SanLuisObispo.com: Opinion

Bouquets and Brickbats: Why would Bo Derek back Lenthall?

Thu, 15 May 2008 23:08 PDT

First, full disclosure: We, too, endorsed Jerry Lenthall for county supervisor. But at least we live in San Luis Obispo County, which is more than we can say for actress Bo Derek. This may be reverse snobbery, but do we really need movie stars from the Santa Ynez Valley sticking their cornrows into San Luis Obispo County politics?

True, Bo is a Republican. So is Jerry. But beyond that, it’s hard to figure out why Bo would take an interest in our local, supposedly nonpartisan race.

Then again, maybe she really, truly cares about the Nacimiento Water Project or Nipomo’s growth cap or our smart-growth policies.

Dan Walters: Once again, Schwarzenegger wimps out

Thu, 15 May 2008 23:05 PDT

There is – or at least should be – only one standard by which to judge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest budget proposal: Does it stop the "crazy deficit spending" that he pledged to end when he was elected five years ago, or at least make significant progress toward fiscal responsibility?

Sadly, not only is the answer "no," but Schwarzenegger has apparently abandoned even the pretense of truly balancing the state's books, and would bury the state even deeper in the quicksand of borrowed money, bookkeeping gimmicks and pie-in-the-sky assumptions on revenues and spending.

This seemingly endless cycle of mounting debt – the governor now wants to borrow billions against a cockamamie, morally bankrupt increase in state lottery revenues – is not only tiresome but contributes to California's wholly deserved reputation of being a state that can't govern itself.

Prerequisite: A lifeguard on P.E. duty

Thu, 15 May 2008 05:47 PDT

The tragic drowning of 17-year-old John Erlanson in the Atascadero High School swimming pool May 7 has prompted calls for more rigorous safety standards for high school pools — and rightly so. At the very least, all schools should follow guidelines of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, which recommend that P.E. classes have one teacher present for every 30 students.

Common sense tells us that students are more likely to be injured if they’re playing basketball, running track or swimming laps than if they’re sitting in a classroom taking notes.

For that reason, we don’t believe that P.E. teachers should be expected to supervise as many as 40 or 50 students engaged in any physical activity — especially swimming.

Daniel Weintraub: Schwarzenegger gives up trying to balance budget

Wed, 14 May 2008 21:48 PDT

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has now abandoned his goal of fixing the problem that led to his historic election in 2003. With the revised budget proposal he released Wednesday, the governor has effectively conceded that California's era of perpetual budget deficits will not end on his watch.

Schwarzenegger long ago began losing his chance to fulfill his administration's original reason for being. The latest wrinkle just makes it official.

His trouble started early, when he proposed spending cuts that were politically unpalatable while failing to follow through on a fundamental, top-to-bottom rethinking of the way the state does business. When the economy briefly surged and brought in billions of dollars in unexpected tax revenue, Schwarzenegger lost his zeal for fiscal discipline and committed the new money to ongoing programs that could not be sustained once the economy slowed.

Borchard, Peirce know Morro Bay well

Tue, 13 May 2008 23:34 PDT

everal Morro Bay City Council candidates have solid ideas and impressive backgrounds, but we believe that incumbent Bill Peirce and longtime Morro Bay resident and business owner Carla Borchard are particularly well-qualified and deserving of your vote.

Peirce has served three terms on the City Council, and has experience with myriad issues, including cleaning up Morro Bay’s MTBE contamination, negotiations with Duke Energy and, of course, budget challenges.

He correctly points out that Morro Bay’s budget is healthy now —but he wants it to remain so in the years to come. We like his idea of forming a city/chamber committee to recruit businesses that would most benefit Morro Bay.

Morro Bay would benefit from a third term with Mayor Peters

Tue, 13 May 2008 23:34 PDT

Morro Bay Mayor Janice Peters has proven herself a capable leader over the past four years, and we believe she deserves another term in office.

We’ve been impressed with Peters’ ability to understand and balance the need for economic growth and environmental protection. We also like the fact that she’s gone out of her way to keep citizens in the loop — whether through scheduling office hours or writing Viewpoints to let citizens know of important issues that are coming up or, sometimes, to set the record straight.

Peters also has shown a willingness to put the city’s interests first, even if it’s not the most politically popular choice.

Dan Walters: California confronts a budget deficit with more gimmicks

Tue, 13 May 2008 23:40 PDT

Californians and their politicians have been dodging the budgetary bullet for 30 years, refusing to reconcile demands for public services, from education to prisons to firefighting to health care, with a distaste for paying more taxes.

