by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Consider this an open thread.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Because apparently everybody loves an overpriced and overhyped idea, the Governator wants to do some more public-private partnerships for road maintenance and such:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday proposed an expanded push for public-private partnerships and set a goal to add 20,000 new engineers to California's work force as part of his upcoming January budget plan.

The Schwarzenegger administration wants the state to expand the types of public projects that can be built with the financial might of private companies.Current law does not allow state government broad authority to use this type of contracting - known as a Performance Based Infrastructure - except in emergencies or through legislative approval. (SacBee 12.27.07)

The thing is, as both Robert and I have argued, they don't actually end up cheaper, or more efficient. Sure, they have success stories here and there, but overwhelmingly, what ends up happening is once the cameras disappear from the press conferences hyping these P3s, the bill gets higher as the owners of the corporation demand higher and higher profits. Oh, and they don't have the same labor standards as state agencies do.

So, yeah, let's line the pockets of investors with our state general fund. Sounds like a great plan.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Capitol Alert is pretty cool now that it's not behind a paywall. And today they delivered a little email telling me, right away, that the health care plan should now be referred to in the past tense.  From Senator Perata:

"I think it's DOA. I haven't found anybody yet that I have talked to that can make any sense out of it. It sounds ridiculous to say that we're going to have health care for everybody in four years, but in the meantime most people won't have health care because we have to cut the budget," Perata told KPIX.(CapAlert 12.18.07)

You can even watch the video here (comments around the 3 min mark.) So, well it looks like this plan will be another casualty of the growing budget deficit.  Now, let's see, how did we get into this mess. Ah, yes, the governator "Terminated" the "Car Tax" to show he was no "Girlie Man" on Taxes.  Well, now that he's boxed himself into a corner over his tax populism, where does he go now.  How does he impliment his agenda without spending money?

So, what's next?

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Got any suggestions for the Governator? List them in the comments of this somewhat open thread.

I'll start. He should SIGN AB 1294, to allow instant runoff voting in municipalities, and VETO AB 1430, which stops municipalities from creating more strict campaign finance restrictions and would likely eliminate any publicly funded elections in the cities. To write the Governor a letter opposing AB 1430, go to the Clean Money Campaign's website and they'll hook you up.