Three Former Governors Honestly Explain California’s Government and Budget Problems
December 7, 2008 by Johnny California
Filed under 2010 Election, Ballot Proposition Reform, Ballot Propositions, Budget Crisis, California Legislature, Jerry Brown
In this morning’s email, we found this video of UCLA- sponsored 2005 panel discussion between former Governors Jerry Brown, George Dukemajian, and Gray Davis. The topic is “How Can California Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century.”
If you ever want to understand California’s budget problems, why the government is so dysfunctional, and how it needs to change, then you should watch this. These guys are surprisingly relaxed, straight-forward, candid, and funny-for-politicians. They explain the problems in plain language that’s easy to understand. And most importantly, they discuss the importance of crafting policy that responds to California’s population growth — which never happens during a campaign.
Even though this event was 3 1/2 years ago, the problems with the budget process are exactly the same. There’s much talk about the importance of re-districting which finally came to pass with the passage of this year’s Prop. 11 (although not with retired judges as these guys originally hoped, but with a the bi-partisan committee).
If you want to understand California, this is worth 59 minutes of your time. Actually, the first 13 minutes are introduction, so you can scroll through that if you want.
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