SAVORING THE JOYS OF POLITICAL HANDOUTS NEO-LUDDITES PUTTING BRAKES ON MODERN MACHINERY OF PROGRESS.

Byline: Jon Coupal

IN early 19th-century England, a group known as the Luddites attempted to block technological progress by smashing machinery.

In early 21st-century Sacramento, we also have a determined group opposing progress. However, these neo-Luddites don't want to smash anything. They want to preserve the status quo of a government structure so obscenely large, inefficient and redundant that it's amazing that it accomplishes anything at all.

Even a cursory investigation reveals gross inefficiencies, which deprive legitimate programs of needed revenue and taxpayers of needed tax relief. How, for example, do we justify maintaining two major state agencies to deal with tax matters - the Franchise Tax Board and the State Board of Equalization - when one would do?

The champions of the status quo have pitted themselves against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is committed to ``blowing up boxes'' to improve service and save money. To this end, he established the California Performance Review Commission, whose recommendations, if implemented, could save $18 billion over five years. CPR seeks to reorganize and streamline the 120 separate departments that make up state government and to abolish a number of boards and commissions that no longer serve any purpose.

It should not be a surprise that the neo-Luddites, including outgoing Senate President Pro Tem John Burton and a number of other prominent Democrats, oppose the needed change. They fear that modernizing government's structure to better serve the citizens of California could result in the loss of a few jobs for their public-employee-union allies.

While taxpayers and the public employees - who depend on tax dollars for their jobs - will differ on the importance of implementing government reorganization, there is one area in which there should be no disagreement: The need to do away with obsolete boards and commissions. In many cases, the sole justification for these boards and commissions seems to be to allow politicians to reward supporters and to provide a golden parachute for defeated or termed-out cronies, who otherwise would be looking for a job.

Three obscure commissions, the California Medical Assistance Commission, the Integrated Waste Management Board and the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, have long been used for political patronage and payoffs. This is because the pay is good - members are compensated $100,000 per year or more - and the work - a meeting or two a month - is easy.

Members and former members of these commissions read like a Who's Who of California's politically well-connected.

During a period in the 1980s, when he was sans elected office, Burton was an appointee of then-Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. So, too, was Kamala Harris, who was Brown's girlfriend. Los Angeles City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, a former speaker of the state Assembly, was appointed by his successor after his failed try for mayor of Los Angeles. Former Assemblyman Tom Calderon received an appointment after losing his bid to become state insurance commissioner. Others receiving appointments include Jose Medina, a former San Francisco supervisor; former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre - even while he was the target of a federal corruption investigation; Kathy Neal, the wife of then-Assemblyman Elihu Harris; and Elihu Harris himself.

These commissions are full of individuals who have political connections but lack expertise, yet Californians pick up the tab for their upkeep.

One of the most recent appointees to a cushy commission position is Steve Maviglio. Maviglio was Gray Davis' press secretary and chief apologist for all the governor's fund-raising improprieties. Davis, in the waning hours of his administration, gave his loyal soldier a plump appointment to the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board - a post that pays $114,191 a year.

Recently, Maviglio has resurfaced as the spokesman for the Democratic Party - a political position aimed at defeating Republican candidates in an election year. He regularly sends out press releases and memos to political reporters throughout the normal workday. How he finds time for his political activities is anyone's guess, since Section 401 of the Unemployment Insurance Code specifically states, ``Each member of the board shall devote his full time to the performance of his duties.''

Maviglio double-dips from the taxpayer trough and the trough of special interests who contribute to the Democrats. No wonder he's working so hard to defeat the very candidates who will support Schwarzenegger's much-needed reforms of state government.