Democracy ain't pretty

Lobby Day Participants 2009

Fellow prisoners,

Was gone for the first three days of this week. Went to Sacramento, the state capitol, to participate in Lobby Day. I was one of approximately 60 California State University Employee's Union (CSUEU) members who spent Tuesday, April 28 lobbying the state legislature.



The reason why we were there was to meet with our local legislators and urge them not to cut the budget of the California State University system (CSU). CSUEU staff members had scheduled appointments with each of our local legislators. I was teamed with Kathryn Plunkett our chapter's vice president and chief steward. We had appointment with an assistant from Sen. Roy Ashburn's office and appointment with Assemblywoman Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield. We also made drop in calls to the offices of Rep. Danny Gilmore, R-Hanford, Juan Arambula, D-Fresno, and Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter.



We had our the same talking points that we used last year, the cutting the CSU is bad for California, the University educations the majority of the state's, teachers, nurses, public safety officials and public administrators; every dollar the state invests in the CSU returns $4.41 to the economy and that the CSU generated $3.1 billion in revenue for the state in 2003. As we made our pitch to the one of the representative's staffer, they would nod their heads, patiently. It was obvious that they had heard all this before. My take on the pitch was two fold, our talking points made a convince case, and when negotiations and the ensuing horse-trading started, that compare our case with competing arguments when putting together the budget. The other point I tried to make was that the United States still has the reputation of having one of the finest university systems in the world. Students from around the world come to America and Cal State Bakersfield for an American university education. Thus higher education is still something we can sell to rest of the world, especially when the world has no interest in buying our cars or collateralized debt obligations.

Everyone we talked to assured us that they would do their best for the CSU and that the representative, while unable to meet with us, considered quality education to be vital to the state's economy. They also said that there was nothing that could be done until propositions 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 1F, were passed by the voters.

Which was interesting because the propositions were a hot topic during our stay in Sacramento. It's not easy for any politician to advocate raising taxes these days, which is why they punted and put it into the hands of the voters. The best our elected representatives could do was to shirk their fiscal responsibilities and make the voters do their job for them. The general of consensus of union leaders was that Prop 1A was bad news and union members should work hard to defeat it.

When I returned from Sacramento thinking that as a citizen who cares about sound government finances, I should vote for Proposition 1A, 1C, 1D and 1E. Then I read an editorial panel discussion in the Los Angeles Times where opponents of the propositions met with the editors of The Times. According to Janis R. Hirohama, League of Women Voters

I have trouble with the concept that because this is all that's on the table and that they didn't do any better, that the Big Five and the Legislature could not come up with anything better than this, that this is what they're offering us and it's either take it or walk away. And I think that going for a bad budget deal that, as Jean pointed out, is actually going to make things probably worse for us down the road, is not an answer. And the fact that they said, "Well, this is all we could do. It was a miracle that we could get three Republicans even to vote for this, and we had no choice, and if you care about California you would support this." Actually, I have friends and relatives who are telling me that.

I hate to say it, but I think I'm going to wind up not voting for any of the propositions. Perhaps by saying no, the governor and the leaders of the legislature will have to summon the political courage to raise taxes and also cut spending and give the citizens a balanced budget that reflects the people's vision and desire for state government.

When I say that I may vote against all the propositions, I am only stating my position. I would urge everyone to take sometime to read the ballot measures, decide on how they are going to vote and then vote in the upcoming election. As any public administation student will tell you, the budget is a reflection of how we a citizens see the Golden State. What can of state do you want California to be?

Capitano Tedeschi

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