The new heights of politics

At the Daily Kos - there was an expression of revulsion with the current state of democrat candidates for Governor in California. He commented "I quit. I hate them both. Someday, California Democrats will have the option to choose from candidates who inspire, not the Gray Davises, Cruz Bustamantes, and the two candidates currently stinking up the Democratic side of the ticket." For the last couple of days Californians have had the opportunity to listen to attack ads from a bunch of candidates. John Garamendi - a perennial politician of the magnitude of Jerry Brown (candidate for Attorney General and a with a possible emotional maturity of a 9 year old) attacks Jackie Spier because she has accepted contributions from insurance companies (Garamendi who is arguably the worst insurance commissioner in the nation) has not taken contributions. Then we have the Phil Angelides attacks on Westly and Westly's attacks on Angelides development activities - comparing Sacramento to New Orleans. All in all this has been a dismal campaign. There are some real issues to be covered in this election but no candidate thinks voters need to think about them. And then there is the delusional activity of the public employee unions. They classify themselves in the most bizarre terms - they are greedy and short sighted. Public employee bargaining - as California has been working with it since the passage of the Berman and Rodda acts - has fleeced the taxpayers and not improved the performance of public employees. There is a lot of rhetoric about union activity and the worker's rights but very little about performance. But clearly the situation is not where it should be.

There are actually a couple of good candidates on the primary ballot - Bruce McPherson (the current secretary of state) is a great guy with a good commitment to public service. Abel Maldnado could be a good controller. Chuck Poochigian could be a great AG. But then there are the rest of the candidates. I am not where Kos is - I plan to vote for a candidate for Governor. The choice on the democrat side is pretty simple - it is a choice between someone who is in the pocket of the public employee unions and wants to raise taxes on the "rich" versus a guy who looks a lot like Robert (McKay the better way) Redford. At least with the McKay candidate there is chance he would do the right thing. Then there is the Governator. When he is good, he is pretty good, when he is bad he is horrible. Schwarzenegger and Westly could be a pretty good match up. It might even bring Kos back into the fold of electors.