Happy New Year

2009 PECG Fresno Section

Old Year 2008 is now past! Long live New Year 2009!

Here in California, we know for a fact that taxes are bad. But, taxes pay our salaries. We also know that investments that promote the general welfare are good. But we know that in the civil infrastructure alone there are hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars worth of unmet maintenance and replacement needs.

We who work as professionals in public service are acutely aware of the contributions we make to the benefit of all Californians. Our work is measured in terms of public safety, public health, public mobility, public education. Our work is not measured in terms of profit to a small group of investors. We can be and we are proud of what we contribute to the well-being of all who live in or visit this state. We are unsung heroes.

The context of our contribution is State Government. Some among us, and some who are elected to the Government think, believe, and act as if all government were always bad. This attitude generates a self-fulfilling prophecy because the beneficial and useful aspects of government are systematically distorted, starved, drowned, and ignored. The resulting weakness and inadequacy thereby created becomes proof that government is bad and cannot be trusted. The Wrecking Crew replaces dedicated civil servants.

The California State budget needs to be balanced annually for political and Constitutional reasons. Economic, societal, and scientific analyses might well indicate other, more rational, cycles. Furthermore, Californians, who know that all taxes are always bad, re-created the budgeting process to give the minority a veto. Californians also established their legislative districts to preserve the status quo. Many of us are left wondering if the State of California is governable at all.

California is failing to prepare its communities to flourish and excel the global economy.  California is struggling to address serious failures in education, health and human services, transit and infrastructure development, and environmental protection.  Obstacles to progress are rooted at least in part in outmoded institutions of governance.  Political stalemates, chronic fiscal problems and management failures all validate the need for major reforms. This is odd behavior for a State whose economy is the eighth largest in the world.

Change is possible—it is essential. We professionals working in California government can rally around the common hopes of all Californians for the future of California. We can help vitalize the political, fiscal and civic infrastructure of our State, so that government can develop the sound policies and deliver the high quality services needed for California to achieve its greatest potential in the coming decades.

How to achieve this goal is a major question. Four major challenges emerge as primary: health care, education, the environment and economic growth. In order to meet them, it is clear that the state will need dramatically to change how public decisions are made and how public dollars are spent.

In recognition of these challenges, five major California foundations (The California Endowment, The Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation) asked four civic organizations (California Common Cause, Center for Governmental Studies, New California Network and The Commonwealth Club of California's Voices of Reform Project) to recommend a plan to achieve this change.

California Forward is the result.  The goal of California Forward is to contribute to improving the quality of life for all Californians by creating more responsive, representative and cost-effective government. Thomas V. McKernan (R), and Leon E. Panetta (D) are Co-Chairs.

Visit this site to learn more: http://caforward.org/home.

James M. Orr

PECG Fresno Section Vice President, Rank and File

NOTE: The statements above are mine and mine alone. They do not reflect necessarily the policy or opinions of PECG, PECG Fresno Section, or the officers or executives of PECG or the PECG Fresno Section. All of you who read this are encouraged to conduct your own research, analyze the data you find, and arrive at conclusions you can defend.