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Good riddance, Davis only brought us grief

Guest Column, Prentiss Davis

I’m weary of reading silly political commentary on the recent recall claiming a Republican conspiracy and seeing imaginary causes listed for California’s problems.

The problem in California is simply liberalism run amok. In California, a growing underclass with no sense of self sufficiency, less interested in traditional government services seeking only largess, and fueled by runaway immigration has met a political class, now with virtually unlimited power, whose primary goal is to expand the level of government dependency and therefore increase their own power.

Prior to the recent election, every statewide elected official in California was a liberal Democrat. Gov. Davis governed with heavy majorities in the State Assembly, the State Senate and a very sympathetic judiciary. You can also add a mostly Democrat congressional delegation and two very liberal Democrat US senators (you would need to revisit Huey Long’s Louisiana to find a similar situation). Only California’s two-thirds supermajority for new tax bills has stood as an obstacle to this runaway train.



Simply put, spending has increased 40 percent since Davis took office and Davis has added. 40,000 (Davis talks about his “hiring freeze”) new employees. During Davis’ years as governor, our state’s population has grown 21 percent and the state’s revenues 25 percent, hardly a shortage of funds. In five years, our county building in Truckee has become the new home of state agencies that didn’t exist before Davis was governor, agencies devoted to giving away money and buying votes.

The inevitable result is California’s budget deficit, $38 billion and growing. And I’ll bet that if an independent audit is ever done, it’s actually a lot worse.



In addition, state agencies have been deferring essential maintenance of our infrastructure, a time bomb that will explode in the not-too-distant future, probably on governor-elect Schwarzenegger’s watch. I shutter to think of how many new county, school, and local government employees have been added to the public payroll, often with federal grant money that then must be replaced with state funds when the federal grants run out.

In California, the state that built most of the airplanes and liberty ships that won World War II, we now have far more public sector jobs than manufacturing jobs. Our oil fields, steel mills, auto assembly plants, the timber industry and refineries are mostly gone. We whined about the cost of gasoline and electricity, but refused to allow their adequate production within California’s borders, with no leadership from Gov. Davis. The lieutenant governor even brags of shutting down oil production.

California’s elected officials apparently fail to notice a huge and growing underclass, many of whom are immigrants with little or no stake in California’s future. They own nothing taxable, pay no income tax and often have no intention of remaining here permanently. Various estimates put immigrant’s consumption of the state’s social services at 40-50 percent. After Pmex, (Mexico’s state oil monopoly) private money sent back from the United States is Mexico’s single greatest source of income. Is anyone else concerned about this drain on California’s economy?

With the immigrant population consuming such a large percentage of social services, education and criminal justice dollars, perhaps cheap labor isn’t so cheap after all.

During the last days of the recall campaign, Gov. Davis tested our intelligence with commercials claiming that the state’s budget grew less under his administration than under the two Browns, Pete Wilson or Reagan. The commercials omitted the fact that all those governors served eight years to Davis’s five.

Now Gov. Davis demonstrates his contempt for the voters by continuing to sign bills and make appointments after being expressly asked by Governor-elect Schwarzenegger to refrain from doing so. Liberal judges continue to be appointed by lame duck Davis.

I would like to list just some of the accomplishments of Gov. Gray Davis:

– Illegal aliens can now attend our colleges and universities at the resident tuition rates.

– Illegal aliens can now get a California driver’s license.

– The formerly worthless counselor cards issued by foreign governments are now legal identification in California.

– California’s auto registration fees are now among the highest in the nation.

– Homosexuals living together now have all the rights and privileges formerly reserved for traditional marriages.

– Tuition and fees at our states colleges and universities have been raised so that many of our young citizens can no longer afford to attend college.

– Less than 20 percent of California’s residents can afford the median-priced home.

– California’s employers can no longer deny a job to a transvestite.

– California’s credit rating is sinking and soon the state will be unable to borrow money.

– California’s small businesses, many of whom cannot afford to do so, are now required to provide health care to all their full time employees.

– Under some circumstances, illegal aliens can attend our junior colleges free of charge.

– Motorists can now speed through California’s agricultural inspection stations without stopping, putting California’s multibillion dollar agriculture business in serious jeopardy.

– Perhaps readers writing to praise Gov. Davis and condemn the Republican conspiracy would like to add to this list.

Prentiss M. Davis is a Truckee resident by way of Connecticut, the US Army and Newport Beach.


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