to see Willie get canned because of term limits. I'd go so far as to say he was one of those guys I truly hated. I don't feel so much of that any more. I really enjoy his weekly column, Willie's World. It's always a fun read. I wish I could write like that.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 7:57 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
You could write better, Fred, if you would make an effort. Why not use the time you invest in posting slop ("I'd go so far as to say he was one of those guys I truly hated.") into improvement of your prose?
Seems you're the expert. I'll let you work do it.
"I'll let you work do it."
Huh?
...work on it.
It's funny that it was folks like you, people who were not represented by Willie, who were so incensed by him. It seems people like the ones they elect but not those others elect. This seems to be fundamentally contrary to your espoused libertarianism.
My sense is that the primary effect your term limits has been that there is now a constantly revolving cast of characters in the two houses of the legislature such that as soon as they learn the job, familiarize themselves with the state's problems and begin to think of viable solutions, they are termed-out for a new batch of naive and ignorant first-timers. It is the main reason the legislature is so dysfunctional.
"...It seems people like the ones they elect but not those others elect. This seems to be fundamentally contrary to your espoused libertarianism..
Slightly mis- stated on your part: People like the candidates they vote for. They don't necessarily like the whoever ends up getting elected. That applies to those who get elected outside their districts, as well.
There's nothing at all contrary to libertarianism in disliking anyone, especially when someone can jerk your life around even though he represents another district and others voted for him.
...they are termed-out for a new batch of naive and ignorant first-timers. It is the main reason the legislature is so dysfunctional..
There is something to be said for institutional memory. I've written before that I'm ambivalent about term limits. However, the suggestion that naive and ignorant first- timers are the reason the legislature is screwed up doesn't hold water, as I see it.
Look no further than the last time the state budget was passed on time- the 2000/2001 fiscal year:
The state coffers were overflowing with money from the dotcom boom. So much so that legislators had no reason to fight over who got what money. They spent all that money and more on permanent spending increases, including hiring 20,000 new state employees and a year or so earlier, the big boost in public pension benefits.
That set the state up for the big bust. When the dotcom revenue disappeared, we ended up where we are now, tens of billions of dollars in deficit.
Those were nearly all seasoned legislators at the time. No one had been term limited out since term limits hadn't taken effect yet. It could be argued that newbies might have handled it better.
If there's any reason for a dysfunctional legislature, I'd suggest maybe they try to do way too much, including a lot of things they shouldn't be doing at all.
"[Willie Brown] was the largest recipient of tobacco industry donations of any public official in the nation—a total of $600,492 of such donations flowed his way while he was Assembly Speaker—and he championed that industry's cause in the Legislature."
Source: University of California, San Francisco, Political Expenditures by the Tobacco Industry in California State Politics , pp. 12, 35; University of California, San Francisco, Undermining Popular Government: Tobacco Industry Political Expenditures in California 1993-1994 , p. 12.
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