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By Bonnie Burns Price, PhD
January 16, 2010 (San Diego's East County)--California will soon have another opportunity to elect a governor. Because of the epic challenges facing the state, all citizens need to consider the candidates carefully. As one who has given California’s challenges a great deal of thought, I am convinced that Jerry Brown, California’s current attorney general, past mayor of Oakland, and past governor, is the most able candidate to deal with them.
What are these epic challenges?
Here are just a few:
The infrastructure of the state is crumbling and inadequate to the needs of California’s population, now estimated to be over 38 million. From aqueducts, dams, and levees to highways and public buildings, expansion, reconstruction, and maintenance are needed.
Unemployment exceeds 12%. That’s more than the national average of 10%. One of the reasons for the high unemployment rate is the inadequacy of the infrastructure. For example, farming counties in the Central Valley have had rates of 38% to 42% because farmers could not plant crops for lack of water supplies; deficient infrastructure to deliver water is part of the problem.
The state government has demonstrated its incapacity to cope with state problems by failing to deal with a structural deficit for more than a decade. Voter initiatives earmarking funds for specialized programs have complicated efforts to budget according to a well-structured plan. A new approach to budgeting and governing the state is imperative.
The preparedness of the next generation to rejuvenate California is questionable. Figures released recently by the United States Department of Education, through the National Assessment of Educational Progress for the 50 states, revealed this: Among eight graders, nation-wide, California students ranked 48th in reading and 49th in mathematics. Most community colleges have expanded basic skills courses more than ever before because so many entering students cannot read, write, or do mathematics at the college level. Prisons are filled with school dropouts, but more is spent to keep a person in state prison for a year ($46,000) than is spent per student, K-12 ($8,594).
To fund prisons, education funding has been cut. Yet leading Republican candidates have proposed even deeper tax cuts.
What kind of governor does California need to meet these challenges and others that threaten the future prosperity of this, the eighth largest economy in the world?
California needs a governor who will focus the attention of all Californians on the resolution of these epic challenges rather than the distractions of political division. California needs an experienced leader who has a record of grappling with public issues through multiple governmental positions and systems. California needs a governor whose intellectual capacity, personal integrity, and dedication to the public good are equal to the challenges requiring attention. In short, California needs Jerry Brown as its next governor.
Bonnie Burns Price, Ph.D. is a Democratic activist in La Mesa.
The opinions in this editorial reflect those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.
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