Forget “2012.” The true disaster epic set in California is the state budget. It’s already out of whack (again), it’s been out of whack, and it’s only going to get far, far worse.

Meanwhile, here’s how many Democrats are declared in the governor’s race:  none. Jerry Brown is still asking for money, but he’s not running for anything. Of the three Republicans running, two are fantastically wealth, and as such can afford to be deluded about what would fix our state budget. Predictably, they’re vowing to  balance the budget through cuts. News alert to them:  If you cut all the discretionary spending out of the state budget, it won’t balance. The third Republican, Tom Campbell, is someone I’ve met several times and someone I respect, and his determination to balance the budget is serious. For one thing, he’s proposing some tax hikes. But there’s little likelihood the state GOP will nominate him, precisely because of those tax hikes.

Today at a political luncheon I wound up seated with an Assemblyman from Los Angeles County. (No, not the one I’ve often written about here.) I was bemoaning the lack of gubernatorial candidates — again, the Democrats have none declared — and he floated the notion of running.  He figured he’d get 25% of the vote just for not being Jerry Brown. (I figure that number may be low.) I tried to talk him into it, but got nowhere, and then he tried to talk me into it, and got nowhere. And then we talked about all the other people who aren’t running and won’t run:  the state controller, the former state superintendent of schools, either of our senators… oh, the list is endless.

Our projected deficit over the next two years is $41 billion. And almost no one will stand up and do something about it. That’s a sad statement. It makes me think that with similar leadership 230 years ago, we’d all still be subjects of the British crown.

I’m sorely tempted to get my name on the ballot. Just to be a nuisance.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 12:08 am and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.