California Government

There was a time, Sacramento graybeards tell us, when California government was pretty good--progressive, competent, mature. It built great freeways and universities, passed budgets on time, behaved itself. This golden period lasted roughly from World War II to the 1978 passage of Proposition 13, and perhaps was best personified by A. Alan Post. For three decades Post served as legislative analyst. His job was to warn politicians when promises and plans exceeded the state's fiscal means.

We're doing it again. Acting like Californians -- trying to throw out a governor we just elected so we can replace him with ... an action hero? A skin-magazine publisher? A former child actor? An election field as orderly as a mosh pit can be funny -- and to judge by media coverage, a lot of America is laughing. But at least some political analysts are beginning to suggest some serious lessons that could come out of Recall 2003.

Cliff Allenby was there in 1963 when Republicans in the state Assembly were held overnight in the lower house chamber until they stopped blocking Democratic Gov. Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Sr.'s state budget. And Allenby was there in 1970 when Republican Gov. Ronald Reagan reversed himself--despite a fierce promise not to--and grudgingly accepted payroll withholding of state income taxes. Brown and Reagan are long gone from Sacramento, of course.

Consider this bleak scenario. Sheriff's deputies are laid off in the face of rising crime. Decrepit freeways endanger motorists, while new highway construction comes to a standstill. Hundreds of mentally ill patients wander the streets for lack of care. Prisoners riot in overcrowded cells while others are released before serving full terms because there is no place to put them. And students cram into classrooms as the backlog for new school construction reaches $5 billion.

I'm not a politician , and my other habits are good also. --Artemus Ward 19th-Century American humorist The punishment of wise men who refuse to take part in the affairs of government is to live under the government of unwise men. --Plato Campaign Manager Jack Flanigan woke up staring at the ceiling. "It hit me like a lightning bolt," he recalls. "I was saying to myself, 'This is really a very difficult lifestyle. I'm not sure I want to do this the rest of my life.'

Ending a three-year fight over implementation of the federal Clean Water Act, the city of Long Beach has reached a tentative agreement with state water officials over a plan to deal with toxic storm water plaguing Santa Monica and San Pedro bays. The proposed plan, expected to be ratified at a meeting of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board on Wednesday, has the agreement of all sides in the nasty dispute.

Thousands of California workers--including students who put in long hours on part-time jobs, baby boomers worried about layoffs and parents caring for ill children--could soon benefit from a more labor-friendly, Democrat-dominated state government. Union leaders are aggressively promoting a legislative and regulatory agenda that would have seemed wildly optimistic only a year ago.

It's swearing-in day in the state Assembly, and Alan Lowenthal, legislator-elect, has a sinus infection. Woozy from antibiotics and a meager night's sleep, he gamely greets well-wishers streaming into his Capitol office, shaking hands and swapping hugs while dispensing bagels and cream cheese. In a few hours, Lowenthal will raise his right hand and make a contract with the people of California, pledging to faithfully discharge the duties of state assemblyman.

The way Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce, sees it, the business lobbying group didn't do too badly under the new Democratic administration in Sacramento. Zaremberg assessed the most recent legislative session at a meeting Tuesday of the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley.