Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Add No On Proposition 76 To Special Election Recommendations

As I've mentioned before, it is important to vote in the Special Election Nov. 8, if only to defeat a number of unnecessary or downright poor ballot measures, most of which are being foisted on the electorate by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a bid to increase his power.

The L.A. Times editorial on Proposition 76, giving the governor exorbitant powers to veto state expenditures, draws attention to another of these bad ideas, and, as the Times advised, it should be defeated.

The governor, as the Times noted, already has all the powers he legitimately needs to keep California's budget within bounds. To give him more would amount to unbalancing state government and taking meaningful power away from the Legislature.

In many ways, it is becoming apparent that the governor has a dictatorial streak which must be carefully controlled, and that it's aimed in excessive ways at the public employee unions, the teachers, the police and firemen and other civil servants.

These on occasion can become overbearing, but that still does not mean they should be disarmed from the same power to influence state government as business interests have, which would also be the case with Proposition 75. The Times endorsed that, but mistakenly in my view.

If Schwarzenegger loses the Special Election, that will not prevent him from continuing to do his job and run for reelection next year, when the electorate will be at the polls in greater, more representative numbers.

So, again, my recommendations would be to vote against Propositions 74, 75, 76, 78 (the drug lobby's measure) and the unnecessary measure Y, the $4.6 billion school bond issue in the city of Los Angeles. For now, no endorsements on other ballot measures.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why are you against Prop 78? Just because the pharmaceutical companies support it?

I ask because I think that there are some people who don't have insurance and really need prescription drug discounts, and I think the only way they will get them is if 78 passes. If 79 passes, it is likely to end up in the courts for years...which will keep the discounts from happening for a long time. If 78 passes, people can get discounts right away. Personally, I don't really care who supports the plan if it can do what it is meant to do.

11/02/2005 4:12 PM  

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