I thought a long while before writing this post. I lived with Mayor Sander’s position on gay marriage. Gave him a pass, for the good of party unity. I was pretty upset with his position on the Arizona law, but largely kept my mouth shut. But this sales tax increase is just too much.
The one thing that holds the center right together is a general understanding that tax increases are not the answer to government spending. Anyone who has even a passing familiarity with the City of San Diego budget knows they haven’t really dug in to cut. Multi-million dollar arts budgets, staff for various meaningless commissions and committees, it goes on and on. But, the simple truth is, the ‘establishment’ likes government subsidies for their pet projects (like the wildlife park that the City of Chula Vista runs when they can’t manage to balance their budget, or Supervisor Pam Slater’s endless giving of taxpayer money to the arts that very few but she and her friends enjoy), but of course like other people to pick up the tab.
What I can’t for the life of me figure out is why the Voice or the UT, with their superior budgets and ‘investigative reporters’, have not appeared to actually dig into the budget itself to really find out if there is waste. Hell, there are a hundred ways to do this. Open up the books, get a couple City Hall experts, and let a few people, from both right and left run wild. After all, labor has an interest in this… at the end of the day they lose their jobs because of waste and pay the higher taxes. Anyone?
Comments 5
The U-T tries to justify the increase by telling us Chapstick will only cost a penny more…that’s the extent of their investigative reporting.
I’m actually more disappointed with the Voice than I am with the UT. The UT is moribund. It has no energy or drive left. In essence, the UT is all wire service.
On the other hand the Voice has energy and drive. They COULD do something like actually getting experts to look at the budget. Instead they, by my reading, are quite cheerleaders for the tax increase. OK – maybe a tax increase might be needed but PROVE it guys…
Wait a minute, D7 voter !
The U-T gave you In-depth coverage of the ComicCon,
and many color photos of people wearing funny hats
at the Del Mar races. Let’s be fair about this. — 😉
I read the Voice daily. It’s a great addition to city politics, and the city generally. But I agree. I’ve starting noticing a bit more of a ‘raise taxes stupid’ bent to the reporting.
I love the idea of having some from the left and some from the right, with some experts on the budget, sort through it. You know that the politicians downtown otherwise won’t cut the fat.
At long last I am starting to feel vindicated about Sanders. I was against this mayor from the beginning. Problem is that this do nothing major is in his second term. You cannot put someone who has no business experience or background in this position and expect positive results. We get these type of leaders as a reaction to our previous leadership failures. Although I did not care for Francis, he would have done a much better job than Sanders. I had a hard time with Francis’s positions on social issues. As far as economic experience he was vastly superior to Sanders.
What I want to know is where are the Ronald Reagan’s of this World?