Presidents have little influence over the quality of most services provided by California’s governments. For example, public school kids in California have long been poorly served regardless of who has sat in the Oval Office and it’s not presidents who drain funds from UC and CSU to overcompensate prison staff. But that won’t stop Governor Newsom and some other state lawmakers from employing Donald Trump’s election as a distraction from their failures to provide services.
Don’t let them get away with it. When they point to Trump, you should point to the 29 legal codes over which they have authority and demand they do their jobs. To start, they should reverse last year’s dangerous depletion of financial reserves and reject Newsom’s crony-capitalist proposal to boost tax credits for motion picture production. Spending more on corporate welfare while depleting reserves is reason enough to reject the idea but if that doesn’t convince you then consider the fact that the motion picture industry resides in one of 90 categories of industry, contributes <1.5% to state GDP and employs <0.5% of the state’s workers. Newsom’s proposal is pure politics and if he gets his way, keep an eye out for donations from Hollywood for his presidential campaign.
We are happy with election results in California, primarily because of the passage by a large margin of Proposition 36 led by San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, the success of our GOP slate that pragmatic Democratic legislators quietly hope will give them more leverage, and the progress of political philanthropies we support that focus on K-12, UC, and local governance in San Francisco, the East Bay and Los Angeles. Let us know of any questions.
