When Mike Genest's appointment as state finance director came before the Senate last year, I voted against his confirmation. Although I had supported both of his predecessors, Genest had already demonstrated a willingness to cook the state's books in a manner that we hadn't seen since the Davis years. In the time since his confirmation, he has produced the biggest single-year general fund deficit in California's history and employed accounting gimmickry that would make an Enron accountant blush. These qualities are on full display in his recent attack (Aug. 10, Page B-7) on Sen. Jeff Denham's courageous stand for a...