Don't Blame Voters for California's Budget Woes
The following column appeared in The Wall Street Journal on October 3, 2009: Don't Blame Voters for California's Budget Woes Big spending pols falsely claim citizen ballot initiatives have tied their hands. By SHIKHA DALMIA, ADRIAN MOORE AND ADAM B. SUMMERS With the Golden State still struggling to balance its books, politicians from both sides of the aisle have come up with a nifty way to avoid responsibility for the mess: Blame the voters. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, summed it up for his fellow pols recently by telling a reporter: "All of those propositions tell us how we must spend our money. . . . This is no way, of course, to run a state." State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat, has made similar comments in denouncing "ballot-box budgeting." Their indictment is false. Voters aren't tying lawmakers' hands too much, but too little. Here's the background: For decades, state officials have habitually proposed ...
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