This op-ed originally appeared in the Flashreport
We are witnessing the “Graying” of Governor Brown. While Republicans started the successful recall effort of Gray Davis, it was Democrats that made the recall possible. Pressure from state government unions, environmental lobbies and other left-leaning and business interests had pushed an agenda destined to fail. The dot-com bust, budget deficits, inability to coerce his party’s Legislature to pass a budget (balanced or not) and an electricity crisis leading to rolling black outs sealed the Governor’s fate.
In swaggers his successor, the Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger who balanced the 2003 budget with $15 billion in debt and bipartisan support. After a failed attempt to pass a series of initiatives, taking on just about every special interest group, Schwarzenegger seemed to give up on reforms. He became the “Build It” Governor with voter approved bond debt, while continuing to increase spending and add to the already burdensome regulatory environment. He ended his term with burgeoning budget deficits, debt, 12% unemployment and a 23% voter approval rating.
Enter Governor Jerry Brown Redux. Brown inherited a $35 billion accumulated structural General Fund deficit, a maxed-out short and long term borrowing capacity, Schwarzenegger’s greenhouse gas initiative AB 32 (to be implemented with cap and trade) and an out of control high-speed rail project. He is struggling to balance the budget, pushing for more taxes to supposedly fund education and bail out a virtually bankrupt state. Unfortunately, there is no reality check to stop the growth in government programs or debt, short of warnings from credit markets and lenders demanding higher taxes or trigger cuts to ensure short-term loans are repaid. Needing only a simple majority to pass a budget, the Governor’s party in the Legislature stonewalls budget reductions, and pretends that speculative and phantom income will solve the continual cash flow crises as California careens off the financial cliff.
Hence, Brown’s vocal support for high-speed rail cannot be overlooked. It will compound our debt if we can get it and require future federal and local funds to support the state or the project. The revised, unrealistic, fourth business plan has become the project of NO:
- No accurate ridership study (the basis from which all other decisions must follow),
- No designated confirmed funding sources to complete a requisite segment,
- No accurate or supportable capital or operating cost analysis,
- No finalized right of way agreements,
- No trainset (important to know what specs one is building to accommodate),
- No electrification for the initial construction section,
- No Environmental Impact Report process or California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) clearance,
- No private sector interest to invest in the low-ridership Central Valley area.
The plan also includes numerous violations of the underlying legislation defining the criteria for spending the $9.95 billion 2008 voter-approved bond. The Legislative Analyst, State Auditor and the project’s own Peer Review Group have raised huge red flags. The project is under review by the Government Accountability Office in Washington, DC, and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has issued cease and desist orders to prevent the California High Speed Rail Authority from destroying emails.
But California continues racing down the tracks with no real plan for this huge infrastructure project, except elusive funding from a cap and trade marketing scheme, and rapidly waning public support. The state has $3.3 billion promised from the feds if we match fund with $2.7 billion of state debt for 100+ miles of track. Estimates are that the California High Speed Rail Authority will need to spend at the rate of $3.5 million every day (holidays and weekends included) to meet the federal funding completion deadline of September 2017. This unlikely feat would involve the granting of 120 permits and eminent domain of 1,100 parcels of land along the initial 130 mile proposed route.
To accomplish this Herculean task, the Legislature is considering slipping an exemption for CEQA into a budget “trailer bill” retroactively affecting existing lawsuits, and modifying the voter approved initiative to fit the new “blended plan.” Senate Bill 1117 is also moving forward to provide authorization for central planning of statewide rail, local financial support and cooperation with high-speed rail.
Putting aside party politics, for the future of our state, and that of our children and grandchildren, let’s hope the effort fails. If passed, Brown will pound the final nail in the state’s financial coffin, and run afoul of the everyday people that support him and need him to succeed. While he will never be recalled, Brown’s being Grayed.