STUBBORN PARTISANSHIP MAY BANKRUPT CALIFORNIA.Byline: Walter P. Coombs Coombs can refer to:
DESPITE an apathetic ap·a·thet·ic adj. Lacking interest or concern; indifferent. ap  a·thet public, the enormity of the California budget crisis is slowly dawning on state and local officials who at last realize that the state's economic future is at risk. Unfortunately, the two state legislators who suddenly find themselves in the power seats are twiddling their thumbs and playing reckless partisan politics. State Sen. Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga, and state Assemblyman Dave Cox, R-Sacramento, have taken a public-be-damned attitude and have refused every attempt at a nonpartisan compromise. They are enforcing Republican Party discipline and will not permit any of their Assembly members to vote for a compromise that will provide temporary revenue enhancement revenue enhancement An increase in revenues, especially by way of increased taxes. Revenue enhancement includes reducing taxpayer deductions and eliminating tax credits. to ease the crisis. Every day we read of drastic cuts in needed health services health services Managed care The benefits covered under a health contract , educational funds, programs for the aged, infirm INFIRM. Weak, feeble. 2. When a witness is infirm to an extent likely to destroy his life, or to prevent his attendance at the trial, his testimony de bene esge may be taken at any age. 1 P. Will. 117; see Aged witness.; Going witness. and disabled. Public safety is threatened with the necessity to close down courtrooms, fire personnel, release prisoners before their time, and cut back on supervision of parolees and prisoners. The state's credit standing is teetering on the brink of disaster and municipalities and counties will soon have to cut back their services to unmanageable levels. The time to act is now. Cities and counties throughout California should immediately instruct their representatives in the Legislature to come to terms with the crisis. The city councils of Rancho Cucamonga and nearby Ontario should tell Sen. Brulte to stop stalling, and the city councils of Fair Oaks and Sacramento should do the same with Assemblyman Cox. The California State Chamber of Commerce and the local chambers should get involved in the lobbying effort, as should the California Taxpayers Association and the Howard Jarvis folks. California business leaders should take the initiative and call in some of their markers for the vast political contributions they have made. The bond houses and securities dealers should add their voices. The loss of California's credit standing is too enormous to contemplate and the fact of state bankruptcy is too real to be ignored. These people should get involved because in large part they are responsible for the California debacle. The legislation to deregulate deregulate To reduce or eliminate control. One of the major forces in the financial markets in the 1970s and 1980s was the federal government's decision to deregulate interest rates. California's energy system was eagerly advanced and supported by Gov. Pete Wilson and the entire California establishment, sailing through the Legislature with no hearings and in record time. California consumers immediately noticed unconscionable Unusually harsh and shocking to the conscience; that which is so grossly unfair that a court will proscribe it. When a court uses the word unconscionable to describe conduct, it means that the conduct does not conform to the dictates of conscience. increases in their energy bills. When Gov. Gray Davis appealed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the United States federal agency with jurisdiction over electricity sales, wholesale electric rates, hydroelectric licensing, natural gas pricing, and oil pipeline rates. for regulatory relief, he was told to get lost. Now we learn that there was a carefully orchestrated plan by energy companies with the knowledge of the FERC FERC Federal Energy Regulatory Commission FERC FEMA Emergency Response Capability to fleece the California consumer. It's high time that Brulte and Cox stop their damaging tactics and agree to the compromise proposal. That would at least staunch the flow of the deficit and give some hope for emerging from the mess, limit the fiscal danger to at least a small extent, preserve the state's credit rating, and prevent further Draconian cuts in essential public services. |
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