Davis glosses over problems in address

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While Gov. Gray Davis may see a “bright” future for
California, the spark of energy he’s looking for burned out
sometime last summer.

Despite a sense of optimism in his Tuesday State of the State
Address, good times in the Golden State are buried beneath a
recession, a 15-percent budget cut for state-funded agencies,
underperforming schools, an increase in sales tax, a hiring freeze
and a terrorist threat ““ not far from his reelection
hopes.

The governor’s take on the situation in California is
exaggerated at best. And, though difficult to discern through all
the propaganda he espoused, the substance of his argument was all
but hopeful.

Perhaps before Davis grows tired of patting himself on the back
for things like cutting taxes by $4.3 billion, the creation of 17
new power plants, a call for the legislature to make a $2 billion
budget cut, and the protection of his self-proclaimed No. 1
priority, education, he should consider the circumstances of those
actions.

It’s great to return $4.3 billion to the pockets of
California tax payers, but not when the 2002-2003 budget will fall
$12 billion short. The creation of 17 new power plants would have
been a lot more helpful before the energy crisis reached the height
of its damage, considering the governor knew about the potential
for trouble when he entered office. And education isn’t much
of a priority when K-12 students go on to California colleges where
budgets are severely cut and there are no jobs waiting for them
come graduation.

In addition to these résumé highlights, Davis was also
invisible during last year’s dot-com crash, reminiscent of
the flight of military agencies from California in the late 1980s
that contributed greatly to the recession of the early 1990s. Where
was the government when it was time to bail out the failing
industry? Were the covers on the bed a little too fresh for the
exchange of political favors? The dot-com crash resulted in the
loss of thousands of jobs, not to mention billions of dollars in
revenue, and was a driving force behind our current economic
woes.

In the wake of the crash, California’s energy crisis
didn’t stop with the building of 17 power plants.
Californians paid double and triple their energy bills while Davis
ignored the problem. He’s always quick to point out that he
inherited the energy problem from his Republican predecessors, but
his response to the situation can only be described as
procrastination.

Despite these catastrophes and the severe downturn in the
economy, Davis maintains that California will be “much
stronger than it was just three years ago,” when he took
office.

What may get the now-politically-troubled governor somewhere is
a little bit of honesty. Instead of hiding behind the effects of
Sept. 11, which was a key theme of the speech, Davis should admit
that some of last year’s situations like the energy crisis
and the dot-com crash were handled poorly. He should level with
Californians and tell them the future is uncertain at the moment
but that through their effort can be promising. As a public leader,
Davis has an obligation to keep his constituents informed about the
real problems California is facing.