This could be the moment when this exercise in denial, which began with the passage of property tax-cutting Proposition 13 in 1978, begins to give way to reality since the state now faces an immense budget deficit and the usual gimmicks have been largely exhausted.

Or not.

Daniel Weintraub: Fargo can't explain Sacramento's rising crime rate

Mon, 12 May 2008 18:22 PDT

After seven years as mayor of Sacramento, Heather Fargo apparently lacks even a basic grasp of one of her city's biggest problems: its rising crime rate.

In an interview with The Bee's editorial board last week, Fargo not only downplayed the issue, she did not seem to know that Sacramento had the second-highest crime rate among California's 10 largest cities, trailing only Oakland.

Nor did Fargo know that Sacramento's crime rate has soared on her watch, while crime in many other large California cities has dropped.

Dan Walters: Núñez leaves mixed legacy

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:23 PDT

Fabian Núñez, the eighth and longest-serving Assembly speaker in the 13 years since the legendary Willie Brown was forced to vacate the position in 1995, is being forced out himself by a legislative term limit law he tried, and failed, to persuade voters to change.

None of Núñez's seven predecessors had more than a momentary impact; indeed, a few of them were there scarcely long enough to change the I-love-me plaques in the speaker's ornate office. But Núñez, elected as a first-termer in the hope that he could bring some stability and accomplishment to the Assembly, does have a record of sorts.

It's a record of some legislative successes – especially after his mutually frosty relationship with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger melted into partnership and personal friendship – and an array of failures.

San Diego drug raids are a rarity

Mon, 12 May 2008 23:00 PDT

The recent drug raid at San Diego State University made headlines. Student drug dealers were caught openly selling drugs to fellow students over the Internet, in frat houses and dormitories. The arrest of children of privilege is noteworthy mostly because of its rarity. Despite rampant drug use on many college campuses, student dealers and users seldom risk prosecution.

The novelty of the SDSU raid stands in sharp contrast to the contents of two recent reports about the nation’s 30-year war on drugs. The reports detail the devastating effects of a drug policy that has targeted poor blacks in inner cities even as rates of illegal drug use have remained similar for blacks and whites.

The reports, one by the Sentencing Project and the other by Human Rights Watch, rely on federal law enforcement data to document racial disparity in drug arrests and imprisonment. The statistics show a consistent pattern of discriminatory enforcement that has sent blacks — young men especially, but black women as well—to prison at rates disproportionate to their presence in the population.

Reader upset with coverage decisions

Mon, 12 May 2008 05:41 PDT

Q:I breathlessly await your rationale for your woefully under-reported 2008 Cuesta Women of Distinction Awards and the occasion at which they were honored yesterday (April 24). It can’t

be that it was already covered by a 2-inch mention of the 10 women in our community … These women enrich the lives of our community on a daily basis and touch every corner of our micro-society. In the past, you have run a full-page spread, with a short bio on each of these 10 amazing women. Who determined that such coverage was excessive or unnecessary? You totally blew it.

—Naomi Blakely

Dan Walters: Mysterious things happening behind CalPERS' curtain of secrecy

Sun, 11 May 2008 20:32 PDT

Something is happening at the nation's largest pension fund, the Sacramento-based California Public Employees' Retirement System, which has nearly a quarter-trillion dollars in investments ranging from real estate to stocks.

With that much money and a governing board dominated by politicians and union representatives, there have been hints that factors other than pure fiduciary responsibility often drive decisions.

Some of those other motives have been advertised – investment in low-income housing or environmentally pure ventures, for instance – while others have been all but virtually impossible to divine, since CalPERS has been a very tight-lipped shop.

Editorial: After proving himself in Paso, Mecham ready for supervisor

Sat, 10 May 2008 23:06 PDT

In the race for 1st District supervisor, voters are fortunate to have two highly qualified candidates in incumbent Harry Ovitt and his challenger, Paso Robles Mayor Frank Mecham.

Both have many years of government experience and an extensive knowledge of the issues and challenges facing their North County district.

Those similarities could make this race a difficult call for some voters—especially when you also consider that Ovitt and Mecham are both politically conservative and are in agreement on many key issues.

Dan Walters: Is initiative process the cause or result of state's malaise?

Sat, 10 May 2008 20:17 PDT

The old philosophical argument over whether the chicken or the egg first emerged from the primordial ooze has a political counterpart in California's circular debate over the initiative process.

Is directly presenting proposed laws and constitutional amendments to voters a safety valve by which they can do what the Legislature is unwilling or unable to do, the cause of the Capitol's endemic inability to function effectively, or, perhaps, both a symptom of our political malaise and a cure that worsens the disease?

