Posted on 06/11/2005 10:46:30 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN FRANCISCO — Policy experts pondering California's future governance Friday heard two voices from the past — former Gov. Gray Davis and former Secretary of State Bill Jones — offering cautionary advice.
Davis spoke on "Public Sentiment, Ethics and the Law" at the Commonwealth Club of California's reform conference, titled "If It's Broke Fix It! Making California Government Work For Californians."
"All reform comes from the people of this state," Davis said, and "not all reforms work out." As an example, he cited electricity deregulation, which he called "probably the single most colossal mistake" in recent California history.
"And no matter how lofty your title, your success depends on the good will and acceptance of many other people," said Davis, recalled by voters in a historic 2003 election that replaced him with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger. "And I submit myself as Exhibit A."
Jones, speaking to the conference earlier Friday, said California's governance should be dynamic, changing with the evolution of the population and public will, but gerrymandered districts have ensured a stagnant Legislature. Removing reapportionment from lawmakers' control and redrawing district lines as soon as possible is the key to true reform, he said.
Jones, the longtime Republican assemblyman, secretary of state and gubernatorial candidate from Fresno, also said he still believes strongly in the initiative process but would like to see it return to the grass roots.
And Jones said California "requires a strong executive — if it doesn't have one, it's rudderless. I believe with our current governor, we have one."
Whether one agrees or disagrees with Schwarzenegger, he gets people talking about issues, Jones said; without that spark, lawmakers tend to move in circles.
Friday's daylong conference was part of an ongoing "Voices of Reform Project" the Commonwealth Club created to provide forums for the public and policy-makers to discuss structural changes to how California governs itself. Topics for the day included campaign finance reform, the budget process, redistricting, voter participation, the initiative process and term limits.
Davis' vendetta
Davis showed a four-minute video clip from "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," a movie depicting the former energy giant's plot to manipulate California's electricity supply in order to artificially drive up prices. The company, once America's seventh-largest, could have made a fortune operating legally in the deregulated market, Davis said, yet its greed pushed it into these illegal schemes. Knowing the difference between what's legal and what's acceptable in the marketplace is key to maintaining a healthy relationship with consumers, he said.
He also cited the "Do Not Call Registry" for people who don't want to be called by telemarketers as an example of how abusing a legal activity — phone calls for decades were a staple of U.S. marketing — can cause public outcry that forces government to reform the law.
And Davis said trust is the most valuable asset there is; it's much harder to regain it once it's been lost than it is to preserve it in the first place.
The governor on the Governator
Meeting with reporters later, the former governor said correcting Enron's gouging of California has become a crusade for him; he believes the state is due $40 billion. "I'd like to see justice done, Californians compensated and policies adopted to prevent a future debacle, and none of that has happened yet."
Asked about the expectation of Schwarzenegger's imminent announcement of a special election, Davis said Schwarzenegger "is within his right to do that," although a wise governor would exhaust all legislative options first.
But Davis refused to review his successor's record so far. He said his predecessor, Republican Pete Wilson, gave him his first two years in office free of any Monday-morning quarterbacking, so he'll do the same for Schwarzenegger, who he called "a great salesman, a charming, creative person — I wish him well."
BWAWAAAHAHAHAHHAA!
"BWAWAAAHAHAHAHHAA!"
Davis speaks on anything.
BWAWAAAHAHAHAHHAA!
And in other news, Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss will lecture on "My status as a virgin."
Two losers talking about REFORM - ROTFLOL!!
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