Skeptical
Todd Theodora, high-powered lawyer and member of OC’s well-heeled New Majority, makes a strong case for Gov. Arnold’s proposed budget reforms in his letter to the editor below.
But I’m skeptical.
The budget reforms are fine as far as they go, but they’re water-downed from tougher measures, including a hard cap on state spending that the governor declined to embrace.
And the governor has abandoned, at least for the foreseeable future, an overhaul of the state’s pension system.
It’s a much bigger version of the San Diego crisis and the looming Orange County problem that John Moorlach describes in the Viewpoint on this page. In fact, the state’s underfunding for CalPERS and CalSTRS is $31 billion.
Schwarzenegger’s retreat on pension reform in the face of a withering assault from public employee unions, and his backtracking on other issues when his opponents have tugged on heartstrings, appealed to emotions or simply flexed their political muscles, has me and others questioning his resolve.
The New Majority has put $4 million into the initiatives. We’ll find out soon whether it’s been money well-spent.
Brrr
The Los Angeles Times reported last week that just two years after Tatima, Peaches and Wankie the elephants were moved from the San Diego Wild Animal Park to Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, they’ve all died.
Some animal lovers had warned that the middle-aged and elderly pachyderms, accustomed to Southern California’s climate, would not survive the Chicago winters.
I assume this will satisfy anyone’s curiosity about whether I’ll be moving back to my hometown.
,Rick Reiff
