drig's Journal: California Recall Election

Here are my thoughts on the California recall election.

I think the recall is a bad idea. Yeah, it's legal. That doesn't make it a good idea. For a state that's in a budget crises, spending millions of dollars on this election makes no sense. The voting booths are still being replaced, after the 2000 Florida debacle, so 40,000 voters won't have their votes counted. Finally, I don't think Grey Davis is really doing that bad a job.

Let me first state that I didn't vote for him. And, in a fair, normal election, I wouldn't. I voted for Camejo and would proudly vote Green again. But, I don't think he's done such a bad job to justify trampling on the votes of the electorate.

Okay, the energy crises was bungled. If you count how much we lost on that issue and how far in debt we are, the numbers almost match. So, if he hadn't screwed up the energy crises, there would be practically no debt.

That whole Oracle scam was bad. Medicare and workman's comp seems pretty screwed up. There are a bunch of little issues. If you look at any politician, you'll find these. Does it mean that he's dishonest or inept? I don't think so.

Everyone's pointing to the economy. The economy's bad for everyone. Republican tax breaks for the rich and insane deregulation got us into this. The solution that everyone's seeking? More of the same.

Let me go off on a tangent here. The republicans are saying that companies are leaving California because of the high taxes. But, companies in California have some of the lowest taxes ever. I find working in Silicon Valley (I can't speak for the South) tough because:
        * There is no mass transit to speak of.
        * Housing prices are too high
        * Most of the skilled work force is brought in at slave-labor conditions.

What are my solutions:
      * Raise corporate taxes and invest in BART, CalTrain and Muni
      * Encourage new housing growth by raising local property taxes, funding low-income housing, and giving more income tax breaks to first-time home owners
      * Revise H1B1 visa laws to reflect their original intent, hiring extremely skilled workers. My top priority there is to make it much harder to fire workers and to give large penalties to companies whose H1B1 workers quit. If companies can't treat H1's as slave labor, they will be more reluctant to replace expensive local workers with cheap immigrants.

So, who is saying this in the recall election? Certainly not Grey Davis. Arnold and McClintock want to lower corporate taxes, reduce funding to mass transit, and increase the number of H1B1s. Bustamonte doesn't address these issues. Camejo comes the closest to my views. Makes me proud that I voted for him in the real election.

So, I'll vote for Camejo. Again. Maybe this time he'll win.