Russ Steele
Supervisor John Spencer has an Other Voices in the Union this morning (Sat, 4 Sept 2010): Proposition 23: Is it time to say enough is enough? Sorry John, not yet!
I have been a John Spencer supporter for years, and hold John in high regard, but in this case I am disappointed in the out come. The reason that John did not bring the Prop 23 resolution to the Board of Supervisor and requesting their support for Prop 23 was a strong desire by the Board to avoid bringing “this level of controversy inside the board chambers.”
I am having a difficult time with this philosophy. The Board of Supervisors was elected to represent the people of this County, thus they are answerable to the people who elected them. The Board chamber does not belong to the Supervisors it is the people’s chamber. It is our viewing point for observing how well they lead and discharge the there assigned duties. One has to ask, why are all those seats in the chamber? They are there for the people to observe the business of governing.
We expect leadership from our elected representatives and that means in good times and bad times, it means leading when controversial issues come to our community. I understand avoiding controversial issues that have no economic impact on the County, gay marriage, the gulf oil spill, the mosque at Ground Zero, or even Arizona’s illegal alien law. However, AB32 and Prop 23 are economic issues. The out come will have a major impact on our local economy. Prop 23 will have an impact similar to Prop 13 that restricted the government’s ability to keep raising property taxes.
AB32 gives unfettered authority to the California Air Resources Board to collect billions of carbon fees from California businesses. Fees that will be passed on to California consumers. Until Prop 13 was passed we had no control over the continuing escalation of property taxes. Unless we pass Prop 23 we will have no control over the continuing escalation of carbon fees by an unelected bureaucracy.
I think that support for Prop 23 is an issue worthy of our political leaders and I want them to step up to the challenge. Ducking this controversy by refusing to address it is an act of a political cowardice. We the people will be heard on this issue! It is our Chamber!
Update: George Rebane has written a strong companion post on John Spencers Other Voices at Rebanes Ruminations.
