California Governor's Race: Can Jerry Brown or Meg Whitman Succeed Where Arnold Failed?
It's the Legislature, Stupid
As one who previously held the office of Governor of California, Brown should know better than anyone what it's like to work with the California State Legislature-a pugnacious group that makes the guys from The Sopranos look like Campfire Girls. While Meg Whitman seems to think she can run California from her executive suite, demanding the Legislature do her bidding, Brown already knows what it took Arnold Schwarzenegger only a few months in office to figure out: being Governor of California is not the same as being a CEO. You can't order around legislators because they are not your subordinates. You can't even charm them with your cigar tent or endearing Austrian accent. Working with the California Legislature is like herding cats, a nearly impossible task.
Brown vs. Whitman: Who has the higher EQ?
Although Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman are both brilliant well-educated people, it will take a special form of intelligence-emotional intelligence-to turn California around. The once Golden State has lost its luster in recent years: incurring huge pension obligations; furloughing its employees; creating an unfriendly business climate; neglecting state parks; bankrupting schools; and chopping social programs that offer a basic safety net to the most needy and helpless citizens, including children, the elderly and abused spouses. Voters and pundits alike put most of the blame on the intransigent, ultra-partisan California State Legislature for the state's decline.
As financial whiz Warren Buffet's business partner, Charlie Munger, was quoted as saying last month in the California Capital's blog, "California probably has the most dysfunctional Legislature in the country... They've gerrymandered the districts. (The result is only a) certified left-wing nut or a certified right-wing nut gets elected. If you throw your best people out and only elect idiots in, you get a very dysfunctional system."
Loyola professors: The California Legislature can't even agree the Pacific Ocean is salty
The term gridlock, used to describe California's trafficky freeways, also captures perfectly the paralysis of the California Legislature in solving the state's problems. As Charlie Munger told reporters, the Democrats and Republicans in the California Legislature represent the extremes of their respective parties, and neither side is willing to give the proverbial inch. Confirming Munger's view, Loyola University professors Karl Manheim, John S. Caragozian and Don Warner recently predicted in a Los Angeles Times blog the odds are slim the Legislature will approve a sorely needed Constitutional Convention to overhaul the state government by the required two-thirds supermajority. The professors wryly commented, "the Legislature is unlikely to achieve... a supermajority on whether the Pacific Ocean is salty."
So, what will it take for the next Governor of California to move the boulder that is the California State Legislature? A person with the people skills of a Dr. Phil, the magic of a David Copperfield, the luck of a leprechaun? Whoever takes over the helm of California must find a way to lead the state's self-interested, lobbyist beholden legislators to address California's fiscal fiasco without jacking up taxes or slashing social programs to the bone. The ideal candidate will have the creative genius to inspire legislators to don their creative thinking caps and find out-of-the-box solutions that don't involve accounting tricks that defer, but do not solve, the state's problems.
I'm not sure who that candidate is, Meg Whitman or Jerry Brown. But when I watch their TV commercials, listen to their speeches and watch their debates (provided Meg is willing to venture off script), I'm going to be far less interested in their proposed solutions and far more interested in trying to discern how well each of them will work with the California State Legislature, without which ability none of their fancy campaign promises are worth as much as the paper on which they're printed.
Sources:
http://californiascapitol.com/blog/?p=2592
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oew-manheim-20100524,0,2294990.story
Published by Nancy Tracy - Featured Contributor in Arts & Entertainment
Nancy Tracy is a Yahoo! Featured Contributor for arts & entertainment. She enjoys writing about a variety of topics from psychology to politics to popular culture. Her article on "Transient Global Amnesia" w... View profile
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19 Comments
Post a CommentWe are transplants here for over 15 years originally from the midwest then east coast. Both of us have worked for major corporations for over 15 years and now run two very successful family owned businesses. As with any business you hire the person with the best experience and success. You gamble when you hire someone outside their resume. We don't have time to train Whitman although she may have the success, she doesn't know politics. Our state is in a severe crisis. We need someone who knows the ropes, who has been there, knows our delinquent Legislature and can be modern and creative with their solutions. Brown may not be perfect but nothing much has changed in 15-20 years in California. The inevitable has just been manipulated and diverted.
Although I live clear across the country from you, I found this article such an entertaining read, yet a powerful commentary! It reminds me a lot of the Scott Brown/Martha Coakley scenario...even though that was for a senate seat! Well written piece! Should be interesting to follow! :)
Jerry's giving it another shot? How brave of him! California has unique problems that don't affect all states, like illegal immigration. Not sure you can totally blame Arnold, but it was bizarre that he even became governor. Here's hoping whoever does win, gets the support they need to succeed.
From a distance the CA legislature sounds very entertaining...I'm sure that isn't true, though. Good essay.
Yeah - Brown was Governor while we lived in California. Been there, done that.
Let's hope someone can do something.
OMG, you really manage to make everything entertaining, even politics! Loved the Sopranos/ Campfire Girls thing (so, herding cats is "nearly" impossible??)
I don't think I'm voting for either one. I'm up in the air as to who should be elected. Nancy you did an awesome job on this as usual. What do you call it when you don't want to vote for the most popular?
Your articles are always interesting!
It seems more and more of our state legislatures are becoming polarized; and Washington is clearly dysfunctional for this reason. Everybody talks about the corporate money ruining politics, but they often give to both sides, to hedge their bets. So the blame has to rest with the individual greed that causes legislators to do anything to protect their ability to stay in office!