It's been nearly a century since reformist Gov. Hiram Johnson and the Legislature adopted the initiative and other reforms to break the political stranglehold of the Southern Pacific Railroad – dubbed "The Octopus" in a muckraking novel of the era. But the initiative's use as a major policy tool is of much more recent vintage, dating from the enactment of Proposition 13, the landmark property tax limit measure, 30 years ago next month.

Daniel Weintraub: A fine example of where and how kids learn to write

Fri, 09 May 2008 19:18 PDT

"We tumbled and played for hours. My hands and feet were wrinkled, like raisins. An adult dolphin let me have a thrilling ride on his back. He skimmed over the rolling waves and then suddenly, went under. Giggling, laughing and occasional chirrups with hints of laughter were heard. We dove back under, like an airplane during turbulence. The females performed a beautiful underwater ballet."

– From a fourth-grade student's essay on what she would do after finding herself at the water's edge.

Elizabeth Nesci has a passion for teaching. She loves the opportunity to help children learn, not only about writing, which is her specialty, but life. Spend a few minutes in her classroom and you can see why.

Bouquets and Brickbats: Let bygones be bygones in Mitchell Park

Thu, 08 May 2008 23:18 PDT

We like a good neighborhood squabble as much as the next newspaper, but now that the SLO City Council has decided to allow parking near the Mitchell Park senior center, it’s time to put the brakes on the Great Parking Lot Debate.

Fanatics on both sides—and you know who you are— need to take a deep breath and let it go.

Yes, there were valid arguments both pro and con on the parking lot, and we wish there had been a way to resolve this to everyone’s satisfaction.

Dan Walters: L.A. misguided in crackdown on taco trucks

Thu, 08 May 2008 22:24 PDT

A new chapter in an old and dreary story of political interference with the economic aspirations of low-income and/or immigrant Californians is unfolding in Los Angeles, whose county supervisors have voted to crack down on the horrendous crime of selling tacos.

Claiming that "taco trucks," as they are known, pose some sort of vague threat to the health, welfare and safety of Angelenos, the supes have voted for new restrictions on their ability to provide local folks with cheap and tasty food.

The county officials apparently were responding to complaints of restaurant owners who resent the competition. But their new law – which could mean jail time for taco vendors who violate the strict time limits on parking and serving – has touched off a firestorm of opposition, including a Web site called saveourtacotrucks.org.

Too many flaws in Props. 98, 99

Wed, 07 May 2008 23:27 PDT

After their string of 3-2 decisions on land-use issues, we’re glad to see that county supervisors are on the same page when it comes to Proposition 98 — one of two eminent domain measures on the June 3 ballot.

All five supervisors voted Tuesday to oppose Proposition 98.

Good for them.

Daniel Weintraub: Conservative flat tax idea could serve liberal ends

Wed, 07 May 2008 19:03 PDT

Facing a shortfall that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has estimated at $20 billion, Democratic lawmakers in the Capitol are looking for a way to raise tax revenue. They might want to adopt and modify an idea advocated by a conservative think tank – and increase tax revenue while lowering tax rates.

California's tax rates currently top out at 10.3 percent for individuals and 8.84 percent on corporate profits. But a report by the Pacific Research Institute says a flat, 3 percent rate would collect the same amount if the state also eliminated all of the deductions that now riddle the income tax code.

The institute is officially nonpartisan, but it leans toward conservative principles. The author of the study, Robert Murphy, says his plan would help moderate the state's notorious revenue roller coaster, provide incentives for economic growth and draw more high-earning individuals and companies to the state. He's not in favor of raising taxes.

Gunning for trouble in national parks

Tue, 06 May 2008 23:05 PDT

In its last months in office, the Bush administration has decided to spend time and energy on upending long-standing restrictions on carrying loaded guns in national parks. Proposed changes announced last week would end national rules and instead “reflect current state laws” on concealed weapons.

The rule in place since the 1930s has been clear and easy to follow: Ready-to-fire guns are not allowed on national lands where hunting is not permitted. Visitors may possess unloaded, stored guns. In national parks that allow hunting, people can carry loaded guns during hunting season.

Advocates of the change argue that visitors need protection from animal or human attacks. Yet the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees notes that a visitor has a 1 in 708,000 chance of being a victim of a violent crime in a national park — less likely than being struck by lightning. The same is true for animal attacks. Yellowstone National Park, for example, had more than 47 million visitors from 1980 to 1997. During that time, 23 people were injured by bears.