COVERITLIVE.COM

11:56

Chris Reed - Hi, welcome to this chat, I'm happy to take your questions on any topic, preferably ones I know something about.

11:56

Chris Reed - State politics, the special election, etc., are good topics.

12:04

SignOnLiveChatModerator - Chris, what is the most important item on the ballot in the upcoming election?

12:07

Chris Reed - It's Prop 1A, which would divert revenue during good years to a "rainy day" fund for use during bad years while extending tax hikes for two years.

Fans say it's an essential reform.

Non-fans (me) say it's not nearly strong enough and has numerous downsides, such as the fact that its companion measure, 1B, would divert $9.3 billion from ever reaching the rainy day fund and give it to schools.

It's insane to not link school funding to reforms. School quality is not a function of school spending. If it were, schools would be far better than they used to be.

12:14

SignOnLiveChatModerator - Schwarzenneger supports the ballot measures, but his popularity is very low. In 2005 when his popularity was also low, a series of ballot propositions he supported all went down to defeat. Will this May's election be a repeat of 2005?

12:16

Chris Reed - It will be, but the circumstances are different.

In 2005, Arnold was taking on the Sacramento establishment -- the dominant Democrats, the media, the unions, the trial lawyers. He proposed several reforms, including a spending cap that would have made the present crisis much less severe. The establishment buried him.

This time, he's with the establishment -- and the public is going to bury him. The mood is very much like 2003.

12:26

Chris Reed - Some people are online reading -- questions please!

12:27

Chris Reed - Or comments!

12:28

Chris Reed - Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

12:29

SignOnLiveChatModerator - Chris, California seems to be in a perpetual budget crisis. Do you see the current crisis going away when the economy rebounds, or does California need to reform its entire budgeting process?

12:31

Chris Reed - The crisis may not go away for many years. If California adopts a true spending limit, capping spending growth to inflation plus population growth, that would be very helpful.

But if you believe, as I do, that anti-global warming measures adopted and implemented by California alone will cripple the economy, then revenue will still flag. And so we'll see never-ending campaigns that either try to undo the spending cap or make it easier to raise taxes or in general try to return to the way California has been run over the last nine years.

Namely, to keep increasing spending and government employees and business regulations no matter what, damn the consequences.

12:46

[Comment From Dr. Malcolm Gunderson]
Mr. Reed, I read your blog and the edit pages of the UT and I detect a bias against chiropractic medicine. What profession is next in your witch hunt? Cobblers? Roofers? Sheep herders?

12:48

Chris Reed -

Dr. Gunderson, I go after chiropractors because they claim their techniques are based on documented science, and they're not. If you really are a chiro, you're aware of the split within chiro ranks. Something like one-third of chiros make outlandish claims about being able to cure angina, hearing problems, etc. The other two-thirds think this is outrageous. Name me any medical profession in which a large number of practitioners make absurd claims. I've seen Yellow Pages ads in which chiropractors claim to be able to cure PMS!

12:48

[Comment From JB]
I know it is early, but what stance, if any, has future canidates running for governor taken on these propositions?

12:49

Chris Reed - On the GOP side, Tom Campbell is for 1A. Poizner and Whitman are against. On Dem side, Jerry Brown backs the props. Not sure what Gavin "Whether You Like It Or Not" Newsom thinks.

12:50

Chris Reed - Or Villaraigosa, for that matter.

12:56

Chris Reed - Thanks to those who participated.

12:57

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