California Conservative

California conservatives have an opportunity in the upcoming special election to help break the stranglehold the Left has had on state government for years.

While Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may not be in tune with all conservatives, he understands that the hold of the Democrats and their labor union allies must be broken for our state to progress. Knowing that the Democrat-dominated legislature would never make the necessary reforms, he bypassed the legislature by supporting a series of initiatives in the upcoming election.

Proposition 74, “Accountability in the Classroom,” is the first of four propositions specifically backed by the governor.

California schools are in trouble. Everyone knows this to be the case. There are many reasons for the poor state of the schools. Overcrowded classrooms, due largely to illegal immigration, lack of English-language proficiency by pupils, bad classroom discipline and poor teacher quality all contribute to the dismal state of the state’s schools.

This final issue is addressed by Prop. 74. Under the current system, teachers receive tenure after two years, virtually guaranteeing lifetime employment. The proposition would extend the probationary period from two to five years with annual performance reviews before granting tenure. Should a teacher receive two consecutive unfavorable performance reviews, that teacher may be fired. Additionally, local board may decide not to rehire any teacher during the five-year probationary period.

Naturally, the teachers’ union opposes this measure that would force its members to be accountable for their performance. The California Teachers Association (CTA) has spent more than $45 million opposing this measure. The CTA is proving once again that it is not interested in improving education in California; it is simply interested in getting more money for its membership and protecting their employment, regardless of qualifications.

In some industries, this attitude could be tolerated. But not in the state’s schools where California’s children are educated. The stakes are simply too high.

California conservatives should support Proposition 74.

Proposition 75 is titled “Paycheck Protection.” It would require public employee unions to obtain written permission from individual members to use their dues for political purposes. The union bosses and Democrats are screaming bloody murder about Prop 75 and have spent more than $100 million to defeat it.

Because of the incestuous relationship between the union bosses and Democratic Party, it is difficult to separate the two. What is known is that the Democrats in Sacramento put the public employee unions’ interests ahead of those of the state at large. Just examine the pension situation for proof.

But the union bosses fear their own membership. They know that many union members are social and fiscal conservatives who resent their dues being used to advance causes in which they do not believe. If they have to ask permission first, they know many members will just say “no.”

Opponents of Proposition 75 say it is just a ploy to break the power of the public employee unions. They are right.

California conservatives should support Proposition 75.

Proposition 76 is called “State Budget Reform.” Essentially, it would require that the state not spend more than it takes in, create a “rainy day” fund when revenues are high, and permit the governor to take action during a fiscal emergency to cut spending, even from entitlement programs.

The state’s budget process is broken. Presently California is $22 billion in debt. Since the 1999–2000 fiscal year, state spending has increased at twice the rate of revenue intake.

Opponents of the measure, the usual suspects such as the teachers and public employee unions, claim that it may mean funding cuts for certain programs. They are right. It will force legislators to ask themselves, “How can we fund this program?” before enacting ever-more expensive projects with built-in escalating funding. It will force the legislature to become responsible stewards of the public’s treasury.

California conservatives should support Proposition 76.

Proposition 77, “Hold the Politicians Accountable” changes how the state is redistricted. Under the present system, the state is redistricted every 10 years following the census. The redistricting is controlled by the legislature.

This system has led to decades of abuse in which redistricting was gerrymandered in an attempt to keep the dominant party in power. Even worse, the last redistricting that followed the 2000 census seemed design to simply keep the incumbents of both parties in power. In fact, of the 153 districted seats up for election in 2004 (80 Assembly, 20 State Senate and 53 Congressional) not one incumbent lost.

Prop 77 would take redistricting out of the hands of the legislature by creating a nonpartisan panel of three retired judges. It also puts some requirement on how districts are drawn. For example, each State Senate district must be comprised of two adjacent Assembly districts. The splitting of counties and cities into different districts must be minimized. Finally, the panel cannot consider information relating to party affiliation when drawing the districts.

For the first time, California might have districts that actually represent the interests of the people in specific areas rather than that of politicos.

California conservatives should support Proposition 77.

These propositions are far from perfect. They all have flaws. But the fact remains that the present system is broken. These propositions represent the best chance in years to break the stranglehold union bosses, the Democratic Party and radical leftists have on the Golden State.

All California conservatives should vote this Nov. 8 and vote “yes” on Propositions 74, 75, 76 and 77.

Kip Allen is an award-winning broadcast and newspaper journalist currently residing in Southern California. He is a contributor to CaliforniaConservative.org, and you may read more of his work here.

RELATED:
November 8th: California’s Special Election
and Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Initiatives

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 1st, 2005 at 8:04 am and is filed under Arnold, Author: Kip Allen, California, Elections, Op-Ed, Special Interests. 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.